Central Kalapuya language


Central Kalapuyan, was a Kalapuyan language indigenous to the central and southern Willamette Valley in Oregon in the United States. It was spoken by various bands of the Kalapuya peoples who inhabited the valley up through the middle of the 19th century. The language is closely related to Northern Kalapuya, spoken in the Tualatin and Yamhill valleys. Dialects of Central Kalapuya that have been identified include:
The phonology of the Santiam dialect, as described by Jacobs and analyzed by Banks, is listed below. Banks notes that Jacobs' analysis does not rigorously account for allophonic variation, and that, according to Jacobs, there may have been some interchangeability between the velar and uvular series.

Consonants

The nasals and likely had syllabic forms: and . Jacobs possibly notes that the plosives are also voiced allophones, as /b/, /d/, /ɡ/, /ɡʷ/, /ɢ/, and /ɢʷ/. Banks also notes that /h/, /hʷ/, /dz/, /dʒ/, and /ɸʷ/ may have been allophones.

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Closeiu
Open-Midæ~ɛɔ
Opena

Santiam Kalapuya had three diphthongs: , , and . Vowel length may have been phonemic, /ɔ/ may have been an allophone of /u/.