Tonkawa language
The Tonkawa language was spoken in Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico by the Tonkawa people. A language isolate, with no known related languages, Tonkawa is now extinct. Members of the Tonkawa tribe now speak English.
Phonology
Vowels
Tonkawa has 10 vowels:- Each vowel is distinguished by the quality of sound and the length of the vowel.
- The vowels occur in five pairs that have differing vowel lengths.
- In the front and the mid back vowel pairs, the short vowels are phonetically lower than their long counterparts: →, →, →.
- The low vowels vary between central and back articulations:.
- Vowels that are followed by j and w are slightly raised in their position of articulation
Consonants
- The affricate and fricative vary freely between dental and postalveolar articulations, i.e. and. There is a tendency for to occur at the end of words.
- The other coronals are consistently dental.
- The dorsal obstruents are produced with a palatal place of articulation before front vowels, otherwise they are velar:
- * →
- The dorsal approximants are consistently palatal and labiovelar respectively.
Consonant clusters
- when a consonant is repeated
- when the cluster is within the syllable
- Example: ' 'he scrapes it' versus ' 'lightning strikes him'
There are certain consonants that can either begin or end in a cluster. However, if the cluster begins the syllable, there can be no intervening vowel.
- Initial Cluster Consonants:
- Final Cluster Consonants:
Phonological processes and morphophonemics
- the h- is dropped when a prefix is added
- if the syllable is C + V, then the vowel is lengthened and given the quality of the stem vowel.
- if the syllable ends in a consonant, then the initial stem forms a new syllable with the final consonant of the prefix.
- Forms: C V w or C V y
- The form changes to C if followed by a suffix that starts with a consonant
- If a long vowel occurs the suffixes change from to
Syllable structure
The Tonkawa language is a syllabic language that bases its word and sentence prosody on even stressed syllables.- Disyllabic words are when the stress is placed on the final syllable.
- Polysyllabic words are when the stress is moved to the next to last syllable, the penult.
- C + V → ka-la 'mouth'
- C + V + C → tan-kol 'back of head'
- CC + V → ' 'he scrapes it'
- CC + V + C → ' 'lightning strikes him'
- C + V + or / / → jam- 'I paint his face'
Morphology
I. Themes
- Free – the stem can stand alone
- Bound – the stem must have a suffix or prefix attached; it cannot stand alone
II. Affixes
- Transformative – the affix changes the meaning and/or function of the word
- Verbal – the affix changes a certain aspect of the verb
- Noun and Pronoun – the affix changes a certain aspect of the noun or pronoun
Grammar
In English, pronouns, nouns, verbs, etc., are individual words; Tonkawa forms the parts of speech differently, and the most important grammatical function is affixation. This process shows the subjects, objects, and pronouns of words and/or verbs. Within affixations, the suffix has more importance than the prefix.The differentiation between subject and object is shown in the suffix. While the word order tends to be subject-object-verb, compounding words is very common in Tonkawa. Reduplication is very common in Tonkawa and affects only the verb themes. Usually, only one syllable undergoes reduplication, and it notes a repeated action, vigorous action, or a plural subject.
Nouns
Nouns function as free themes, or stems, in Tonkawa. There is a limit of only two or three affixes that can compound with a noun. However, there are cases of a bound theme occurring in noun compounds, which occurs with the suffix -an is added. In English, pronouns and nouns are usually grouped together, but because pronouns in Tonkawa are bound themes, they will be discussed with the verb section.Noun suffixes
| Case | Indefinite | Definite |
| Nominative | -la/ -ka | -/ - |
| Accusative | -lak/ -kak | -/ - |
| Genitive | - | - |
| Dative | - | |
| Dative | - | |
| Instrumental | -es / -kas | -/ - |
| Conjunctive | - | - |
| Vocative |
Verbs
Verbs are bound morphemes that have a limit of only two themes, the second theme being the modifying theme and usually serving as an adverbial theme. However, if the suffix -/-wa is added the verb functions as a free theme.Pronouns
Pronouns are not used except for emphasis on the subject and are affixated as prefixes. Person and number are usually indicated by the affixation of the verb. Most pronouns are bound themes, especially the demonstrative pronouns.
| Personal Pronoun | Tonkawa Personal Pronoun | English Personal Pronoun |
| 1st person singular | me | |
| 2nd person singular | you | |
| 3rd person singular | him/her | |
| 1st person plural | we/us | |
| 2nd person plural | you pl./them |
Demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative adverbs can be formed by adding -ca 'place', -l 'direction', -c 'manner' to the demonstrative pronouns below.
Example: 'that one aforementioned' + ca 'place = ' 'that place aforementioned'
Interrogative pronouns can be formed by adding the prefix he- to the demonstrative pronouns as well by using the same format for the demonstrative adverbs.
Example: he 'interrogative' + 'this' + l 'direction' = 'where'
Indefinite pronouns can also be formed with affixation.
Example: 'what' + = 'anything, something, anyone, someone'
| Tonkawa Demonstrative | English Demonstrative |
| the one aforementioned | |
| this | |
| / / | that |
| one yonder |
Also within the verbal-prefix category are the causatives and, where is the older form.
Verb suffixes
Verb suffixes are important in Tonkawa because they usually indicate the tense, negativity, and manner of the action performed.
| Suffix | Function | Placement |
| -ape/-ap | Negation suffix | follows the theme but follows a second-person plural object pronoun, if present |
| -/ - | Dual subject suffix | follows the negation suffix, future tense suffix, and second-person plural object pronoun |
| -/ - | Plural subject suffix | same position as the dual subject; occurs in the first and second persons in all modes |
| -/ - | Future tense suffix | after the stem/theme |
| -no/ -n | Continuative suffix | after the stem |
| -we/ -/ -o | declarative mode suffix | after the present or past tense |
| - | Exclamatory suffix | after the 3rd person singular or at the end of the word |
| -w | Imperative mode | only in the singular, dual, or second-person plural |
Enclitics
Enclitics are bound morphemes that are suffixed to verbs, nouns, and demonstratives that end with -k. Enclitics often express modal concepts in Tonkawa, which occur in the declarative, interrogative, and quotative/narrative clauses or statements.| Clause | Suffix | Special Circumstances |
| Declarative | -aw or - | |
| Interrogative | -je or - | both take the suffix unless there is an interrogative pronoun |
| Quotative/ Narrative | -/ - | only added to verb forms with –k suffix and if the verb is used in telling a mythical story |
Writing system
The orthography used on the [|Tonkawa Tribe's website] is similar to Americanist phonetic notation.Long vowels are indicated with a following middle dot. The affricate is written. The glottal stop is written as either an apostrophe or as a superscript question mark. The palatal glide is written.
The phonemic orthography used in Hoijer's Tonkawa Texts is a later version of Americanist transcription. It uses a colon for long vowels and the traditional glottal stop symbol.
Examples are mummun 'salt' and mummunchicew 'pepper'.
Example
The following text is the first four sentences of Coyote and Jackrabbit, from Hoijer's Tonkawa Texts.Gloss:
In this gloss, S is an abbreviation for "it is said", and afm for "the aforementioned".
Vocabulary
| English | Tonkawa |
| One | We:'ispax |
| Two | Ketay |
| Three | Metis |
| Four | Sikit |
| Five | Kaskwa |
| Man | Ha:'ako:n |
| Woman | Kwa:nla |
| Dog | 'Ekwan |
| Sun | Taxas |
| Water | A:x |