Cocopah language

Cocopah is a Delta language of the Yuman language family spoken by the Cocopah. In an effort to keep the language alive, which was spoken by fewer than 400 people at the turn of the 21st-century, the Cocopah Museum began offering Cocopah language classes to children in 1998.

The language had no alphabet until the 1970s when a scholar developed one for a university dissertation. It proved to be less than ideal, and a new alphabet was developed by the tribe in the early 2000s. As the revival of the language has progressed, it has been necessary to find words for modern objects that didn't exist in the ancient language. These issues are referred to the elders of the tribe for a decision.^[3] Cocopah in Mexico use a different orthography designed by the INALI.

Sounds

Consonants

Cocopah has 21 consonants:

• /r/ is usually a trill [r] but sometimes is a flap [ɾ].
• /tʃ, ɲ, ʃ/ are postalveolar (palato-alveolar). /lʲ, ɬʲ/ are palatalized alveolar consonants.
• /ɬʲ/ is usually palatalized, but unlike /ɬʲ/ it does not contrast with a non-palatalized [ɬ].

Vowels

Cocopah has 4 vowels.

Cocopah has both short and long vowels.

Syllable & phonotactics

The Cocopah syllable:

(C)(C)(C)V(ː)(C)(C)

• Word-initial two-consonant clusters usually consist of a fricative plus another consonant, e.g. /sp, ʂm, ʃp, xt͡ʃ/. Rarer two-consonant clusters start with a lateral or a stop consonant, e.g. /lt͡ʃ, ɬʲt͡ʃ, ps, t͡ʃp/.
• Three-consonant clusters are rare, recorded examples include /pxk, pxkʷ, spx/.

Bibliography

• Crawford, James M. (1970). Cocopa Baby Talk. International Journal of American Linguistics, 36, 9-13.
• Crawford, James M. (1978). More on Cocopa Baby Talk. International Journal of American Linguistics, 44, 17-23.
• Crawford, James M. (1989). Cocopa Dictionary. University of California Publications in Linguistics (Vol. 114). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-09749-1.
• Crawford, James M. (1983). Cocopa Texts. University of California Publications in Linguistics (Vol. 100). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-09652-5.
• Crawford, James M. (1998). Classificatory Verbs in Cocopa. In Hinton, L. & Munro, P. (Eds.), American Indian Languages: Description and Theory (pp. 5–9). Berkeley: University of California.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Wares, Alan C. (1968). A Comparative Study of Yuman Consonantism. Janua Linguarum, Series Practica (No. 57). The Hauge: Mouton.

References

External links

• "Native American Audio Collections: Cocopa". American Philosophical Society. 
• Cocopa Swadesh vocabulary list (from Wiktionary)
• Cocopa dictionary on Google Books
• Cocopah language audio Bible stories and lessons - free mp3 downloads
• Cocopah basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database

Languages of Arizona
Indigenous	Athabaskan Navajo Western Apache Tanoan Tewa Uto-Aztecan Hopi O'odham Southern Paiute Yaqui Yuman-Cochimí Cocopah Havasupai Hualapai Maricopa Mojave Quechan Yavapai Language isolate Zuni
Non-Indigenous	Indo-European English Spanish

Languages of Mexico
Official/ Indigenous	100,000+ speakers Spanish Nahuatl Yucatec Maya Mixtec Zapotec Tzeltal Maya Tzotzil Maya Otomí Totonac Mazatec Ch'ol Huastec Chinantec Mixe Mazahua Purépecha 10,000-100,000 speakers Tlapanec Tarahumara Amuzgo Chatino Tojolab'al Sierra Popoluca Chontal de Tabasco Huichol Mayo Tepehuán Trique Cora Popolocan Huave Cuicatec Yaqui Q'anjob'al Tepehua Under 10,000 speakers Pame Mam Chontal of Oaxaca Chuj Tacuate Chichimeca Jonaz Huarijío Chocho Pima Bajo Q'eqchí Lacandón Jakaltek Matlatzinca Seri Ixcatec K'iche' Kaqchikel Paipai Cucapá Mototzintleco Kumiai Pápago Kikapú Ixil Cochimí Kiliwa Aguacatec
Non-official	Plautdietsch Venetian English French Basque Catalan Hebrew Arabic Chinese
Sign	Mexican Sign Language Mayan Sign Language
Note: The list of official languages is ordered by decreasing size of population.