Maidu language

Maidu (also Northeastern Maidu, Mountain Maidu) is a severely endangered Maiduan language spoken by Maidu peoples traditionally in the mountains east and south of Lassen Peak in the American River and Feather River river drainages.

Currently only one or two native speakers remain alive. (Gordon 2005) The speakers belong to the Berry Creek Rancheria of Maidu Indians.^[1]

Phonology

Maidu has eighteen consonantal phonemes.

In the 1950s and 1960s, older speakers retained palatal stops (plain and ejective) where younger speakers used an innovative palatal affricate, perhaps borrowed from English. (Shipley 1964)

There are six phonemic vowels in Maidu.

See also

• Maidu
• Maiduan languages

References

1. ^ De Brotherton, Annette. Concow Language. Konkow We'wejbo'sis Project 2007-2011. 21 Aug 2007 (retrieved 24 Feb 2009)

External links

• Ethnologue: Maidu, Northeast
• Maidu language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages

Bibliography

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.). (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the world (15th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-159-X. (Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com).
• Heizer, Robert F. (1966). Languages, territories, and names of California Indian tribes.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Shipley, William F. (1964). Maidu Grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.