Classification
While considered an isolate, there have been attempts to connect Atakapa with other languages of the Southeast. In 1919 John R. Swanton proposed a Tunican language family that would include Atakapa, Tunica, and Chitimacha; Morris Swadesh would later provide work focusing on connections between Atakapa and Chitimacha. Mary Haas later expanded the proposal by adding Natchez and the Muskogean languages, a hypothesis known asDialects
According to Swanton (1929) and Goddard (1996), Atakapa could be classified into Eastern and Western varieties. Eastern Atakapa is known from a French-Atakapa glossary with 287 entries, compiled in 1802 by Martin Duralde. The speakers interviewed by Duralde lived in the easternmost part of Atakapa territory, around ''Poste des Attakapas'' (now Saint Martinville). Western Atakapa is the better-attested of the two varieties. In 1885, Albert Gatschet collected words, sentences, and texts from two native Atakapa speakers, Louison Huntington and Delilah Moss at Lake Charles, Louisiana. John R. Swanton worked with another two speakers near Lake Charles: Teet Verdine in 1907, and Armojean Reon in 1908. Additionally, in 1721, Jean Béranger collected a small vocabulary from captive speakers in Galveston Bay. John Swanton argued that the Béranger vocabulary represented the Akokisa language, spoken by a people who lived somewhat inland from Galveston Bay. There is little evidence to support his assertion.Phonology
Vowels
Atakapa has five vowels as presented in Swadesh (1946). Vowel length is contrastive in Atakapa.Consonants
According to Swadesh (1946), Atakapa has the consonants presented in the following chart. Underlying /ŋ/ surfaces as when it appears at the end of a syllable. Swadesh further notes that /m/ often surfaces as or �word-finally in some adjectives, but "irregular variations in atschet'swriting" preclude him from settling on any further conditions for this. Additionally, it is unclear whether /n/ is indeed a distinct phoneme from /ŋ/; if this is the case, argues Swadesh, then words containing final /n/ must have arrived in a later period. Consonant clusters consisting of a stop followed by a sibilant — themselves arising from vowel epenthesis — are generally contracted to /c/. For example, ''kec-k'' ("liver") arose from *''keks'', which arose fromSyllable structure and stress
The typical Atakapa syllable is of the structure CVC. Swanton (1929) observes that clusters of more than two consonants are rare in the language. From his analysis of Gatschet's data, he concludes that consonant clusters of any size are ''not'' permitted in the syllable onset, but that they ''are'' permitted in the coda. Stress is "a purely mechanical function of phrase rhythm" in Atakapa; it is generally the final syllable of a phrase that receives stress.Morphology
The Atakapa language is a mostly agglutinative, somewhat polysynthetic language of the templatic type. This meaning that the language stacks (primarily within the verbal complex) a number of affixes to express locatives, tense, aspect,Pronominal morphology
Object pronouns are prefixed to verbs, while subject pronouns are suffixed. There are independent forms of each pronoun as well: in the first person singular and plural, this form appears to be distinct from either affix, but in the second and third persons, the affixes seem to be related to the independent forms. Grammatical gender appears not to occur in Atakapa, though evidence for it in nearby languages (e.g. Chitimacha) has been found. The following table of pronominal forms is presented in Swanton (1919). In addition, Swanton notes the existence of a reflexive prefix ''hat-'' and a reciprocal prefix ''hak-.'' However, the reflexive form may be a circumfix rather than a prefix: Kaufman cites the example of ''hat-yul-šo'' ("paint themselves"), in which both ''hat-'' and ''-šo'' indicate reflexivity.Nominal morphology
There are multiple ways to indicate a noun's plurality in Atakapa: # attachment to the noun of the suffix ''-heu'' ("many") # attachment to the noun of the prefix ''-šak'' (to indicate an indefinite plural) # reduplication of the accompanying adjective # employment of the plural suffix in the accompanying adjective and/or verb According to Swanton (1919), a noun-forming affix ''-nen'' or ''-nan'' exists in Atakapa.Verbal morphology
The full order of morphemes within the verb complex is: # Objective pronominal prefix # Locative prefixes (if applicable) # Verb stem # Plural suffix ''-m'' or usitative suffix ''-u'' (if applicable) # Infinitive or emphatic suffix ''-c'' (if applicable) # Future suffix ''-ti'' (if applicable) # Aspectual suffixes: continuative ''-k'', intentional ''-n'', etc. (if applicable) # Assertive suffix: ''-š'' (if applicable) # Subjective pronominal suffix # Tense suffixes: past perfective ''-at'', past imperfective ''-hinst'' (if applicable) # Negative (if applicable) It is unclear whether or not a distinct class of auxiliary verbs exists in Atakapa; the difference between a stem-plus-auxiliary construction and a two-verb-serialization construction is not well marked. Additionally, there is no mention of the assertive suffix ''-š'' in Swanton's work; Kaufman (2014) derives it by analogizing Atakapa and Chitimacha.Verb serialization
Verb serialization is a productive process in Atakapa. # ''pam-nima'' (lit. "beat-die"): beat to death. # ''ta-wat-ten'' (lit. "stand-come-talk"): pray.Syntax
Atakapa exhibits strict subject-object-verb word order. While verbs are typically found in sentence-final position, it is common for adjuncts, or even subordinate clauses, to follow the verb of the principal clause. The suffixes ''-ne'' and ''-n'' are used to indicate the subordination of a clause to the main clause, as in ''tsanuk micat penene'' ("she gave a horse or curing her). With occasional exceptions, adjectives follow the nouns they describe. Adverbs follow nouns and adjectives, but precede verbs.Case marking
Atakapa marks only theNoun incorporation
Swanton (1919) asserts that noun incorporation is present in Atakapa, but he provides no examples of this.Deixis
Three demonstratives serve as deictics in Atakapa: # ''ha'' or ''a'', "this" — co-present with the speaker. # ''ya'', distant from the speaker. # ''ma'', still more distant from the speaker.References
Bibliography
* Campbell, Lyle. (1997). ''American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America''. New York: Oxford University Press. . * Gatschet, Albert S., and Swanton, John R. (1932) ''A Dictionary of the Atakapa Language''. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Athnology, bulletin 108. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. * * Hopkins, Nicholas A. (2007). ''The Native Languages of the Southeastern United States''. Los Angeles: Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI), pp. 23–24External links