The Shasta language is an extinct Shastan language formerly spoken from northern California into southwestern Oregon. It was spoken in a number of dialects, possibly including Okwanuchu. By 1980, only two first language speakers, both elderly, were alive. Today, all ethnic Shasta people speak English as their first language. According to Golla, there were four distinct

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that ...

s of Shasta: * ''Ikirakácˑu'' (Oregon Shasta) * ''Iruhikwáˑcˑu'' (

Klamath River The Klamath River (Karuk: ''Ishkêesh'', Klamath: ''Koke'', Yurok: ''Hehlkeek 'We-Roy'') flows through Oregon and northern California in the United States, emptying into the Pacific Ocean. By average discharge, the Klamath is the second larges ...

Shasta) * ''Uwáˑtuhúcˑu'' ( Scott Valley Shasta) * ''Ahútˑireˀeˑcˑu'' ( Shasta Valley Shasta)

Phonology

Consonants

The length of a consonant distinguishes meaning in Shasta words. All stops, fricatives and nasals can occur as long or short in Shasta, but approximants /r j w/ only occur as short consonants.

Minimal pair In phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a particular language, spoken or signed, that differ in only one phonological element, such as a phoneme, toneme or chroneme, and have distinct meanings. They are used to demonstrate ...

s and near minimal pairs are shown below: * /t͡ʃákàráx/ ''a gnat'' vs. /t͡sàkːírʔ/ ''a board'' * /ʔátʼùʔ/ ''nothing'' vs. /ʔátʼːùʔ/ ''wild sunflower'' * /ʔìsíkʼːàʔ/ ''a person'' vs. /ʔìsːíkʼ/ ''cold''

Vowels

Shasta has four vowels, , with contrastive length, and two tones: high and low.

Orthography

Silver (1966) devised a system to write words in Shasta. Long phonemes are represented with the symbol ⟨ˑ⟩ following the character (e.g. ⟨cˑ⟩ and ⟨eˑ⟩ for/ t͡sː/ and /eː/, respectively);

ejective In phonetics, ejective consonants are usually voiceless consonants that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated, voiced and tenuis consonants. So ...

s are indicated by an apostrophe written over the character (e.g. ⟨p̓⟩ for /pʼ/). The phoneme is represented by , and the glottal stop /ʔ/ is represented by the superscript IPA symbol ⟨ˀ⟩. The letters ⟨b d f g j l q v z⟩ are not used to represent Shasta sounds.

Tones

Shasta vowels can have low or high tones. High tones are marked by an acute accent ⟨′⟩ in the orthography devised by Silver (1966), whereas low tones are left unmarked. Examples for the vowel /u/ are given below:

References

Bibliography

*Golla, Victor (2011), ''California Indian languages'', Berkeley: University of California Press *

External links

Shasta language
overview at the

Survey of California and Other Indian Languages The Survey of California and Other Indian Languages (originally the Survey of California Indian Languages) at the University of California at Berkeley documents, catalogs, and archives the indigenous languages of the Americas. The survey also hosts ...

Shasta basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database

OLAC resources in and about the Shasta language
{{Hokan languages Shastan languages Extinct languages of North America Indigenous languages of California Indigenous languages of Oregon