Wailaki, also known as Eel River, is an extinct and revitalizing Athabaskan language spoken by the people of the

Round Valley Reservation The Round Valley Indian Tribe, originally known as the Covelo Indian Community, is a federally recognized confederation of Native American tribes. These include the Yuki, Wailaki, Concow (or Konkow), Little Lake and other Pomo, Nomlaki, and Pit R ...

of northern California, one of four languages belonging to the ''California Athabaskan'' cluster of the

Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages Pacific Coast Athabaskan is a geographical and possibly genealogical grouping of the Athabaskan language family. California Athabaskan * California Athabaskan ** Hupa (dining'-xine:wh, a.k.a. Hoopa-Chilula) *** dialects: **** Hupa **** Tsn ...

. Dialect clusters reflect the four Wailaki-speaking peoples, the

Sinkyone The Eel River Athapaskans include the Wailaki, Lassik, Nongatl, and Sinkyone (Sinkine) groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans that traditionally live in present-day Mendocino, Trinity, and Humboldt counties on or near ...

Wailaki The Eel River Athapaskans include the Wailaki, Lassik, Nongatl, and Sinkyone (Sinkine) groups of Native Americans that traditionally live in present-day Mendocino, Trinity, and Humboldt counties on or near the Eel River and Van Duzen River o ...

, Nongatl, and Lassik, of the Eel River confederation. While less documented than Hupa, it is considered to be close to it. It went dormant in the 1960s, but in modern times it is being revived.

Phonology

The sounds in Wailaki:

Consonants

Vowels

Vowels in Wailaki are /i e a o/, and with length as /iː eː aː oː/.

Grammar

Wailaki is

polysynthetic In linguistic typology, polysynthetic languages, formerly holophrastic languages, are highly synthetic languages, i.e., languages in which words are composed of many morphemes (word parts that have independent meaning but may or may not be able t ...

, meaning that a single word in it is expressed in English as a sentence.

References

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External links

Wailaki 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 ...

Wailaki Language (Sinkyone, Lassik, Nongatl, Eel River Athabaskan)

OLAC resources in and about the Wailaki language

{{Authority control Indigenous languages of California Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages Eel River Athapaskan peoples