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Western Shoshone

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Western Shoshone comprise several Shoshone tribes that are indigenous to the Great Basin and have lands identified in the Treaty of Ruby Valley 1863 . They resided in Idaho , Nevada , California , and Utah . The tribes are very closely related culturally to the Paiute , Goshute , Bannock , Ute , and Timbisha tribes.

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43-597: They speak the Western dialect of the Shoshone language . Other Shoshone-speaking groups include the Goshute (Utah-Nevada border), Northern Shoshone (southern Idaho), and Eastern Shoshone (western Wyoming). Bands of Western Shoshone are named for their traditional geographical homelands and their primary food sources. Federally recognized Western Shoshone tribes include: The Western Shoshone have been engaged in legal battles with

86-570: A distinct linguistic variety, there are no unique linguistic changes that mark Mono as a distinct linguistic variety. The sound system of Numic is set forth in the following tables. Proto-Numic had an inventory of five vowels. Proto-Numic had the following consonant inventory: In addition to the above simple consonants, Proto-Numic also had nasal-stop/affricate clusters and all consonants except *s , *h , *j , and *w could be geminated. Between vowels short consonants were lenited. The major difference between Proto-Central Numic and Proto-Numic

129-405: A number of issues as they try to protect their property; they have called for an end to nuclear testing within their country as well as filing injunctions against gold mining that would result in dewatering of Mount Tenabo , Nevada. The Western Shoshone have issued their own passports since 1992. In 2010, when Timbisha Shoshone Chairman Joe Kennedy and Western Shoshone elder Carrie Dann went to

172-576: A transfer of rights, title and interest since the Treaty of Ruby Valley is controlling. These facts are the basis for the failure of the United States Department of Energy to prove ownership to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and the withdrawal of the license application. In 1979 Congress appropriated $ 26 million to settle the land claims, but the tribes said they wanted the US to abide by

215-408: A typical Numic vowel inventory of five vowels. In addition, there is the common diphthong /ai/ , which functions as a simple vowel and varies rather freely with [e] ; however, certain morphemes always contain [ai] and others always contain [e] . All vowels occur as short or long, but [aiː] / [eː] is rare. Shoshoni has a typical Numic consonant inventory. Shoshoni syllables are of

258-478: A word; however, primary stress tends to fall on the second syllable if that syllable is long. For instance, natsattamahkantɨn [ˈnazattamaxandɨ] "tied up" bears primary stress on the first syllable; however, kottoohkwa [kotˈtoːxˌwa] "made a fire" bears primary stress on the second syllable, with long vowel [oː] , instead of the first syllable with short vowel [o] . As in other Numic languages, stress in Shoshoni

301-599: Is a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, spoken in the Western United States by the Shoshone people. Shoshoni is primarily spoken in the Great Basin , in areas of Wyoming , Utah , Nevada , and Idaho . The consonant inventory of Shoshoni is rather small, but a much wider range of surface forms of these phonemes appear in the spoken language. The language has six vowels, distinguished by length. Shoshoni

344-406: Is a primarily suffixing language. Many nouns in Shoshoni have an absolutive suffix (unrelated to the absolutive case ). The absolutive suffix is normally dropped when the noun is the first element in a compound, when the noun is followed by a suffix or postposition, or when the noun is incorporated into a verb. For instance, the independent noun sɨhɨpin "willow" has the absolutive suffix -pin ;

387-431: Is a strongly suffixing language, and it inflects for nominal number and case and for verbal aspect and tense using suffixes. Word order is relatively free but shows a preference toward SOV order. The endonyms newe ta̲i̲kwappe and Sosoni' ta̲i̲kwappe mean "the people's language" and "the Shoshoni language," respectively. Shoshoni is classified as threatened, although attempts at revitalization are underway. Shoshoni

430-438: Is commonly marked through reduplication of the first syllable of the verb stem, so that singular kimma "come" becomes kikimma in the dual (and remains kima in the plural). A suppletive form is often used for the dual or plural forms of the verb; for instance, singular yaa "carry" becomes hima in both the dual and plural. Suppletion and reduplication frequently work in tandem to express number: singular nukki "run" becomes

473-423: Is distributed based on mora-counting. Short Shoshoni vowels have one mora, while long vowels and vowel clusters ending in [a] have two morae. Following the primary stress, every other mora receives secondary stress. If stress falls on the second mora in a long vowel, the stress is transferred to the first mora in the long vowel and mora counting continues from there. For example, natsattamahkantɨn "tied up" bears

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516-420: Is marked by suffixes on all human nouns and optionally on other animate nouns. The regular suffixes for number are listed in the table below. The Shoshoni singular is unmarked. Case is also marked by suffixes, which vary depending on the noun. Subjective case is unmarked. Many nouns also have a zero objective case marker; other possible objective markers are -tta , -a , and -i . These suffixes correspond with

559-429: Is the northernmost branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin , Colorado River basin, Snake River basin, and southern Great Plains . The word Numic comes from the cognate word in all Numic languages for “person”, which reconstructs to Proto-Numic as /*nɨmɨ/ . For example, in the three Central Numic languages and

602-522: Is the northernmost member of the large Uto-Aztecan language family, which includes nearly sixty living languages, spoken in the Western United States down through Mexico and into El Salvador . Shoshoni belongs to the Numic subbranch of Uto-Aztecan. The word Numic comes from the cognate word in all Numic languages for "person". For example, in Shoshoni the word is neme [nɨw̃ɨ] or, depending on

645-412: Is the typical word order for Shoshoni. nɨ I hunanna badger puinnu see nɨ hunanna puinnu I badger see "I saw a badger" nɨwɨ person sakkuhtɨn there paittsɨkkinna was hollering nɨwɨ sakkuhtɨn paittsɨkkinna person there {was hollering} "the person was making a fuss there" In ditransitive sentences, the direct and indirect object are marked with

688-523: Is used with verb stems to form nouns used for the purpose of the verb: katɨnnompɨh "chair" is derived from katɨ "sit"; puinompɨh "binoculars" is derived from pui "see". The characterization suffix -kantɨn be used with a root noun to derive a noun characterized by the root: hupiakantɨn "singer" is derived from hupia "song"; puhakantɨn "shaman" is derived from puha "power", as one characterized by power. Shoshoni verbs may mark for number, mainly through reduplication or suppletion . The dual

731-541: The Bible were translated in 1986. As of 2012, Idaho State University offers elementary, intermediate, and conversational Shoshoni language classes, in a 20-year project to preserve the language. Open-source Shosoni audio is available online to complement classroom instruction, as part of the university's long-standing Shoshoni Language Project. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribe teaches Shoshoni to its children and adults as part of its Language and Culture Preservation Program. On

774-812: The Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, elders have been active in digital language archiving. Shoshoni is taught using Dr. Steven Greymorning's Accelerated Second Language Acquisition techniques. A summer program known as the Shoshone/Goshute Youth Language Apprenticeship Program (SYLAP), held at the University of Utah 's Center for American Indian Languages since 2009, has been featured on NPR 's Weekend Edition . Shoshoni youth serve as interns, assisting with digitization of Shoshoni language recordings and documentation from

817-679: The World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia , Chairman Kennedy traveled on his Western Shoshone passport. For further information on passport issues, see the Iroquois passport . Shoshone language Shoshoni , also written as Shoshoni-Gosiute and Shoshone ( / ʃ oʊ ˈ ʃ oʊ n i / shoh- SHOH -nee ; Shoshoni: soni ' ta̲i̲kwappe , newe ta̲i̲kwappe or neme ta̲i̲kwappeh ),

860-611: The 1863 treaty and stop trespassing on their lands. In 1985 the US Supreme Court ruled in the US v. Dann that the appropriation of funds by Congress and the acceptance by the Secretary of the Interior constitutes "payment" and effects Section 70 U of the ICC Act and forever bars further claims and Western Shoshone title is 'presumed to be extinguished', but the tribes have left the money with

903-783: The Great Basin. Bands of eastern Shoshoni split off from the main Shoshoni body in the very late 17th or very early 18th century and moved southeastward onto the Great Plains. Changes in their Shoshoni dialect eventually produced Comanche. The Comanche language and the Shoshoni language are quite similar although certain low-level consonant changes in Comanche have inhibited mutual intelligibility. Recent lexical and grammatical diffusion studies in Western Numic have shown that while there are clear linguistic changes that separate Northern Paiute as

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946-592: The Wick R. Miller collection, in order to make the materials available for tribal members. The program released the first Shoshone language video game in August 2013. In July 2012, Blackfoot High School in Southeastern Idaho announced it would offer Shoshoni language classes. The Chief Tahgee Elementary Academy, a Shoshone-Bannock charter school teaching English and Shoshoni, opened at Fort Hall in 2013. Shoshoni has

989-554: The boundaries or jurisdiction of any state or territory. The Western Shoshone possess all the interests the United States sought to purchase by the treaty for $ 5,000 per year for 20 years. The treaty was also used by the Union to demonstrate to European governments and banks backing the Union that it could do what it said and provide the gold needed for the war. "the treaty is in full force and effect" The United States failed to make any, but

1032-654: The clusters. Geminated stops and affricates are voiceless and non-geminated stops and affricates are voiced fricatives. The velar nasals have fallen together with the alveolar nasals. The dialects of Colorado River east of Chemehuevi have lost *h . The dialects east of Kaibab have collapsed the nasal-stop clusters with the geminated stops and affricate. Proto-Western Numic changed the nasal-stop clusters of Proto-Numic into voiced geminate stops. In Mono and all dialects of Northern Paiute except Southern Nevada, these voiced geminate stops have become voiceless. The following table shows some sample Numic cognate sets that illustrate

1075-723: The dialect, newe [nɨwɨ] , in Timbisha it is nümü [nɨwɨ] , and in Southern Paiute, nuwuvi [nuwuβi] . Shoshoni's closest relatives are the Central Numic languages Timbisha and Comanche . Timbisha, or Panamint, is spoken in southeastern California by members of the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe , but it is considered a distinct language from Shoshoni. The Comanche split from the Shoshone around 1700, and consonant changes over

1118-459: The earliest record of Comanche from 1786, but precedes the 20th century. Geminated stops in Comanche have also become phonetically preaspirated. Proto-Southern Numic preserved the Proto-Numic consonant system fairly intact, but the individual languages have undergone several changes. Modern Kawaiisu has reanalyzed the nasal-stop clusters as voiced stops, although older recordings preserve some of

1161-537: The federal government over rights to their land since the erroneous filing of a claim in 1951 for land presumed to have been taken. Most western states comprising the Great Basin were created by federal statutes that referenced that "no part of Indian country will be included into the boundaries or jurisdiction of any state or territory ...without the consent of the Indians". During the American Civil War 1861–1864, gold

1204-542: The first payment. In an effort to close a 1951 Indian Claims Commission 326-k case, the Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act of 2004 established by the United States to give the perception that the Indians have been served justice, made payment of $ 160 million to the Great Basin tribe for the perceived acquisition of 39,000 sq mi (100,000 km). The 326-k claim was $ 1.05 per acre for 26,000 million acres but did not in fact constitute

1247-413: The form (C)V(V)(C). For instance: nɨkka "dance" (CVC CV), ɨkkoi "sleep" (VC CVV), and paa "water" (CVV). Shoshoni does not allow onset clusters. Typical Shoshoni roots are of the form CV(V)CV(V). Examples include kasa "wing" and papi "older brother." Stress in Shoshoni is regular but not distinctive. Primary stress usually falls on the first syllable (more specifically, the first mora ) of

1290-466: The government. As recently as 2004, Congress has attempted to force the purchase of Western Shoshone land but this has been opposed by the majority of tribal leaders. Disputes over tribal land and the international recognition by the United Nations of their struggle against the United States government is documented in the 2008 film American Outrage . Western Shoshone have demonstrated related to

1333-596: The homeland of Proto-Numic approximately two millennia ago. A mitochondrial DNA study from 2001 supports this linguistic hypothesis. The anthropologist Peter N. Jones thinks this evidence to be of a circumstantial nature, but this is a distinctly minority opinion among specialists in Numic. David Shaul has proposed that the Southern Numic languages spread eastward long before the Central and Western Numic languages expanded into

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1376-399: The late 20th century. In the early 21st century, fluent speakers number only several hundred to a few thousand people, while an additional population of about 1,000 know the language to some degree but are not fluent. The Duck Valley and Gosiute communities have established programs to teach the language to their children. Ethnologue lists Shoshoni as "threatened" as it notes that many of

1419-477: The north and east (Northern Paiute, Shoshoni, and Colorado River). Some linguists have taken this pattern as an indication that Numic speaking peoples expanded quite recently from a small core, perhaps near the Owens Valley , into their current range. This view is supported by lexicostatistical studies. Fowler's reconstruction of Proto-Numic ethnobiology also points to the region of the southern Sierra Nevada as

1462-473: The objective case. The indirect object can occur before the direct object, or vice versa. For example, in nɨ tsuhnippɨha satiia uttuhkwa "I gave the bone to the dog", tsuhnippɨh "bone" and satii "dog" take the objective case suffix -a . The subject is not a mandatory component of a grammatical Shoshoni sentence. Therefore, impersonal sentences without subjects are allowed; those sentences have an object-verb word order. ɨtɨinna Numic Numic

1505-453: The past few centuries have limited mutual intelligibility of Comanche and Shoshoni. Principal dialects of Shoshoni are Western Shoshoni in Nevada, Gosiute in western Utah, Northern Shoshoni in southern Idaho and northern Utah, and Eastern Shoshoni in Wyoming. The main differences between these dialects are phonological. The number of people who speak Shoshoni has been steadily dwindling since

1548-572: The possessive case markers -n , -ttan or -n , -an , or -n (in Western Shoshoni; this last suffix also appears as -an in Gosiute and is replaced by -in in Northern Shoshoni). These case markers can be predicted only to a degree based on phonology of the noun stem. Nominal derivational morphology is also often achieved through suffixing. For instance, the instrumental suffix -(n)nompɨh

1591-534: The reduplicated nunukki in the dual and the suppleted nutaa in the plural; singular yɨtsɨ "fly" is reduplicated, suppleted dual yoyoti and suppleted plural yoti . Shoshoni uses prefixes to add a specific instrumental element to a verb. For instance, the instrumental prefix to"- "with the hand or fist" can be used with the verb tsima "scrape" to yield tottsima "wipe," as in pɨn puihkatti tottsimma yakaitɨn "he wiped at his eyes, crying". Common instrumental prefixes include: Subject-object-verb (SOV)

1634-443: The root loses this suffix in the form sɨhɨykwi "to gather willows". The correlation between any particular noun stem and which of the seven absolutive suffixes it has is irregular and unpredictable. The absolutive suffixes are as follows: Shoshoni is a nominative-accusative language. Shoshoni nouns inflect for three cases ( subjective , objective , and possessive ) and for three numbers (singular, dual, and plural). Number

1677-511: The speakers are 50 and older. UNESCO has classified the Shoshoni language as "severely endangered" in Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. The language is still being taught to children in a small number of isolated locations. The tribes have a strong interest in language revitalization, but efforts to preserve the language are scattered, with little coordination. However, literacy in Shoshoni is increasing. Shoshoni dictionaries have been published and portions of

1720-586: The stress pattern [ˈnazatˌtamaˌxandɨ] , with stress falling on every other mora. With some dialectical variation, mora counting resets at the border between stems in compound words. Final syllables need not be stressed and may undergo optional final vowel devoicing. Given here are a few examples of regular, well-documented phonological rules in Shoshoni: Shoshoni is a synthetic , agglutinative language, in which words, especially verbs, tend to be complex with several morphemes strung together. Shoshoni

1763-478: The two Western Numic languages it is /nɨmɨ/ . In Kawaiisu it is /nɨwɨ/ and in Colorado River /nɨwɨ/ , /nɨŋwɨ/ and /nuu/ . These languages are classified in three groups: Apart from Comanche , each of these groups contains one language spoken in a small area in the southern Sierra Nevada and valleys to the east (Mono, Timbisha, and Kawaiisu), and one language spoken in a much larger area extending to

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1806-596: Was needed from the west by the Union to prosecute the war against the south . The Doty treaties were entered into by the US with the Shoshone. In 1863 the Treaty of Ruby Valley was entered into with the Western Bands of the Shoshone Nation (18 Statute 689–692) and identified the boundaries of their 40,000 sq mi (100,000 km) territory. The Western Shoshone did not consent to the inclusion of their property into

1849-555: Was the phonemic split of Proto-Numic geminate consonants into geminate consonants and preaspirated consonants. The conditioning factors involve stress shifts and are complex. The preaspirated consonants surfaced as voiceless fricatives, often preceded by a voiceless vowel. Shoshoni and Comanche have both lost the velar nasals, merging them with *n or turning them into velar nasal-stop clusters. In Comanche, nasal-stop clusters have become simple stops, but p and t from these clusters do not lenite intervocalically. This change postdates

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