O'odham language

O'odham (/ɔʔɔdham/) is an Uto-Aztecan language of southern Arizona and northern Sonora where the Tohono O'odham and Pima reside. As of the year 2000, there were estimated to be approximately 9750 speakers in the United States and Mexico combined, although there may be more due to underrepresentation. It is the 10th most-spoken language in Arizona, the 3rd most-spoken indigenous language in Arizona after Apache and Navajo. It is the 3rd most-spoken language in Pinal County and the 4th most-spoken language in Pima County (German is the 3rd). Approximately 8% of O'odham speakers in the US speak English "not well" or "not at all", according to results of the 2000 Census. Approximately 13% of O'odham speakers in the US were between the ages of 5 and 17, and among the younger O'odham speakers, approximately 4% were reported as speaking English "not well" or "not at all".

Native names for the language, depending on the dialect and orthography, include Oʼodham ha-ñeʼokĭ, Oʼottham ha-neoki, and Oʼodham ñiok.

Dialects

• Tohono O'odham
• Cukuḍ Kuk
• Gigimai
• Hu:huʼula
• Huhuwoṣ
• Totoguani
• Akimel O'odham
• Eastern Gila
• Kohadk
• Salt River
• Western Gila
• Hia C-ed O'odham
• ?

Due to the paucity of data on the linguistic varieties of the Hia C-ed O'odham, this section currently focuses on the Tohono O'odham and Akimel O'odham dialects only.

The greatest dialectal differences are between the Tohono O'odham and the Akimel O'odham dialect groupings. Some examples:

There are other major dialectal differences between northern and southern dialects, for example:

The Cukuḍ Kuk dialect has null in certain positions where other Tohono O'odham dialects have a bilabial:

Phonology

Consonants

The retroflex consonants are apical postalveolar.

In most Papago dialects, the two sounds /v/ and /w/ have merged completely into /w/, whereas in all Pima dialects, the distinction is still made. For example, Pima cu:vĭ /ʧʊːvĭ/ (jackrabbit) is written and pronounced cu:wĭ /ʧʊːwĭ/ in Papago, but Pima wuai /wʊai/ (deer) is pronounced identically in Papago, although it is written huawĭ. Pima wiyoṣa (face) is written wuhioṣa in Papago; Pima wi (eye) is written wuhĭ in Papago. Thus, the letter "v" is not used to write Papago, but it is used to write Pima.

Vowels

All vowels distinguish three degrees of length: long, short, and extra-short.

• ṣe:l /ʂɨːɭ/ "Seri"
• ṣel /ʂɨɭ/ "permission"
• ʼa:pi /aːpi/ "you"
• da:pĭ /daːpĭ/ "I don't know", "who knows?"

Papago /ɨ/ is pronounced /ʌ/ in Pima.

Additionally, in common with many northern Uto-Aztecan languages, vowels and nasals at end of words are devoiced. Also, a short schwa sound, either voiced or unvoiced depending on position, is often interpolated between consonants and at the ends of words.

Allophony and distribution

• /ĭ/ is realized as [i̥], and devoices preceding obstruents: cuwĭ /tʃʊwĭ/ → [tʃʊʍi̥]~[tʃʊʍʲ] "jackrabbit".
• /w/ is a fricative [β] before unrounded vowels: wisilo [βisiɭɔ].
• [ŋ] appears before /k/ and /g/ in Spanish loanwords, but native words do not have nasal assimilation: to:nk [toːnk] "hill", namk [namk] "meet", ca:ŋgo [tʃaːŋgo] "monkey". /p/, /ɭ/, and /ɖ/ rarely occur initially in native words, and /ɖ/ does not occur before /i/.
• [ɲ] and [n] are largely in complementary distribution, [ɲ] appearing before high vowels , [n] appearing before low vowels : ñeʼe "sing". They contrast finally (ʼañ (1st imperfective auxiliary) vs. an "next to speaker"), though Saxton analyzes these as /ani/ and /an/, respectively, and final [ɲi] as in ʼa:ñi as /niː/. However, there are several Spanish loanwords where [nu] occurs: nu:milo "number". Similarly, for the most part [t] and [d] appear before low vowels while [tʃ] and [dʒ] before high vowels, but there are exceptions to both, often in Spanish loanwords: tiki:la ("tequila") "wine", TO weco / AO veco ("[de]bajo") "under".

Orthography

There are two orthographies commonly used for the O'odham language, Alvarez-Hale and Saxton. The Alvarez-Hale orthography is officially used by the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and is used in this article, but the Saxton orthography is also common and is official in the Gila River Indian Community. It is relatively easy to convert between the two, the differences between them being largely no more than different graphemes for the same phoneme, but there are distinctions made by Alvarez-Hale not made by Saxton.

The Saxton orthography does not mark word-initial /ʔ/ or extra-short vowels. Final generally corresponds to Hale-Alvarez <ĭ> and final to Hale-Alvarez :

• Hale-Alvarez to:bĭ vs. Saxton tohbi /toːbĭ/ "cottontail rabbit"
• Hale-Alvarez ʼaːpi vs. Saxton ahpih /ʔaːpi/ "I"

Etymological vs. Phonetic spelling

There is some disagreement among speakers as to whether the spelling of words should be only phonetic, or whether etymology should be concerned.

For example: oamajda vs. wuamajda ("frybread"; some people may also use a c instead of a j), oam means "yellow/brown/orange" and thus this is a compound word of sorts. Some people believe it should begin like any word that starts with a /ʊa/, wua, while others think its spelling should match that of the word oam (oam is in fact a form of s-oam, so while it could be spelt wuam itself, it is not because it is just a different declension of the same word) to reflect its etymology.

According to the regulatory bodies, "oamajda" is better, but they are always careful not to make any definitive rules on grammar, pronunciation, or minor orthographic issues because people are often very proud of their dialect or may feel very strongly about such issues.

Grammar