Hupa language (original) (raw)

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Athabaskan language of California, US

Hupa
Na꞉tinixwe Mixine꞉wheʼ
Native to United States
Region California (Hoopa Valley)
Ethnicity 2,000 Hupa (2007)
Extinct March 7, 2026, with the death of Verdena Parker[1]
Revival L2 users: 30 (2007)
Language family Na-DenéAthabaskan–EyakAthabaskanPacific Coast AthabaskanHupa
Dialects Hupa Tsnungwe Chilula Whilkut
Writing system Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-2 hup
ISO 639-3 hup
Glottolog hupa1239
ELP Hupa
Hupa and other Californian Athabaskan languages
Hupa is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Hupa (native name: Na꞉tinixwe Mixine꞉wheʼ, lit. 'language of the Hoopa Valley people') is an extinct Athabaskan language (of Na-Dené stock) spoken along the lower course of the Trinity River in Northwestern California by the Hoopa Valley Hupa (Na꞉tinixwe) and Tsnungwe/South Fork Hupa (Tse꞉ningxwe) and, before European contact, by the Chilula and Whilkut peoples, to the west.

The 2000 US Census estimated the language to be spoken by 64 persons between the ages of 5 and 17, including 4 monolingual speakers. As of 2024, Verdena Parker was the last native speaker.[2] Perhaps another 50 individuals of all ages have restricted control of traditional Hupa phonology, grammar and lexicon. Beyond this, many tribal members share a small vocabulary of words and phrases of Hupa origin.

The consonants of Hupa in the standard orthography are listed below (with IPA notation in slashes):

Hupa consonants[3][4] | | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | | | median | lateral | plain | labial. | plain | labial. | plain | labial. | | | | | | Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | | | | ŋ ⟨ng⟩ | | | | | | | Plosive | plain | p ⟨b⟩ | t ⟨d⟩ | | kʲ ⟨g, gy⟩[a] | | (k ⟨G⟩)[b] | | q ⟨q⟩ | ʔ ⟨ʼ⟩ | | | aspirated | | tʰ ⟨t⟩ | | kʲʰ ⟨k, ky⟩[a] | | (kʰ ⟨K⟩)[b] | | | | | | | ejective | | tʼ ⟨tʼ⟩ | | kʲʼ ⟨kʼ, kyʼ⟩[a] | | (kʼ ⟨Kʼ⟩)[b] | | qʼ ⟨qʼ⟩ | | | | | Affricate | plain | | ts ⟨dz⟩ | | tʃ ⟨j⟩ | | | | | | | | aspirated | | tsʰ ⟨ts⟩ | | | tʃʷʰ ⟨chw⟩ | | | | | | | | ejective | | tsʼ ⟨tsʼ⟩ | tɬʼ ⟨tłʼ⟩ | tʃʼ ⟨chʼ⟩ | (tʃʷʼ ⟨chwʼ⟩)[c] | | | | | | | | Fricative | | s ⟨s⟩ | ɬ ⟨ł⟩ | (ʃ ⟨sh⟩)[d] | | x ⟨x⟩ | xʷ ⟨xw⟩ | | h ⟨h⟩ | hʷ ⟨wh⟩ | | | Approximant | | | l ⟨l⟩ | j ⟨y⟩ | | | w ⟨w⟩ | | | | |

  1. ^ a b c The palatal stops ⟨g⟩, ⟨k⟩, and ⟨kʼ⟩ are written ⟨gy⟩, ⟨ky⟩, and ⟨kyʼ⟩ before the letters ⟨a⟩, ⟨o⟩, and ⟨u⟩.
  2. ^ a b c The velar stops ⟨G⟩, ⟨K⟩, and ⟨Kʼ⟩ have a limited distribution; G and K are only found in diminutive words.
  3. ^ The sound ⟨chwʼ⟩ occurs mainly as a variant pronunciation of ⟨chw⟩ in some words.
  4. ^ The sound sh is rare and occurs mainly in exclamations or loanwords.

Golla 1996 presents the following vowel system:[4]

| | Front | Central | Back | | | --------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Near-close | ɪ ⟨i⟩ | | | | Close-mid | | | o ⟨o⟩ | | Open-mid | ɛ ⟨e⟩ | | ʌ ⟨u⟩ | | Open | | | ɑ ⟨a⟩ |

Vowels ɑ, ɛ and o can be lengthened.

The Hupa alphabet is as follows:

Hupa alphabet[4]

Spelling a a꞉ b ch chʼ chw chwʼ d dz e e꞉ g gy h i j k kʼ ky kyʼ l ł
Phoneme a aː p tʃʰ tʃʼ tʃʷʰ tʃʷʼ t ts ɛ ɛː k kʲ h ɪ tʃ kʰ kʼ kʲʰ kʲʼ l ɬ
Spelling m n ng o o꞉ q qʼ s sh t tʼ tł tłʼ ts tsʼ u w wh x xw y ʼ
Phoneme m n ŋ o oː q qʼ s ʃ tʰ tʼ tɬʰ tɬʼ tsʰ tsʼ ʌ w hʷ χ χʷ j ʔ

Verb themes and classes

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As with other Dene languages, the Hupa verb is based around a theme. Melissa Axelrod has defined a theme as "the underlying skeleton of the verb to which prefixes or strings of prefixes or suffixal elements are added in producing an utterance. The theme itself has a meaning and is the basic unit of the Athabaskan verbal lexicon."[5] In addition to a verb stem, a typical theme consists of a classifier, one or more conjunct prefixes, and one or more disjunct prefixes.[6]

According to Victor Golla (1970, 2001 and others), each Hupa theme falls into one of eight structural classes according to its potential for inflection, along the following three parameters: active vs. neuter, transitive vs. intransitive, and personal vs. impersonal.[7]

  1. Active themes are inflected for aspect-mode categories, while neuter themes are not.
  2. Transitive themes are inflected for direct object, while intransitive themes are not.
  3. Personal themes are inflected for subject, while impersonal themes are not.

Golla (2001) presents examples of themes from each of the eight structural classes.[8] Orthography has been changed to conform to the current accepted tribal orthography:

Active themes:

Personal: OBJ-ƚ-me꞉n 'fill OBJ'

Impersonal: no꞉=OBJ-d-(n)-ƚ-tan 'OBJ gets used to something'

Personal: tsʼi-(w)-la꞉n/lan 'play (at a rough sport)'

Impersonal: (s)-daw 'melt away disappear'

Neuter themes:

Personal: OBJ-si-ƚ-ʼa꞉n 'have (a round object) lying'

Impersonal: OBJ-wi-l-chwe꞉n 'OBJ has been made, created'

Personal: di-n-chʼa꞉t 'ache, be sick'

Impersonal: kʼi-qots 'there is a crackling sound'

As with other Dene languages, the Hupa verb is composed of a verb stem and a set of prefixes. The prefixes can be divided into a conjunct prefix set and disjunct prefix set. The disjunct prefixes occur on the outer left edge of the verb. The conjunct prefixes occur after the disjunct prefixes, closer to the verb stem. The two types of prefixes can be distinguished by their different phonological behavior. The prefix complex may be subdivided into 10 positions, modeled in the Athabaskanist literature as a template, as follows:

Hupa verb template[9]

11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
ADV thematic material PL/aug-thematic 3.SBJ OBJ thematic material ADV DISTR-thematic mode-ASP 1.SBJ/2.SBJ classifier (voice/valency marker) verb stem

Pronouns, pronominal inflection

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Hupa verbs have pronominal (i.e., pronoun) prefixes that mark both subjects and objects. The prefixes can vary in certain modes, particularly the perfective mode (See e.g., Mode and Aspect for a discussion of modes in Navajo, a related Dene language). The prefixes vary according to person and number. The basic subject prefixes are listed in the table below:

| | Subject Prefixes | Object Prefixes | | | | | ----------------------------- | --------------- | -------- | ------ | ------ | | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | | | 1st person | -wh- | -di- | -wh- | -noh- | | 2nd person | ni- | -oh- | ni- | | | 3rdperson | animate | -chʼi- | xo- | | | obviative | yi- | -Ø- | | | | indefinite | kʼi- | -Ø- | | | | impersonal(areal-situational) | -xo- | -Ø- | | | | Reflexive | – | ʼa꞉di- | | | | Reciprocal | – | n- łi | | |

The subject prefixes occur in two different positions. The first and second subject prefixes (-wh- (or allomorph -e꞉ ), -di-, -ni-, -oh-) occur in position 2, directly before the classifier (voice/valency) prefixes. The animate, obviative, indefinite and "areal-situational" subject prefixes (chʼi-, yi-, kʼi- and xo-) are known as "deictic subject pronouns" and occur in position 8.

The direct object prefixes occur in position 7.

The Hupa free personal subject pronouns are as follows:

| | singular | plural | | | ----------- | ----------------------- | ----- | | 1st person | whe꞉ | nehe | | 2nd person | ning | nohni | | 3rd person | xong, min (low animacy) | xong |

Golla (2001) notes that the 3rd person free pronouns are very rarely used, with demonstrative pronouns being used in their place.[10]

Demonstrative pronouns

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  1. ^ "Family Statement Announcing the Passing of Verdena Leona Chase Parker". Hoopa Valley Tribe. Retrieved 2026-04-27.
  2. ^ Campbell, Lyle (2024-06-25). "North American Indian Languages North of Mexico". The Indigenous Languages of the Americas (1 ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 43–44. doi:10.1093/oso/9780197673461.003.0002. ISBN 978-0-19-767346-1. Retrieved 2025-04-27.
  3. ^ Golla 1970, pp. 25–34.
  4. ^ a b c Golla 1996.
  5. ^ Axelrod 1993, p. 17.
  6. ^ Sapir & Golla 2001.
  7. ^ Sapir & Golla 2001, p. 817.
  8. ^ Sapir & Golla 2001, p. 818.
  9. ^ adapted from Campbell (2007)
  10. ^ Sapir & Golla 2001, p. 865-866.