The Tonkawa language was spoken in Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico by the Tonkawa people. A language isolate, with no known related languages, Tonkawa has not had L1 (first language) speakers since the mid 1900s. Most Tonkawa people now only speak English, but revitalization is underway.
Phonology
Vowels
Tonkawa has 10 vowels:
Each vowel is distinguished by the quality of sound and the length of the vowel. The vowels occur in five pairs that have differing vowel lengths (i.e. short vowels vs. long vowels). In the front and the mid back vowel pairs, the short vowels are phonetically lower than their long counterparts: → , → , → . The low vowels vary between central and back articulations: . Vowels that are followed by j and w are slightly raised in their position of articulation
Consonants
Tonkawa has 15 consonants:
The affricate and fricative vary freely between dental and postalveolar articulations, i.e. and . There is a tendency for to occur at the end of words (but no tendency for ). The other coronals are consistently dental. The dorsal obstruents are produced with a palatal place of articulation before front vowels , otherwise they are velar: → The dorsal approximants are consistently palatal and labiovelar respectively.
Consonant clusters
There are two environments in which consonant clusters occur in Tonkawa: when a consonant is repeated when the cluster is within the syllable
Repeated or identical consonants are treated as one unit. However, the condition that causes this repetition has not been fully analyzed. Example: 'he scrapes it' versus 'lightning strikes him' There are cases where the glottal stop is not used in the cluster or combination
There are certain consonants that can either begin or end in a cluster. However, if the cluster begins the syllable, there can be no intervening vowel. Initial Cluster Consonants: Final Cluster Consonants:
Phonological processes and morphophonemics
Initial stem syllables that begin with h-
the h- is dropped when a prefix is added
if the syllable is C + V, then the vowel is lengthened and given the quality of the stem vowel. if the syllable ends in a consonant, then the initial stem forms a new syllable with the final consonant of the prefix.
Final stem syllables
Forms: C V w or C V y
The form changes to C if followed by a suffix that starts with a consonant
If a long vowel occurs the suffixes change from (-we/-/) to (- or -o//-)
An interesting feature of Tonkawan phonology is that the vowels in even-numbered syllables are reduced. That is, long vowels are shortened, while short vowels disappear. Analyses of this were given by Kisseberth (1970), Phelps (1973, 1975) and Noske (1993).
Syllable structure
The Tonkawa language is a syllabic language that bases its word and sentence prosody on even stressed syllables. Disyllabic words are when the stress is placed on the final syllable. Polysyllabic words are when the stress is moved to the next to last syllable, the penult.
There are five types of syllable arrangements: (CL consonant, CC: consonant cluster, V: vowel) C + V → ka-la 'mouth' C + V + C → tan-kol 'back of head' CC + V → 'he scrapes it' CC + V + C → 'lightning strikes him' C + V + or / / → jam- 'I paint his face'
Morphology
The morphemes in Tonkawa can be divided as follows:
I. Themes
Free – the stem can stand alone
Bound – the stem must have a suffix or prefix attached; it cannot stand alone
In Tonkawa the theme is composed of morphologic units. The basic unit is the stem. The stem is composed of two elements (the consonant and vowel) and modified by affixes. The theme, or stem, is functional, which means it changes as more affixation is added. This leads to the fusion of the stem and affix where it becomes difficult to isolate the word into its smaller units.
II. Affixes
Transformative – the affix changes the meaning and/or function of the word
Verbal – the affix changes a certain aspect of the verb
Noun and Pronoun – the affix changes a certain aspect of the noun or pronoun
III. Enclitics
Grammar
In English, pronouns, nouns, verbs, etc., are individual words; Tonkawa forms the parts of speech differently, and the most important grammatical function is affixation. This process shows the subjects, objects, and pronouns of words and/or verbs. Within affixations, the suffix has more importance than the prefix.