Catawba language

Catawba (/kəˈtɔːbə/) is one of two Eastern Siouan languages of the eastern US, which together with the Western Siouan languages formed the Siouan language family.

Catawba
Ye Iswąˀ
Native to	United States
Region	South Carolina
Ethnicity	Ye Iswąre (Catawba)
Extinct	1959, with the death of Samuel Taylor Blue
Revival	1989
Language family	Siouan Catawban (Eastern Siouan) Catawba
Language codes
ISO 639-3	chc
Glottolog	cata1286
ELP	Catawba
Linguasphere	64-ABA-ab
Pre-contact distribution of the Catawba language.
Catawba is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

The last native, fluent speaker of Catawba was Samuel Taylor Blue, who died in 1959. The Catawba people are now working to revitalize and preserve the Catawba language.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d
Affricate				tʃ
Nasal		m	n
Fricative			s	ʃ		h
Trill			r
Approximant		w		j

• /ʃ/ rarely occurs.

• There is also a [ɡ] sound, which occurs as an allophone of /k/.

Vowels

Short vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid	e
Open	a

Long vowels

	Front	Back
Close	iː	uː
Mid	eː
Open	aː

Nasalised vowels

	Front	Back
Close	ĩ	ũ
Mid	ẽ
Open	ã

• Short vowel sounds /i, e, a, u/ can be heard as lax, ranging to [ɪ, ə~ɛ, ɑ, ʊ].

• /u/ can range to [o], and a short /a/ can range to a back vowel sound [ɑ].

Orthography

A Catawba alphabet was created by the Catawba Language Project for the Catawba language, as part of a revitalization effort for the language and the creation of an app for it.

(Ye Iswąʔre) Catawba alphabet

A a	Ą ą	Aa aa	α	B b	Č č
[a~ɑ]	[ã]	[aː]	[ʌ~ə]	[b]	[t͡ʃ]
D d	E e	Ę ę	Ee ee	Ɛ ɛ	G g
[d]	[e]	[ẽ~ɛ̃]	[eː]	[ɛ]	[g]
H h	I i	Į į	Ii ii	K k	M m
[h]	[i]	[ĩ]	[iː]	[k]	[m]
N n	P p	R r	S s	T t	U u
[n]	[p]	[r]	[s~ʃ]	[t]	[u~ʊ]
Ų ų	Uu uu	W w	Y y	ʔ	ʰ
[ũ]	[uː]	[w]	[j]	[ʔ]	[ʰ]
Á á	ά	É é	έ	Í í	Ú ú
[á~ɑ́]	[ɑ́~ə́]	[é]	[ɛ́]	[í]	[ú~ʊ́]
Ą́ ą́	Ę́ ę́	Į́ į́	Ų́ ų́
[ã́]	[ẽ́~ɛ̃́]	[ĩ]	[ṹ~ʊ̃́]

• The aspirated ⟨ʰ⟩ is used in the word: hawuʰ 'thank you'.
• The ⟨ʔ⟩ is written in different ways like ⟨ɂ⟩ and ⟨ˀ⟩ in some texts.
• The ⟨o⟩ and ⟨ǫ⟩ is some time occurs in words like example, "mǫ(hare)" meaning ask, "wǫ" meaning call, "mǫhee" meaning ice, and "sota" meaning Santee Tribe

Vocabulary

Some Catawba lexicon is presented below.

Word lists

Numbers

English	Catawba
One	dαpinɛ
Two	nąpαri
Three	naminα
Four	pαrapαri
Five	paktαri
Six	dipkuura
Seven	wasisiniyα
Eight	dαbusa
Nine	wąɁča
Ten	pičinɛ
Eleven	pičinɛ dαpinɛ hαksα
Twelve	pičinɛ nąpαri hαksα
Thirteen	pičinɛ naminα hαksα
Fourteen	pičinɛ pαrapαri hαksα
Fifteen	pičinɛ paktαri hαksα
Sixteen	pičinɛ dipkuura hαksα
Seventeen	pičinɛ wasisiniyα hαksα
Eighteen	pičinɛ dαbusa hαksα
Nineteen	pičinɛ wąɁča hαksα
Twenty	pičinɛ nąpαri
Thirty	pičinɛ naminα
Forty	pičinɛ pαrapαri
Fifty	pičinɛ paktαri
Sixty	pičinɛ dipkuura
Seventy	pičinɛ wasisiniyα
Eighty	pičinɛ dαbusa
Ninety	pičinɛ wąɁča
One hundred	pičinε harε
One thousand	pičinε harε iksα namuwaʔ

Greetings

Catawba	English
Tαnakɛ	Hello
Kuri	Good
Yawab kuri	Good morning
Yab kuri	Good day
Wičawaséɂ kuri	Good evening
Wiičawa kuri	Good night
Tiine yiiéduu	How are you
Yį yat tanenɛ	What is your name
... nii yat	My name is ...
Dehare	It's me
Tiine wiiéduu	How are you all
Tαną kureɂ	How goes
Tαnąčuharɛ	Ok (I'm alright)
Baraɂharɛ	It's not good
Wanαsárɛ	I feel sick
Síiɂserɛ	I am tired
Mąsačure	I am so happy
Hawuʰ	Thank you
Katé	Later (goodbye)

Catawba Vocabulary

English	Catawba
Tree	yap
Grass	sαrak
Cloud	nɛmą
God (creator)	yahrúweh
Devil (evil spirit)	yehuręče
And	derα, ka
Yes	himbá
No	waharé
That	ma
River	iswą
Water	yą
Earth	mánuuwa
Sun	nųti
Moon	wičawa nųti
Blessings	dúupa wiiyukαrį
Loss	dečere
Dog	tąsi
Cat	hapkę
Horse	witsakway
Turtle	kayaɁ
Fish	yii
Butterfly	dapanenei
Earthworm	kučiri
Deer	widαbuye
Bird	kučin
Blue jay	tiinde
Woodpecker	wačαk
Robin	wiispαkpαk
Goose	ahą
Eagle	wikčiči
Owl	wimbá
Chipmunk	dɛpendαtaksusuɁ
Squirrel	payą
Rabbit	pvⁿwaⁿ (pąwą)
Beaver	čapi, tąʔse amúre
Bison (Buffalo)	wideé
Snake	yaɁ
Wolf	tąsisúre
Fox	dαpαyamuye
Bear	nimęɁ
Chicken	watką
Duck	kasą́
Dove	itúsi
Turkey	witką teruu
Corn	kus
Milk	witas
Potato	witiki
Sweet Potato	witiki čuwa
Egg	hinu
Acorn	Tumu
Apple	triɁi
Blueberry	wuuii aru
Pear	tri
Food	nuuyą
Vegetable	kus mirúu
Fruit	trii
Dry Goods	nuuyą yiire
Family	yemą
Grandfather	tatéwa
Grandmother	isčuu
Father	nane
Mother	yaksu
Husband	yį kiča
Wife	yaa kiča
Son	kuríi
Daughter	ɛnuwa
Brother	mbarana
Sister	yaanáa
Drum	tushakehi
Rattle	sę́sαreʔha
Office	suukiatéru
House	suuk
Bathroom	ísuk
Kitchen	hiriʰsahęʰ
Farm	Yabsigre
Cash register	yekąwą dyákere
Dollar	suntarúu
Hunter	yękurepahą
Body	ihaakyuu
Head	iskąʔ
Hair	iskąsi
Face	hinen
Forehead	itaap
Ear	duksuuʔ
Eye	hįtuuʔ
Nose	ipįsuuʔ
Mouth	isumuuʔ
Tongue	hisumuuʔ­se
Tooth	hiyaap, niyaap
Beard	yisumuuʔ­see
Neck	idát
Arm	iksa
Hand	iksapiya
Fingers	iksa ičaa
Nails	iksa pis
Belly	ipą
Feet	h­įpapiya
Foot	n­įpapiya
Toes	i­įpaičaaʔ
Bone	hipasaap, nusaap
Heart	dihaa
Chief	yę miirá
Red	siiką
Blue	wuuii
Green	wiiyą
Yellow	wiiyę
White	takčii
Black	hawakče
Day of the Catawbas	yáp ye iswą
Ache	warepa
Over (Beyond)	αkę́
Armpit	hinų́ksu
Ashes	yáči
Ask	mǫ(hare)
Axe (knife)	sįpé
Back	įtak
Hold	pąʔ
Shoulder	híriit
Bare (husked)	sαráhę́ʔ
Root	tet
Pot (Basket)	(i)tus
Be	ri
Blood	iit
Blow	puu
Brain	mųtu
Reed (cane)	wąsa
Burn	wiirą
Call (shout)	wǫ
Carry (go)	kida
Flint	wą
Cold	čiʔ
Cry	ake
Cut	kąʔ
Dance	bari
Day	yáp
Then	αn
There	či
Dig	ʔare
Do (make)	ʔǫči
Cause	če
Dream	hímbare
Ground	mánuu
Inside	hákαpaʔ
Step	peʔ
Ice	mǫhee
Go	ra
At	tak
Sit	wą
Sleep	imų
Tobacco	ųpaa
Small	sų́wα
Town, Village	wee
House, hut	suuk
Creek	yátru ihaterú
Catawba River	iswą katabare
Board River	iswą hápide
Congaree River	iswą karaʔre
Santee River	iswą tii
Savannah River	isundiga
Wateree River	iswą wátraʔre, wátra
Sugeree creek	iswą sígrii
Catawba Tribe	ye iswąʔre
Wateree Tribe	ye iswą wátraʔre
Cheraw Tribe	sarα
Cherokee Tribe	ye matεra
Chickahominy tribe	ye kusi
Chickasaw Tribe	ye imohčékεre
Choctaw Tribe	ye čákere
Congaree Tribe	ye iswąkaraʔre
Creek Tribe	ye kusáʔre
Eno Tribe	ye íinare
Etiwa Tribe	itawa
Kiawah Tribe	kaya
Lumbee Tribe	kerúkeruʔre, ye makeruɁre
Pamunkey Tribe	mákiis
Pedee Tribe	ye piiɁre
Santee Tribe	są́ta, sota
Saponi Tribe	yepą
Sawee Tribe	ye sαwiiʔre
Shawnee Tribe	sawana
Sugeree Tribe	ye sígriiʔre
Tuscarora Tribe	taskaruni, ye atεra
Waxhaw Tribe	ye hiskapeteʔre
Woccon Tribe	wakų
Yamasee Tribe	yeemusi
Yuchi Tribe	yučikere

Errata

Red Thunder Cloud, an impostor, born Cromwell Ashbie Hawkins West, claimed to be Catawba and the last speaker of the Catawba language. He was promoted by anthropologist Frank Speck, who introduced West to the Catawba community. The Catawba told Speck that West was not Catawba, but Speck ignored them and continued to promote West and include him in his work, even recommending him as an expert to other anthropologists. (Speck is also the source of the theory that Catawba is a Siouan language; at one time he also insisted that the Cherokee language is Siouan.) At his death in 1996 it was revealed that West was neither Catawba nor even Native American, but had learned what he knew of the language from books, and from listening to the last known native speaker, Samuel Taylor Blue and his half-sister, Sally Gordon, when Speck brought him to the Catawba reservation. This had apparently been enough to fool the non-Native ethnologists who wrote about him.

External links

• Ives Goddard, 2000. "The Identity of Red Thunder Cloud", Smithsonian Institution, reprinted from Society for the Study of Indigenous Languages of the Americas Newsletter. (accessed 2021-05-25)
• Catawba Texts "Catawba Language App"