Atsugewi is a moribund Palaihnihan language of northeastern California spoken by the Atsugewi people. As of 1962, there were four speakers out of an ethnic group of 200, all elderly. Possibly extinct.
Astugewi is related to Achumawi.
The Palaihnihan family is being considered as part of the hypothetical Hokan stock.
Sounds
Consonants
The 32 consonants of Atsugewi:
|
|
| Bilabial
| Labio-dental
| Alveolar
| Post-alveolar
| Velar
| Uvular
| Glottal
|
| Stop
| unaspirated
|
|
| t
|
| k
| q
|
|
| aspirated
| pʰ
|
| tʰ
|
| kʰ
| qʰ
|
|
| ejective
| p’
|
| t’
|
| k’
| q’
| ʔ
|
| Affricate
| unaspirated
|
|
|
| ʧ
|
|
|
|
| aspirated
|
|
|
| ʧʰ
|
|
|
|
| ejective
|
|
|
| ʧ’
|
|
|
|
| Nasal
| plain
| m
|
| n
|
|
|
|
|
| glottalized
| m’
|
| n’
|
|
|
|
|
| Rhotic
| plain
|
|
| r
|
|
|
|
|
| glottalized
|
|
| r’
|
|
|
|
|
| Fricative
| plain
|
|
| s
|
|
|
| h
|
| glottalized
|
|
| s’
|
|
|
| ĥ
|
| Approximant
| central
| plain
|
| w
|
| j
|
|
|
|
| glottalized
|
| w’
|
| j’
|
|
|
|
| lateral
| plain
|
|
| l
|
|
|
|
|
| glottalized
|
|
| l’
|
|
|
|
|
Vowels
Bibliography
- Bright, William. (1965). [Review of A history of Palaihnihan phonology by D. L. Olmstead]. Language, 41 (1), 175-178.
- Good, Jeff. (2004). A sketch of Atsugewi phonology. Boston, MA. (Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas, January 8–11).
- Good, Jeff; McFarland, Teresa; & Paster, Mary. (2003). Reconstructing Achumawi and Atsugewi: Proto-Palaihnihan revisited. Atlanta, GA. (Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas, January 2–5).
- Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
- Olmstead, David L. (1954). Achumawi-Atsugewi non-reciprocal intelligibility. International Journal of American Linguistics, 20, 181-184.
- Olmstead, David L. (1956). Palaihnihan and Shasta I: Labial stops. Language, 32 (1), 73-77.
- Olmstead, David L. (1957). Palaihnihan and Shasta II: Apical stops. Language, 33 (2), 136-138.
- Olmstead, David L. (1958). Atsugewi phonology. International Journal of American Linguistics, 24, 215-220.
- Olmstead, David L. (1959). Palaihnihan and Shasta III: Dorsal stops. Language, 35 (4), 637-644.
- Olmstead, David L. (1961). Atsugewi morphology I: Verb Inflection. International Journal of American Linguistics, 27, 91-113.
- Olmstead, David L. (1964). A history of Palaihnihan phonology. University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 35). Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Talmy, Leonard. (n.d.). Midway phonological analysis of Atsugewi. (Unpublished notes).
- Talmy, Leonard. (1972). Semantic structures in English and Atsugewi. (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley).
