Timucua language

Encyclopedia : T : TI : TIM : Timucua language

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Timucua is a language isolate formerly spoken in northern Florida, southern Georgia, and eastern Alabama by the Timucua people. Most of what is known of the language comes from a Spanish-Timucuan document of 1688 and the works of Father Francisco Pareja and Father Gregorio de Monilla who were missionaries for the Timucua.

Linguistic relations

Relations have been proposed with Muskogean, Algonquian, Cariban, Siouan, Arawakan, and Chibchan languages. None of these proposals have been convincingly demonstrated.

In recent years the linguist Julian Granberry has suggested that the Timucuan language may be related to a language in northern South America called Warao. His claim is still under debate by scholars.^{[#endnote_warao]}

Dialects

Father Pareja named nine dialects spoken in northeast Florida and southeast Georgia:^{[#endnote_dialects]}

1. Timucua proper - north of the Santa Fe River in what are now Columbia, Suwannee and Madison counties in Florida.
2. Potano - in what is now Alachua County and the northern part of Marion County in Florida.
3. Itafi (or Icafui) - in southeast Georgia.
4. Yufera - in southeast Georgia.
5. Mocama (Timucua for 'salt water') or Agua Salada (Spanish for 'salt water') - along the Atlantic coast from St. Augustine north to the Altamaha River in Georgia.
6. Tucururu - uncertain, possibly in south-central Florida (a village called Tucuro was "forty leagues from St. Augustine").
7. Agua Fresca (Spanish for 'fresh water') - along the lower St. Johns River, north of Lake George.
8. Acuera - on the upper reaches of the Oklawaha River and around Lake Weir.
9. Oconi - "three days travel" from Cumberland Island, possibly around the Okefenokee Swamp.

The isolated dialect of Tawasa was spoken in Alabama. Most of the linguistic documentation is from Mocama and Potano.

Sounds

Consonants

Timucua has 13 consonants:

	Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Velar		Glottal
				plain	labial
Stop	p	t		k	kʷ
Affricate			ʧ
Fricative	f	s				h
Nasal	m	n
Rhotic		r
Approximant			j
Voiced stop, fricative, or approximant	b

Vowels

Timucua has 5 vowels:

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Mid	e	o
Low	a

Sample vocabulary

Vocabulary ^{[#endnote_vocab2]}

English	Timucua
one	yaha
two	yucha
three	hapu
man	biro
woman	nia
dog	efa
sun	ela
moon	acu
water	ibi
door	unuchua
fire	taca
tobacco	hinino
bread	pesolo
drink	ucu

Sample text

Here is a sample from a priest's interview of Timucua speakers preparing for conversion:^{[#endnote_sampletext]}

:Hachipileco, cacaleheco, chulusi eyolehecote, nahebuasota, caquenchabequestela, mota una yaruru catemate, caquenihabe, quintela manta bohobicho?

:Do you believe that when the blue jay or another bird sings and the body is trembling, that is a signal that people are coming or something important is about to happen?.

See also

• Timucua

Notes

Bibliography

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Crawford, James. (1975). Southeastern Indian languages. In J. Crawford (Ed.), Studies in southeastern Indian languages (pp. 1-120). Athens, GA: University of Georgia.
• Goddard, Ives (Ed.). (1996). Languages. Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 17). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-1604-8774-9.
• Granberry, Julian. (1990). A grammatical sketch of Timucua. International Journal of American Linguistics, 56, 60-101.
• Granberry, Julian. (1993). A Grammar and Dictionary of the Timucua Language (3rd ed.). Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. (1st edition 1984).
• Milanch, Jerald T. (2004). Timucua. In R. D. Fogelson (Ed.), Southeast (p. 219-228). Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 17) (W. C. Sturtevant, Gen. Ed.). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-072300-0.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Mooney, James. (1910). Timucua. Bureau of American Ethnology, bulletin (No. 30.2, p. 752).
• Pareja, Fray Francisco. (1614). Arte y pronunciación en lengua timvquana y castellana. Mexico: Emprenta de Ioan Ruyz.
• Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). (1978-present). Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 1-20). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. (Vols. 1-3, 16, 18-20 not yet published).
• Swanton, John R. (1946). The Indians of the southeastern United States. Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology bulletin (No. 137). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

External links

• [Linguists research Timucua, a language with no speakers]
• [Timucua Language Resources]

 

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