Molala language

Molala
Molalla
Native toUnited States
RegionCascade Mountains of Oregon
EthnicityMolala people
Extinct1958, with the death of Fred Yelkes (1885–1958)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3mbe
Glottologmola1238
Molala is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
[2]

Molala is an extinct language once spoken by the Molala people of Oregon. Currently it is included among the Plateau Penutian language family, with Klamath and Sahaptin being considered the closest related.[3][4]

Classification

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Waiilatpuan family

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The first written vocabulary of the Molala language was published by Horatio Hale in 1846. As a member of the United States Exploring Expedition, he had visited the Pacific Northwest in 1841. Missionary Marcus Whitman was credited for providing "much valuable information" about the Cayuse people and other natives nearby Waiilatpu.[5] Hale also recorded a Cayuse language vocabulary with Whitman's assistance. In his Waiilatpuan language family, Hale put Cayuse and Molala as the sole members.[6]

In 1910 or 1911, Stephens Savage, a Molala speaker, had told Leo Frachtenberg that the following five words were identical in both Cayuse and Molala:[7]

sorrel horse qasqasi tasiwitkwi
spotted horse yuꞏk tasiwitkwi
black horse múkimuki tasiwitkwi
comb taꞏsps
spoon ƚúꞏpinc

In 1929 Edward Sapir grouped Cayuse with Molala as part of the Waiilatpuan branch of the Plateau Penutian languages.[8]

Bruce Rigsby reexamined the Cayuse-Molala lexical pairs provided by Hale and found only a tenth to be potentially related terms. Whitman was credited as the origin of the Waiilatpuan linguistic family. Upon his review of extant Molala and Cayuse linguistic data, Rigsby concluded "I do not see how the two languages could have possibly been mutually intelligible."[9]

Dialects

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There were three known dialects:

  • Northern Molala, spoken in the Molalla River watershed.
  • Upper Santiam Molala, spoken along the upper Santiam River.
  • Southern Molala, spoken along the headwaters of the Umpqua and Rogue rivers.

Phonology

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Consonants

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Bilabial Alveolar Lateral Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Plosive plain p t k q ʔ
aspirated pʰ tʰ kʰ qʰ
ejective pʼ tʼ kʼ qʼ
Nasal m n ŋ
Affricate plain ts tɬ
ejective tsʼ
Fricative ɸ s ɬ x h
Approximant w l j

Vowels

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Short Long
Close i iː
Open a~e aː
Back u uː

/i/ and /a/ can also shift to [ə].[10]

Orthography

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This is an (unofficial) Salish-based orthography for the Molala language:

Molala alphabet (unofficial)
a aa c c̓ e f h i ii k kʰ k̓ l ɬ ƛ m n ŋ p pʰ p̓ q qʰ q̓ s t tʰ t̓ u uu w x y ʔ
a aː ts tsʼ e~ə ɸ h i iː k kʰ k’ l ɬ tɬ m n ŋ p pʰ p’ q qʰ q’ s t tʰ t’ u uː w x y ʔ

Grammar

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Molala is a verb-heavy polysynthetic language.

Case

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Molala nouns have seven cases:

  1. nominative
  2. accusative
  3. genitive
  4. instrumental
  5. locative
  6. allative
  7. ablative

References

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  1. ^ Wurm, Mühlhäusler & Tryon 1996, p. 1148.
  2. ^ Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (Report) (3rd ed.). UNESCO. 2010. p. 11.
  3. ^ Pharris 2006, pp. 358–359.
  4. ^ NLA 2005.
  5. ^ Hale 1846, p. 542.
  6. ^ Hale 1846, p. 561.
  7. ^ Rigsby 1969.
  8. ^ Sapir 1929.
  9. ^ Rigsby 1969, pp. 82–83.
  10. ^ Berman 1996, pp. 3–5.

Bibliography

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Wiktionary has a word list at Appendix:Molala word list
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