# Maricopa language

Maricopa or Piipaash is spoken by the Native American Maricopa people on two reservations in Arizona: the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and the Gila River Indian Community. Most speakers live in Maricopa Colony. The language is considered severely endangered by UNESCO.
Although the Maricopa now live among the Pima, their language is completely unrelated. It is a Yuman language, related to other languages such as Mohave, Cocopah, Havasupai, Yavapai and Kumeyaay, while the Pima speak a Uto-Aztecan language.
According to the Ethnologue, language shift is occurring at Maricopa Colony: "The child-bearing generation can use the language among themselves, but it is not being transmitted to children." At Salt River, it is nearly extinct: "The only remaining users of the language are members of the grandparent generation or older who have little opportunity to use the language.
There are about 100 speakers out of an ethnic population of 800. Salt River's cultural resources department estimates that there are around 15 fluent native speakers remaining in the Salt River community. There are many more with varying degrees of fluency, including many who can understand but not speak Maricopa.
The modern Maricopa people are actually an amalgamation of five separate but related groups, with different dialects. There are now two dialects of Maricopa: Piipaash and Xalychidom. Most Piipaash reside at Maricopa Colony on the Gila River Indian Community, and most Xalychidom reside at Salt River. However, all remaining dialect differences are fairly minor. Xalychidom is the dialect spoken by the formerly distinct Xalychidom people.
There is a language revitalization program at Salt River, the O'odham Piipaash Language Program, offering immersion classes, language-based cultural arts classes, community language-based social activities, and assistance with translation, cultural information and language learning.

## Phonology

All claims and examples in this section come from Gordon (1986) unless otherwise noted.

### Consonants

| | | Labial | Alveolar | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Velar | Velar | Uvular | Uvular | Glottal |
| | | Labial | plain | pal. | Retroflex | Palatal | plain | lab. | pal. | plain | lab. | Glottal |
| Stop | Stop | p | t | | ʈ | | k | kʷ | kʲ | q | qʷ | ʔ |
| Affricate | Affricate | | | | | t͡ʃ | | | | | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | (f) | s | | ʂ | | x | xʷ | | | | |
| Fricative | voiced | v | ð | | | | | | | | | |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | | ɲ | (ŋ) | | | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | | l | lʲ | | j | | w | | | | |
| Trill | Trill | | r | | | | | | | | | |
Phonemes /f/ and /ŋ/ occur only in loanwords like kafe /kafe/ 'coffee' and narangk /naraŋk/ 'orange', both from Spanish. [ŋ] also occurs as an allophone of /ɲ/.

### Vowels

Maricopa has 10 phonemic vowels made up of 5 pairs of corresponding long and short vowels with the cross-linguistically common five-way quality contrast:
| | Front | Central | Back |
| High | i iː | | u uː |
| Mid | e eː | | o oː |
| Low | | a aː | |
There are falling diphthongs that glide from one vowel sound into another. Diphthongs can also be long or short: /ej/ and /eːj/ are both found.
Diphthongs are
    /aj aːj ej eːj oj oːj uj uːj aw aːw ew eːw/,
as in kwidui /kwiduj/ and mahai /maxaj/.

### Stress and intonation

Stress within a word falls on the final root vowel (they are capitalized):
    /XOT-k/ → [ˈxotɪk]
    /m-XOT-k/ → [məˈxotɪk]
    /XʷET-xot-m/ → [ˈxʷetxotɪm]
Declarative sentences have a falling intonation toward the end of the sentence.
Interrogative sentences have a rising intonation toward the end of the sentence.

### Epenthesis

Epenthesis of vowels to relieve consonant clusters is a major and complicated issue in Maricopa. It is not completely understood, but some general statement can be made.
Epenthetic vowels can have the quality of any other vowel as well as some reduced vowel qualities. However, the form is basically predictable from the local context:
* [ɪ]/[i] occur after palatal or alveolar consonants
* XX before /ʔ/ the epenthetic
* [ɪ]/[ə] occur elsewhere
Sequences of three non-syllabic consonants never surface without epenthesis. Sequences of two consonants sometimes cause epenthesis, depending on the consonants in question.
Nasals and liquids are least likely to accompany epenthesis, as they often syllabify instead, particularly in the following circumstances:
* An initial nasal before a homorganic stop optionally becomes syllabic.
* An initial liquid before a clitic boundary optionally becomes syllabic.
* In /nn/ sequences, the first n syllabifies. (However, in /mm/ sequences, epenthesis occurs instead, yielding [məm].)
In most other initial two-consonant cluster, epenthesis occurs:
    /mxan-k/ → [məxanɪk]
    /ʔ-mxan-k/ → [ʔəmxanɪk]
Some final clusters are allowed, but others are broken up. The distinction seems to rest partially on the number of syllables in the word as well as the particular sequence of consonants:
    /wiʂ-k/ → [wiʂk]
    /uːwiʂ-k/ → [uːwiʂɪk]

### Assimilation and other phonological changes

Non-initial sequences of identical oral consonants, other than /ʂ/, geminate:
    /mðiːlʲ-lʲa/ → [mðiːlʲːa]
    /nak-k/ → [nakː]
The sequence /ʂʂ/ can surface as [tʂ]. Thus, /ʔiːpaʂ-ʂ/ may surface as [ʔiːpatʂ] or [ʔiːpaʂɪʂ].
When /t͡ʃ/ follows any segment except /ʂ/ and precedes any unstressed segment, it deaffricates to /ʂ/: /t͡ʃmɲaː-k/ surfaces as [t͡ʃɪmɪɲaːk], but /m-t͡ʃmɲaː-k/ surfaces as [mɪʂɪmɪɲaːk].
For less conservative speakers, /t͡ʃ/ can surface as /ʂ/ before any unstressed segment other than /s/.
Unstressed high vowels can lower to the corresponding mid vowel.
[u] is inserted between a rounded consonant and a round or labial consonant. A rounded consonant can delabialize before any other consonant.
/ɲ/ assimilates to [ŋ] before a velar or post-velar consonant. After a morpheme boundary, [ŋ] is preceded by [ɪ].
Between a back vowel and any following vowel, [w] is inserted:
    /juː-uːm/ → [juːwuːm]
    /maː-uːm/ → [maːwuːm]
Between a front vowel and a background vowel, /j/ is inserted:
    /siː-uːm/ → [siːjuːm]
    /mɲe-uːm/ → [mɪɲejuːm]

## Morphology
### Case marking

Maricopa has a subject marker -sh but no marker for the direct object.
mat-v-sh
earth-DEMONSTRATIVE-SUBJECT
'or'or-m
round-REAL
mat-v-sh 'or'or-m
earth-DEMONSTRATIVE-SUBJECT round-REAL
"The world (near) is round."
'iipaa-ny-sh
man-DEMONSTRATIVE-SUBJECT
qwaaq
deer
kyaa-m
shoot-REAL
'iipaa-ny-sh qwaaq kyaa-m
man-DEMONSTRATIVE-SUBJECT deer shoot-REAL
"The man shot the deer."
There are four other cases: comitative ("with, about"), adessive/allative ("at, towards"), inessive/illative ("in, on, into"), and general locative or directional ("to, from").
-m: comitative ("with"), instrumental ("with, by means of").
Grace-sh
Grace-SUBJECT
Bonnie-m
Bonnie-COMITATIVE
uudav-k
be=with-REAL
Grace-sh Bonnie-m uudav-k
Grace-SUBJECT Bonnie-COMITATIVE be=with-REAL
"Grace is with Bonnie."
-ii: locative with adessive ("at") and allative ("to, toward") meanings.
h'a-sh
tree-SUBJECT
ha-s-ii
water-DEMONSTRATIVE-LOCATIVE
v'aw-m
stand-REAL
h'a-sh ha-s-ii v'aw-m
tree-SUBJECT water-DEMONSTRATIVE-LOCATIVE stand-REAL
"The tree is by the water (distant, out of sight)."
-ly: locative with inessive ("in, on") and illative ("into, to") meanings.
iipaa-ny-sh
man-DEMONSTRATIVE-SUBJECT
Flagstaff-ly
Flagstaff-LOCATIVE
yem-k
go-REAL
iipaa-ny-sh Flagstaff-ly yem-k
man-DEMONSTRATIVE-SUBJECT Flagstaff-LOCATIVE go-REAL
"The man went to Flagstaff."
-k: general locative and directional ("to, from").
Lynn-sh
Lynn-SUBJECT
Yuma-k
Yuma-LOCATIVE
dii-k
come-REAL
Lynn-sh Yuma-k dii-k
Lynn-SUBJECT Yuma-LOCATIVE come-REAL
"Lynn came from Yuma."
Case markers can be clitics in verbs as if they were applicative markers.
tdish
corn
mat
earth
ily-k-shvaw-k
LOCATIVE-IMPERATIVE-put-REAL
tdish mat ily-k-shvaw-k
corn earth LOCATIVE-IMPERATIVE-put-REAL
"Plant the corn in the ground."
'ii
wood
hat
dog
ny-m-'-aham-m
DEMONSTRATIVE-INSTRUMENTAL-FIRSTPERSON-hit-REAL
'ii hat ny-m-'-aham-m
wood dog DEMONSTRATIVE-INSTRUMENTAL-FIRSTPERSON-hit-REAL
"I hit the dog with the stick."

### Negative

Verbs are negated by adding the circumfix (w)aly-...-ma.
chii-sh
fish-SUBJECT
ha=han-ly
river-LOCATIVE
aly-dik-ma-k
NEGATIVE-lie-NEGATIVE-REAL
chii-sh ha=han-ly aly-dik-ma-k
fish-SUBJECT river-LOCATIVE NEGATIVE-lie-NEGATIVE-REAL
"(There) aren't (any) fish in the river."
waly-'-tpuy-ma-k
NEGATIVE-FIRSTPERSON-kill-NEGATIVE-REAL
waly-'-tpuy-ma-k
NEGATIVE-FIRSTPERSON-kill-NEGATIVE-REAL
"I didn't kill him."
Heather-sh
Heather-SUBJECT
va
house
aly-k-di-ma-k
NEGATIVE-LOCATIVE-come-NEGATIVE-REAL
Heather-sh va aly-k-di-ma-k
Heather-SUBJECT house NEGATIVE-LOCATIVE-come-NEGATIVE-REAL
"Heather didn't come from the house."
In copulative sentences (those with the verb "to be"), the negative element is placed on the predicate noun.
'iipaa-sh
man-SUBJECT
waly-'-do-ma-k
NEGATIVE-FIRSTPERSON-be-NEGATIVE-REAL
'iipaa-sh waly-'-do-ma-k
man-SUBJECT NEGATIVE-FIRSTPERSON-be-NEGATIVE-REAL
"I am not a man."
aly-'iipaa-ma-sh
NEGATIVE-man-NEGATIVE-SUBJECT
(duu-m)
be-REAL
aly-'iipaa-ma-sh (duu-m)
NEGATIVE-man-NEGATIVE-SUBJECT be-REAL
"She is not a man."
The first element of the negative circumfix is sometimes omitted, such as a sentence with nominalization.
nyip
me
'-ny-kwr'ak
FIRSTPERSON-POSSESSIVE-old.man
pakyer-ma-sh
cowboy-NEGATIVE-SUBJECT
nyip '-ny-kwr'ak pakyer-ma-sh
me FIRSTPERSON-POSSESSIVE-old.man cowboy-NEGATIVE-SUBJECT
"My husband is not a cowboy."
harav
liquour
uusish-ma-sh
drink+NOMINATIVE-NEGATIVE-SUBJECT
hot-k
good-REAL
harav uusish-ma-sh hot-k
liquour drink+NOMINATIVE-NEGATIVE-SUBJECT good-REAL
"Not drinking liquor is good."
There are constructions with a variable placement of the negative morpheme. In reflexives, the reflexive morpheme mat- can precede or follow the first part of the negative circumfix.
waly-mat-'-shoot-ma-ksh
NEGATIVE-REFLEXIVE-FIRSTPERSON-hurt-NEGATIVE-1PPERFECT
waly-mat-'-shoot-ma-ksh
NEGATIVE-REFLEXIVE-FIRSTPERSON-hurt-NEGATIVE-1PPERFECT
"I didn't hurt myself."
mat-aly-'-shoot-ma-ksh
REFLEXIVE-NEGATIVE-FIRSTPERSON-hurt-NEGATIVE-1PPERFECT
mat-aly-'-shoot-ma-ksh
REFLEXIVE-NEGATIVE-FIRSTPERSON-hurt-NEGATIVE-1PPERFECT
"I didn't hurt myself."
Maricopa has no unique word for "never." The language uses the verb aly-'aa-ma-k 'NEGATIVE-hear-NEGATIVE-REAL' and the event that did not occur as a subordinate clause.
man-sh
you-SUBJECT
m-shmaa-m
SECONDPERSON-sleep-m
aly-m-'aa-ma-k
NEGATIVE-SECONDPERSON-hear-NEGATIVE-REAL
man-sh m-shmaa-m aly-m-'aa-ma-k
you-SUBJECT SECONDPERSON-sleep-m NEGATIVE-SECONDPERSON-hear-NEGATIVE-REAL
"You never sleep."
Bonnie
Bonnie
'-yuu-k
FIRSTPERSON-see-SAMESUBJECT
waly-'aa-ma-k
NEGATIVE-hear-NEGATIVE-REAL
Bonnie '-yuu-k waly-'aa-ma-k
Bonnie FIRSTPERSON-see-SAMESUBJECT NEGATIVE-hear-NEGATIVE-REAL
"I never see Bonnie."
There is a special verb kuvar, meaning "to be none," to express the meaning of "there isn't."
mash-sh
food-SUBJECT
kuvar-k
none-REAL
mash-sh kuvar-k
food-SUBJECT none-REAL
"There is no food."
man-sh
you-SUBJECT
shyaal
money
m-kuvar-k
SECONDPERSON-none-REAL
man-sh shyaal m-kuvar-k
you-SUBJECT money SECONDPERSON-none-REAL
"You have no money."
Negative adverbs vary in scope depending on their position relative to the negative circumfix. For example, the adverb -haay 'still, yet' is outside of the scope of the negation if the order of the morphemes is ma-haay. On the other hand, 'still' is inside of the scope of the negation if the order of the morphemes is haay-ma.
'iikway
cow
dany
DEMONSTRATIVE
aly-shveesh-ma-haay-k
NEGATIVE-milk+DUAL.SUBJECT-NEGATIVE-yet-REAL
'iikway dany aly-shveesh-ma-haay-k
cow DEMONSTRATIVE NEGATIVE-milk+DUAL.SUBJECT-NEGATIVE-yet-REAL
"They haven't milked the cow yet."
'ayuu
something
waly-m-evsh-haay-ma-k
NEGATIVE-ASC-work+DUAL.SUBJECT-yet-NEGATIVE-REAL
'ayuu waly-m-evsh-haay-ma-k
something NEGATIVE-ASC-work+DUAL.SUBJECT-yet-NEGATIVE-REAL
"They are not still working."

### Interrogative words

The following is a summary of interrogative words:
| | mki 'who' | mki 'where' | mkip 'which' | kawish 'what' |
| Subject | mkish | | mkipsh | kawitsh |
| Object | mkiny | | mkip | kawish |
| Commitative and instrumental (with) -m | mkinym | | mkipm | kawishm |
| Adessive and allative (at, to, towards) -ii | | mkii | mkipii | |
| Inessive and illative (in, into) -ly | | mkily | mkiply | |
| General locative (to) -k | mkinyk | mkik | mkipk | |
Mki-sh
who-SUBJECT
m-ashham-m?
3RDSUBJECT+2NDOBJECT-hit+DISTANCE+QUESTION
Mki-sh m-ashham-m?
who-SUBJECT 3RDSUBJECT+2NDOBJECT-hit+DISTANCE+QUESTION
"Who hit you?"
Mkip-sh
which-SUBJECT
v'aw-m
stand-REAL
duu?
be
Mkip-sh v'aw-m duu?
which-SUBJECT stand-REAL be
"Who is standing there?"
Mki-ny
who-OBJECT
m-ashham-k?
2NDSUBJECT+3RDOBJECT-hit+DISTANCE-QUESTION
Mki-ny m-ashham-k?
who-OBJECT 2NDSUBJECT+3RDOBJECT-hit+DISTANCE-QUESTION
"Who did you hit?"
Kawit-sh
what-SUBJECT
ka-do-t-uum?
QUESTION-be-EMPHATIC-INC
Kawit-sh ka-do-t-uum?
what-SUBJECT QUESTION-be-EMPHATIC-INC
"What would happen?"

## Syntax
### Gender

Maricopa does not make a grammatical gender distinction.

### No word for "and"

David Gil reports that the Maricopa managed quite well despite having no equivalent for "and". The various relevant relations are solved by using different linguistic structures. However, whether the absence of a lexeme constitutes a lexical gap depends on not a theory but the shared verbal habits of the people using the relevant conceptualization.
Accordingly, it is not valid to say that speakers of Maricopa lack the lexeme "and". Rather, it is speakers of, for example, English who would experience the lack.

### Word order

The basic word order for transitive sentences is subject–object–verb. Intransitive sentences are subject-verb. Ditransitive sentences are subject-dative-object-verb.
mhay-ny-sh
boy-DEMONSTRATIVE-SUBJECT
qwaaq
deer
tpuy-m
kill-REAL
mhay-ny-sh qwaaq tpuy-m
boy-DEMONSTRATIVE-SUBJECT deer kill-REAL
"The boy killed a deer."
sny'ak-sh
woman-SUBJECT
ashvar-k
sing-REAL
sny'ak-sh ashvar-k
woman-SUBJECT sing-REAL
"The/A woman sang."
Heather-sh
Heather-SUBJECT
Pam
Pam
kwnho
basket
aay-m
give-REAL
Heather-sh Pam kwnho aay-m
Heather-SUBJECT Pam basket give-REAL
"Heather gave a basket to Pam."
Possessive words precede nouns. There are inalienable nouns such as clothing items, which must bear possessive markers.
Bonnie
Bonnie
s'aw
offspring
ime
leg
Bonnie s'aw ime
Bonnie offspring leg
"Bonnie's baby's leg."
m-kpur
2NDPERSON-hat
m-kpur
2NDPERSON-hat
"Your hat."
Bonnie
Bonnie
avhay
dress
Bonnie avhay
Bonnie dress
"Bonnie's dress."
Determiners are expressed as suffixes or independent words following the noun.
posh-v-sh
cat-DEMONSTRATIVE-SUBJECT
ii'ily-k
be=infested-REAL
posh-v-sh ii'ily-k
cat-DEMONSTRATIVE-SUBJECT be=infested-REAL
"This cat (near, at hand) has fleas."
chyer
bird
vany-a
DEMONSTRATIVE-EPENTHETICVOWEL
shviily-sh
feather-SUBJECT
hmaaly-m
white-REAL
chyer vany-a shviily-sh hmaaly-m
bird DEMONSTRATIVE-EPENTHETICVOWEL feather-SUBJECT white-REAL
"That bird's feathers are white."

### No independent adjective category

The language has no independent adjective category: "Intransitive verbs in their unmarked forms (with no nominalizing morphemes) can be used as attributive adjectives with an NP." Furthermore, it appears that there is no difference between the attributive and the predicative form of adjectival forms.
'iipaa
man
hmii
tall
sper-sh
strong-SUBJECT
ny-wik-k
THIRD/FIRSTPERSON-help-REAL
'iipaa hmii sper-sh ny-wik-k
man tall strong-SUBJECT THIRD/FIRSTPERSON-help-REAL
"A tall, strong man helped me."
'iipaa-ny-sh
man-DEMONSTRATIVE-SUBJECT
hmii-k
tall-REAL
'iipaa-ny-sh hmii-k
man-DEMONSTRATIVE-SUBJECT tall-REAL
"The man is tall."

### Yes/no questions

Questions are marked by "rising intonation and by the structure of the verb" For most verbs, the question suffix is -m or a zero morpheme.
M-mii?
2NDPERSON-cry
M-mii?
2NDPERSON-cry
"Did you cry?"
M-mii-m?
2NDPERSON-cry-QUESTION
M-mii-m?
2NDPERSON-cry-QUESTION
"Did you cry?"
'Ayuu-'-maa-(m)?
something-1STPERSON-eat-QUESTION
'Ayuu-'-maa-(m)?
something-1STPERSON-eat-QUESTION
"Did I eat something?"
Pam-sh
Pam-SUBJECT
'ayuu-maa-(m)?
something-eat-QUESTION
Pam-sh 'ayuu-maa-(m)?
Pam-SUBJECT something-eat-QUESTION
"Did Pam eat something?"
If a zero morpheme is used to mark the question and the root of the verb is consonant-final, an epenthetic -ii is added.
M-nmak-ii?
2NDPERSON-leave-EPENTHETICVOWEL
M-nmak-ii?
2NDPERSON-leave-EPENTHETICVOWEL
"Did you leave it?"
M-nmak-m?
2NDPERSON-leave-QUESTION
M-nmak-m?
2NDPERSON-leave-QUESTION
"Did you leave it?"
To form a question in the second person ("you"), some verbs can have a -k or -m for questions.
M-yoq-k?
2NDPERSON-vomit-QUESTION
M-yoq-k?
2NDPERSON-vomit-QUESTION
"Did you vomit?"
M-yoq-m?
2NDPERSON-vomit-QUESTION
M-yoq-m?
2NDPERSON-vomit-QUESTION
"Did you vomit?"