Chiwere language

**Chiwere** (also called **Iowa-Otoe-Missouria** or **Báxoje-Jíwere-Nyútʼachi**) is a Siouan language originally spoken by the Missouria, Otoe, and Iowa peoples, who originated in the Great Lakes region but later moved throughout the Midwest and plains. The language is closely related to Ho-Chunk, also known as Winnebago.

Non-Native Christian missionaries first documented Chiwere in the 1830s, but since then not much material has been published about the language. Chiwere suffered a steady decline after extended European American contact in the 1850s, and by 1940 the language had almost totally ceased to be spoken.

"Tciwere itce" (in the Otoe dialect) and "Tcekiwere itce" (in the Iowa dialect) translate to "To speak the home dialect." The name "Chiwere" is said to originate from a person meeting a stranger in the dark. If a stranger in the dark challenged a person to identify their self, that person might respond "I am Tci-we-re" (Otoe) or "I am Tce-ki-we-re" (Iowa), which translates to "I am belonging to the people of this land" or "I am belonging to those dwelling here."

## Phonology

The phoneme inventory of Chiwere consists of approximately 33 consonants, and five vowel qualities (three of which occur as nasalized).

### Consonants

Voiceless stop sounds /p, t, tʃ, k/ may be heard as voiced [b, d, dʒ, ɡ] in final position. The phoneme /ɾ/ has a number of variants and allophones. It can appear as a dental tap or flap [ɾ] (especially word-medially), as an alveolar fricative [r], as an (inter)dental fricative [ð], as a lateral [l], as a nasal [n], or as a voiced dental plosive [d]. The velar nasal phoneme /ŋ/ does not occur word-initially, being confined to "medial position after a nasal vowel."

#### Phoneme combinations

In languages there are certain clusters of phonemes that show up in particular environments within a word. According to William Whitman's research of Chiwere, there are approximately 23 known consonant clusters which are word medial and approximately 14 of these show up word initially or word medially. In this research it has been found that the stop + stop consonant cluster *čd*, as in *áčda* ('then'), shows up in the word medial position but not as a word initial phoneme cluster.

The stop + spirant clusters *ʔθ*, *ʔs*, and *ʔh* all show up word initially and word medially, whereas the stop + semivowel clusters *dw* and *gw* only show up word medially. The stop + liquid clusters *bl* and *gl* show up word initially and word medially. Spirant + stop clusters generally appear in both word initial and word medial position, these clusters include *θg*, *sǰ*, *sg*, *hd*, and *hg*, however the spirant + stop clusters *sd* and *xd* only appear word medially. These are all the spirant + stop clusters accounted for in the research of William Whitman, however, the spirant + stop cluster *hk* has been found to exist word medially, as in *chéthka* ('domestic cow').

According to Whitman's research there are two spirant + nasal consonant clusters that have been found, which are *hm*, as in *sáhmã* ('seven') and *hn*, as in *láhnũwe* ('calumet'), however Whitman does account that *hñ* is a combination which appears as a future tense suffix. After reviewing further data, the cluster *hñ* has been found in the word medial position, as in *péhñi* ('whiskey') and thus appears to be another possible spirant + nasal consonant combination.

The stop + semivowel consonant clusters *θw*, *xw*, and *hw* all appear to be restricted to the word medial environment, whereas the stop + semivowel consonant cluster *sw* appears to be the only stop + semivowel known to show up both word initially, as in *swá̃la* ('to be soft') and *baswá* ('to cut piece off'). The stop + liquid phoneme clusters *θl*, *sl*, and *xl* have all been found in the word initial and word medial environments.

##### Cluster metamorphosis and phenomenon

An interesting analysis of the Chiwere language has shown that the spirant + stop consonant cluster *hg* is the more commonly used pronunciation of the spirant + stop cluster *θg* and that the *hg* cluster may be replacing the *θg* altogether.

In William Whitman's research, the spirant + stop combination *xd*, with the one given example used in this journal being *iblí̃xdo* ('blackbird'), is mentioned as being an error for the spirant + stop combination *hd*. But the spirant + stop combination *xd* has also been found in the words *chéxdó* ('buffalo bull'), *náxda* ('sour'), and *náxdage* ('kick'). With this data we can see that the consonant cluster *xd* is a possible combination and can show up in word medial position.

### Vowels

Chiwere has five oral vowel phonemes, /a e i o u/, and three nasal vowel phonemes, /ã ĩ ũ/. Vowel length is distinctive as well.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Whitman, 1947, p. 234
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Schweitzer, Marjorie M. (2001) "Otoe and Missouria." In *Plains*, ed. Raymond J. DeMallie. Vol. 13 of *Handbook of North American Indians*, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, pg. 447
3. ↑ GoodTracks, Jimm G. "Orthographic Updates" (PDF). *Ioway Otoe Language Study*. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
4. ↑ Whitman, 1947, p. 235
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 Whitman, 1947, p. 236
6. ↑ GoodTracks, Rev. 2007, p.2
7. ↑ GoodTracks, Rev. 2010, p.13
8. ↑ GoodTracks, Rev. 2010, p.2
9. ↑ GoodTracks, Rev. 2007, p.10