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Patwin language facts for kids

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Patwin
Southern Wintun
Native to United States
Region Colusa, Lake, Napa, Solano, and Yolo Counties, northern California
Ethnicity Patwin
Native speakers 1  (as of 2021)
Language family
Wintuan
  • Southern
    • Patwin
Dialects
Hill Patwin
River Patwin
?Southern Patwin

Patwin (Patween) is a critically endangered Wintuan language of Northern California. As of 2021, there was one documented first language speaker of Patwin. As of 2010, Patwin language classes were taught at the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation (formerly Rumsey Rancheria) tribal school (Dubin 2010).

Patwin has two (excl. Southern Patwin) or three (incl. Southern Patwin) dialects: "River Patwin (or Valley Patwin) was traditionally spoken along the Sacramento River in Colusa County ... Hill Patwin, was spoken in the plains and foothills to the west."

Southern Patwin became extinct shortly after contact. It is very poorly attested, and may be a separate Southern Wintuan language (Mithun 1999).

As of 2012, the Tewe Kewe Cultural Center of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation has "a California Indian Library Collection and an extensive Patwin language and history research section."

Phonemes

Consonants

Patwin has 25 consonant phonemes. In the table below, the IPA form(s) of each consonant are given. This is followed by the form commonly used in Lawyer (2021)'s grammar, if this is different from the IPA form.

Bilabial Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Palatal Velar Glottal
central lateral
Plosive voiceless p t k ʔ
aspirated
glottalized
voiced b d
Nasal m n
Fricative s ɬ ~ t͡ɬ ⟨ƚ⟩ h
Affricate voiceless t͡ʃ ⟨č⟩
glottalized t͡ɬʼ ⟨ƛʼ⟩ t͡ʃʼ ⟨čʼ⟩
Trill/Flap r̥ ~ ɾ ⟨r⟩
Approximant w l j ⟨y⟩ w
  • /ʔ/ is a marginal phoneme, occurring exclusively at morpheme boundaries. Its distribution is not entirely predictable, however.
  • Glottalized and aspirated consonants occur only syllable-initially.
  • Some or all of the "alveolar" consonants (both central and lateral) would be more accurately described as being retracted alveolar consonants.

Vowels

Patwin has 10 vowels:

   Short   Long 
 Front   Back   Front   Back 
 High (close)  i u ⟨i·⟩ ⟨u·⟩
 Mid  e o ⟨e·⟩ ⟨o·⟩
 Low (open)  a ⟨a·⟩
  • Patwin vowels have a simple length distinction (short vs. long).
  • All vowels are voiced and oral.
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