Rumsen wordlist

For the gentleman who commented (and anyone else) who is interested in a Rumsen (Ohlone) wordlist, here it goes. It is far from complete, and I can add more later, but this is at least a start.

Pronunciation:

1. Doubled vowels are pronounced longer than short (single) ones.
2. Doubled consonants are pronounced longer than short (single) ones.
3. Words almost always stressed on first syllable.
4. ‘ represents a glottal stop, or closure of the vocal cords (always when a word begins with a vowel).
5. č = ch as in church.
6. r seems to represent a trill or tap, as in Spanish.
7. š = sh as in ship.
8. S = retroflex s with the tongue curled back.
9. T = retroflex t with the tongue curled back.
10. x = guttural kh sound as in German Bach.

abalone, ‘awlon
American, Mirkan
ant, ottowx
arm, ‘iS or ‘iss (also hand)
arrow, tepS
arroyo, rumme
bad, yečemest (cf. devil)
basket, čiiwin
beach, kaaw
bead, piSmin
bear, ‘orreS
big, ‘issak
blackberry, ‘ennen
blackbird, kulyan
boat, waarko (<>barco)
bow, lawwan
bread, šetxel
butterfly, siililkw
candy, tommoy
cheese, kiiSo
chicken, puyyito
chief, kayaramk/čiš
cloud, meč
clover, muuren
coyote, (čačakiiy) maččan
crab, ‘ičaw
crazy, ixsist
crow, kakiriwx
dance, čitts
day, Tuuxs
deer, (čačakiiy) tooT (lit. 'wild meat')
devil, yečem
dog, maččan or šoošo
door, ‘inx (also road)
eagle, siirix
earth, pirre
eel, očrowx
egg, motx
elk, čerič
evening, ‘uuyakaw
father, ‘appa
fire, sottow
fish, kinnir
flea, poor
flower, tiwis
fog, mačar
food, ‘amxayin
foot, korro (also leg)
forehead, ‘urri
friend, ‘ukx
frog, kolyoč or wakatsem
good, miSix
hair (head), ‘utt
hair (body), Taap
hand, ‘iS or ‘iss (also arm)
hawk, siwker
head, ‘utt (also hair on head)
hello! inkaté!
hill, čippil
horse, kawwayo
house, rukk
hummingbird, ‘ummun
husband, ‘uurin
knee, toolS
lake, čaapur
land, pirre (also year)
leg, korro (also foot)
man, mukiamk
medicine man, ‘utten
medicine woman, čaačas
Monterey, ‘Aččis(ta)
moon, ‘ismen*
mosquito, palakans
mother, ‘aan
mountain, huT
mushroom, ‘aasakwa
night, ‘orpetewx or muur
no, kuuwe
otter, šuušč
owl, tukkun
pelican, yeyexem
person, ‘amma or kata
pine, ‘ixx
pipe (smoking), kunuš
pretty, miššix (cf. good)
puma, xoom
raccoon, šašran
rain, ‘innam
rattlesnake, ‘ipx
redwood, xoop
river, waččor
rock, ‘irrek
road, ‘inx
salmon, ‘uurak
seagull, sawran or puuk
skunk, tixsin
sky, tapper or čarax
small, puSSut
smoke, kaar
snake, lisan
Spanish, kaSteyano
splitstick, tarran
squirrel, ‘eex
star, pak(a)rar
sun, 'ismen
thank you, šururu
tree, pookonin or tiš (cf. wood)
water, siiy
wife, xawwan
wild, čačakiiy
wind, teer(x)
wolf, ‘umx or ‘umux
woman, ačyamk
wood, tiš (also tree)
year, pirre
yes, ‘ee

To form plurals, add -kay to a noun ending in a vowel, and -akay to a noun ending in a consonant (e.g., 'appa-kay 'fathers' and tiš-akay 'trees').

Here are the numbers:

1. 'imxala
2. 'uttis
3. kappes
4. 'uutitim
5. xala'iss
6. xali-šakken
7. ('u)čumai-šakken
8. kapxamai-šakken
9. pak
10. tantsarkt

These data come from Harrington's microfiche files containing his notes from his work with the last native speaker of Rumsen, Isabel Meadows, in the 1930s. The modern spelling is derived from not only Harrington but from other academicians (Catherine Callaghan, Marc Okrand)who've worked on the language over the years and have done comparative analysis of the phonetics of other Ohlonean languages.

I will of course try and answer any questions as best I can based on my own research and what I know of the language so far.

šururu

* The noun 'ismen is best translated as something like "glowing orb." It doubles for both "sun" and "moon" although one can specify by: tuuxisiy 'ismen 'sun' ("daytime orb") and 'orpetewxiy 'ismen 'moon' ("nighttime orb").

The bear bites the moon

Rumsens referred to a lunar eclipse as "the bear biting the moon," e.g., "Čarwayink ku murrem ‘ismen, was ‘orreS kaas," 'Tomorrow the moon will darken; the bear will bite it."

THIS POST LAST UPDATED: 01/06/08

Ruminations on Rumsen

I’ve been working a lot on Rumsen this week, which is a language of one of the Ohlone (aka Costanoan) Amerindian tribes. Rumsen and other Ohlone languages have been incorporated among the proposed Penutian family of languages. The Rumsens inhabited the area around Monterey and Carmel. Unfortunately, like Biloxi, Rumsen is also extinct, the last native speaker, Isabel Meadows, having died in 1939. In fact, all of the Ohlone languages are extinct, although Mutsun (formerly spoken around San Juan Bautista) and Chochenyo (aka Muwekma, once spoken in the East Bay Area) have started revitalization programs.

Through the UC Davis Harrington Project, I’m working from copies of the Rumsen notes taken by John Harrington in the 1920s and 1930s as he interviewed Isabel on her language and culture. He took down copious notes on just about everything she said, in some cases regarding some very personal matters irrelevant to language and culture.

Luckily I was able to order, from UMI, a grammar dissertation on Mutsun, Rumsen’s close linguistic cousin to the east, by Marc Okrand, who was made somewhat famous by his invention of the Klingon language for Star Trek. (Okrand's ideas for the phonetics and grammar of Klingon were influenced heavily by his work on Mutsun Ohlone and other Amerindian languages.) So far this dissertation has been invaluable in helping me to discern some of the Rumsen vocabulary and grammar.

Rumsen is an interesting language. It has somewhat of a more Indo-European type of grammatical structure than other Amerindian languages I’ve studied. Rumsen has what could be called, and have been called, case endings such as a locative –ta or –tak suffix, as in kaawtak, 'at or on the beach.' There is another suffix –som or –om which, though described in Okrand’s Mutsun grammar as an instrumental, seems to serve as more of an all-encompassing oblique case marker, as in

ka ritči Rumsenom
1stSG speak Rumsen-OBL
I speak Rumsen

which is reminiscent of Russian’s я говорю по-русски (“I speak by means of Russian”). Interestingly, Rumsen seems to have lost the –s or –es accusative ending on nouns, which Mutsun maintained. A remnant of the Rumsen accusative occurs only on pronouns.

Several people at the rancho in Carmel Valley where Isabel was from used many Esselen words in their speech, including Isabel herself. The Esselen were the Rumsen's neighbors to the south who lived around Big Sur. Esselen, also now extinct, is thought to be either a language isolate or a member of the Hokan family (which includes Chumash) depending on whom you talk to. Thus, at times there are two words, one Esselen and one Ohlone, that can be used for the same object, such as koltala (Esselen) and 'orres (Rumsen), both meaning 'bear.'

Here are a couple more sample sentences:

Ka ‘uun ka ‘amxayin.
1stSG save 1stSG-POSS food
I’m saving my food.

(Notice the first person singular [I] and first person singular possessive [my] pronouns are the same.)

Misix nee sa kaaw.
good here DEF beach
This beach is nice.

I’m sure I’ll be writing more on this interesting language later!