Tunica language

E947475

The Tunica language is an extinct Native American language once spoken by the Tunica people of Louisiana, now the focus of revitalization efforts based on historical documentation.

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Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Native American language
endangered language
indigenous language of the Americas
language isolate
associatedTribe Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana NERFINISHED
classificationStatus unclassified within North American languages
country United States of America
surface form: United States
culturalRole key element of Tunica identity
currentUse ceremonial contexts
language classes and educational settings
documentationType field notes
grammatical description
lexicon
texts
documentedBy Mary R. Haas NERFINISHED
documentedFromSpeaker Sesostrie Youchigant NERFINISHED
ethnicGroup Tunica people NERFINISHED
geographicDistributionHistorical Mississippi River area near present-day Louisiana
glottocode tuni1253
hasAlternativeName Tonica language NERFINISHED
hasConsonantInventorySize moderate
hasDialects no major documented dialects
hasDictionary Tunica dictionary by Mary R. Haas NERFINISHED
hasGrammar Tunica grammar by Mary R. Haas NERFINISHED
hasOnlineResources Tunica language learning materials
hasVowelInventorySize small to moderate
historicalPeriodOfUse pre-contact era to early 20th century
ISO639-3 tun
languageFamily language isolate
lastFluentSpeakerDiedIn 20th century
morphologicalType polysynthetic language
notMutuallyIntelligibleWith Caddoan languages NERFINISHED
Siouan languages
neighboring Muskogean languages
phonologicalFeature contrastive nasalization
distinct vowel length
region Lower Mississippi Valley NERFINISHED
revitalizationLedBy Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana NERFINISHED
revitalizationMethod community classes
curriculum development
digital media resources
revitalizationStatus subject of language revitalization
spokenBy Tunica people NERFINISHED
spokenIn Louisiana NERFINISHED
status extinct as a first language
taughtIn Tunica-Biloxi community programs
wordOrder verb–final tendency
writingSystem Latin alphabet
surface form: Latin script

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Tunica languageFamily Tunica language
Tunica-Biloxi languageHistoricallySpoken Tunica language
Tunica traditionalLanguage Tunica language