Comanche language
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Comanche ( , endonym ) is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Comanche, who split from the Shoshone soon after the Comanche had acquired horses around 1705. The Comanche language and the Shoshoni language are quite similar, but certain consonant changes in Comanche have inhibited mutual intelligibility. The name Comanche comes from the Ute word "enemy, stranger". Their own name for the language is , which means "language of the people".
Comanche ( , endonym ) is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Comanche, who split from the Shoshone soon after the Comanche had acquired horses around 1705. The Comanche language and the Shoshoni language are quite similar, but certain consonant changes in Comanche have inhibited mutual intelligibility. The name Comanche comes from the Ute word "enemy, stranger". Their own name for the language is , which means "language of the people".
Vowel length and voicing
Comanche distinguishes vowels by length. Vowels can be either long or short. Long vowels are never devoiced and in the orthography they are represented as (aa, ee, ii, oo, uu, ʉʉ). An example of a long vowel is the (ee) in [wakaréʔeː] 'turtle'. Short vowels can be lengthened when they are stressed. Short vowels can be either voiced or voiceless. Unstressed short vowels are usually devoiced when /s/ or /h/ follows and optionally when word-final. Voiceless vowels are non-phonemic and therefore not represented in this chart. In the conventional orthography, these vowels are marked with an underline: .
Instrumental prefixes
As mentioned above, Comanche has a rich repertoire of instrumental prefixes, and certain verbs (termed instrumental verbs) cannot occur without an instrumental prefix. These prefixes can affect the transitivity of a verb. The Comanche instrumental prefixes are listed below: = 'with the teeth, chin, mouth' = 'with heat, fire' = 'with the hand' and as a generalized instrumental / = 'with the nose, lips, front' = 'verbally' = 'with the buttocks, rear (e.g., of a car)' = 'with cold'; fortis is applied at the end of the prefix = 'with the foot, in a violent motion' = 'with the mind, mental activity'; fortis is applied at the end of the prefix = 'with the foot' = 'with the hand, violent or completed action' = 'with the hand (extended to hand tools)' = 'with a sharp point, with the finger' = 'with the head' = an all-purpose instrumental
See also
Comanche people Numic languages Shoshoni language Timbisha language
Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1370672084 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.