Consonants

Wichita has 10 consonants. In the Americanist orthography generally used when describing Wichita, /t͡s/ is spelled ⟨c⟩, and /j/ is ⟨y⟩.

Though neither Rood nor Garvin include nasals in their respective consonant charts for Wichita, Rood's later inclusion of nasals in phonetic transcription for his 2008 paper ("Some Wichita Recollections: Aspects of Culture Reflected in Language") support the appearance of at least /n/.^[3]

• Labials are generally absent, occurring in only two roots: kammac to grind corn and camma:ci to hoe, to cultivate (⟨c⟩ = /t͡s/).
• Apart from the /m/ in these two verbs, nasals are allophonic. The allophones [ɾ] and [n] are in complementary distribution: It is [n] before alveolars (/t, ts, s/ and in geminate [nn]) and initially before a vowel, and [ɾ] elsewhere. Thus its initial consonant clusters are [n] and [ɾ̥h], and its medial & final clusters are [nts], [nt], [ns], [nn], [ɾʔ], [ɾh].
• Final r and w are voiceless: [ɾ̥], [w̥]
• Glottalized final consonants: One aspect of Wichita phonetics is the occurrence of glottalized final consonants. Taylor asserts that when a long vowel precedes a glottal stop (ʔ), there is no change to the pronunciation. However, when the glottal stop is preceded by a short vowel, the vowel is eliminated. If the short vowel was preceded by a consonant, then the consonant is glottalized. Taylor hypothesizes that these glottalized final consonants show that the consonant was not originally a final consonant, that the proto form (an earlier language from which Wichita split off, that Taylor was aiming to reconstruct in his paper) ended in a glottal stop, and that a vowel has been lost between the consonant and glottal stop.^[6]

Vː - long vowel

V - short vowel

C - consonant

# - preceding sound ends word

• Taylor also finds that previous phonetic transcriptions have recorded the phoneme /ts/ (aka ⟨c⟩), as occurring after /i/, while /s/ is recorded when preceded by /a/.^[6]
• The *kʷ, *w, *p merger; or Why Wichita Has No /p/:
  • In Wichita the sounds /kʷ/ and /w/ are not differentiated when they begin a word, and word-initial *p has become /w/. This is unusual, in that the majority of Caddoan languages pronounce words that used to begin with *w with /p/. In Wichita, the three sounds were also merged when preceded by a consonant. Wichita shifted consonant initial *p to /kʷ/ with other medial occurrences of *p. /kʷ/ and /w/ remain distinct following a vowel. For example, the word for 'man' is /wiːt͡s/ in Wichita, but /piːta/ in South Band Pawnee and /pita/ in Skiri Pawnee.^[6]

Phonological rules^[9]

• The coalescence of morpheme-final /ɾ/ and subsequent morpheme-initial /t/ or /s/ to /t͡s/:

• /w/ changes to /kʷ/ whenever it follows a consonantal segment which is not /k/ or /kʷ/:

• /ɾ/ changes to /h/ before /k/ or /kʷ/. The most numerous examples involve the collective-plural prefix r- before a morpheme beginning with /k/:

• /t/ with a following /s/ or /ɾ/ to give /t͡s/:

• /t/ changes to /t͡s/ before /i/ or any non-vowel:

• /k/ changes to /s/ before /t/:

• /ɾ/, /j/, and /h/ change to /s/ after /s/ or /t͡s/:

Vowels

Wichita has either three or four vowels, depending on analysis:^[6][7][8]

These are transcribed as ⟨i, e, a, o/u⟩.

Word-final vowels are devoiced.

Though Rood employs the letter ⟨o⟩ in his transcriptions,^[3] Garvin instead uses ⟨u⟩, and asserts that /u/ is a separate phoneme.^[8] However, considering the imprecision in vowel sound articulation, what is likely important about these transcriptions is that they attest to a back vowel that is not low.

Taylor uses Garvin's transcription in his analysis, but theorizes a shift of *u to /i/ medially in Wichita, but does not have enough examples to fully analyze all the possible environments. He also discusses a potential shift from *a to /i/, but again, does not have enough examples to develop a definitive hypothesis. Taylor finds /ɛ/ only occurs with intervocalic glottal stops.^[6][8]

Rood argues that [o] is not phonemic, as it is often equivalent to any vowel + /w/ + any vowel. For example, /awa/ is frequently contracted to [óː] (the high tone is an effect of the elided consonant). There are relatively few cases where speakers will not accept a substitution of vowel + /w/ + vowel for [o]; one of them is [kóːs] 'eagle'.

Rood also proposes that, with three vowels that are arguably high, mid, and low, the front-back distinction is not phonemic, and that one may therefore speak of a 'vertical' vowel inventory (see below). This also has been claimed for relatively few languages, such as the Northwest Caucasian languages and the Ndu languages of Papua New Guinea.

There is clearly at least a two-way contrast in vowel length. Rood proposes that there is a three-way contrast, which is quite rare among the world's languages, although well attested for Mixe, and probably present in Estonian. However, in Wichita, for each of the three to four vowels qualities, one of the three lengths is rare, and in addition the extra-long vowels frequently involve either an extra morpheme, or suggest that prosody may be at work. For example,

nɪːt͡s.híːːʔɪh 'the strong one'

nɪːːt͡s.híːːʔɪh 'the strong ones'

hɛːhɪɾʔíːɾas 'let him find you'

hɛːːhɪɾʔíːɾas 'let him find it for you'

háɾah 'there'

háːɾɪh 'here it is' (said when handing something over)

háːːɾɪh 'that one'

(Note that it is common in many languages to use prosodic lengthening with demonstratives such as 'there' or 'that'.)^[7]

This contrasts with Mixe, where it is easy to find a three-way length contrast without the addition of morphemes.^[7]

Under Rood's analysis, then, Wichita has 9 phonemic vowels:^[7]

Tone

There is also a contrastive high tone, indicated here by an acute accent.

Syllable and phonotactics

While vowel clusters are uncommon (unless the extra-long vowels are clusters), consonant clusters are ubiquitous in Wichita. Words may begin with clusters such as [kskh] (kskhaːɾʔa) and [ɾ̥h] (ɾ̥hintsʔa). The longest cluster noted in Wichita is five consonants long, counting [ts] as a single consonant /c/: /nahiʔinckskih/ 'while sleeping'. However, Wichita syllables are more commonly CV or CVC.

Affixes

Some Wichita affixes are:^[10]

/ehèːʔáɾasis/

imperfective.future.quotative

'I heard she'll be cooking it.'

Instrumental suffixes

^[11] The suffix is Rá:hir, added to the base. Another means of expressing instrument, used only for body parts, is a characteristic position of incorporation in the verb complex.

1. ha:rhiwi:cá:hir 'using a bowl' (ha:rhiwi:c 'bowl')
2. ika:rá:hir 'with a rock' (ika:ʔa 'rock')
3. kirikirʔi:sá:hir 'in Wichita (the language)' (kirikirʔi:s 'Wichita)
4. iskiʔo:rʔeh 'hold me in your arms' (iskiʔ 'imperative 2nd subject, 1st object'; a 'reflexive possessor'; ʔawir 'arm'; ʔahi 'hold').
5. keʔese:cʔíriyari 'you will shake your head' (keʔes 'future 2nd subject'; a 'reflexive possessor'; ic 'face'; ʔiriyari 'go around'. Literally: 'you will go around, using your face').

Tense and aspect

One of these tense-aspect prefixes must occur in any complete verb form.^[11]

Note: kara (ought), alone, always means 'subject should', but in complex constructions it is used for hypothetical action, as in 'what would you do if...')

The aspect-marking suffixes are:

Other prefixes and suffixes are as follows:

• The exclamatory inflection indicates excitement.
• The imperative is used as the command form.
• The directive inflection is used in giving directions in sequences, such as describing how one makes something.
  • This occurs only with 2nd or 3rd person subject pronouns and only in the singular.
• The optative is usually translated 'I wish' or 'subject should'.
• Although ought seems to imply that the action is the duty of the subject, it is frequently used for hypothetical statements in complex constructions.
• The unit durative suggests that the beginning and ending of the event are unimportant, or that the event is coextensive with something else.
• Indicative is the name of the most commonly used Wichita inflection translating English sentences out of context. It marks predication as a simple assertion. The time is always non-future, the event described is factual, and the situation is usually one of everyday conversation.
  • The prefix is ti- with 3rd persons and ta- otherwise
• The aorist is used in narratives, stories, and in situations where something that happened or might have happened relatively far in the past is meant.
• The future may be interpreted in the traditional way. It is obligatory for any event in the future, no matter how imminent, unless the event is stated to be part of someone's plans, in which case intentive is used instead.
• The perfect implies recently completed.
  • It makes the fact of completion of activity definite, and specifies an event in the recent past.
• The aorist intentive means 'I heard they were going to ... but they didn't.'
• The indicative intentive means 'They are going to ... ' without implying anything about the evidence on which the statement is based, nor about the probability of completion.
• The optional inflection quotative occurs with the aorist, future, or perfect tenses.
  • If it occurs, it specifies that the speaker's information is from some source other than personal observation or knowledge.
    • 'I heard that ... ' or 'I didn't know, but ... '
  • If it does not occur, the form unambiguously implies that evidence for the report is personal observation.

Examples: ʔarasi 'cook'

Modifiers

^[12]

Case

^[11] In the Wichita language, there are only case markings for obliques. Here are some examples:

Predicates and arguments

Wichita is a polysynthetic language. Almost all the information in any simple sentence is expressed by means of bound morphemes in the verb complex. The only exception to this are (1) noun stems, specifically those functioning as agents of transitive verbs but sometimes those in other functions as well, and (2) specific modifying particles. A typical sentence from a story is the following:^[12]

wá:cʔarʔa kiya:kíriwa:cʔárasarikìtàʔahí:rikss niya:hkʷírih

wa:cʔarʔa 'squirrel'

kiya 'quotative' + a...ki 'aorist' + a 'preverb' + Riwa:c 'big (quantity) + ʔaras 'meat' + Ra 'collective' + ri 'portative' + kita 'top' + ʔa 'come' + hi:riks 'repetitive' + s 'imperfective'

na 'participle' + ya:k 'wood' + r 'collective' + wi 'be upright' + hrih 'locative'

'The squirrel, by making many trips, carried the large quantity of meat up into the top of the tree, they say.'

Note that squirrel is the agent and occurs by itself with no morphemes indicating number or anything else. The verb, in addition to the verbal units of quotative, aorist, repetitive, and imperfective, also contain morphemes that indicate the agent is singular, the patient is collective, the direction of the action is to the top, and all the lexical information about the whole patient noun phrase, "big quantity of meat."