Wukchumni or Wikchamni is a variety of Tule-Kaweah Yokuts that was historically spoken by the Wukchumni people of the east fork of the Kaweah River of California.
As of 2014, Marie Wilcox (1933–2021) was the last remaining native speaker of the language. There are efforts at revitalization, and Wilcox completed a comprehensive Wukchumni dictionary; at her death there were at least three fluent speakers.
Status In 2019, Wukchumni was categorized as 8a or "moribund", where few elderly speakers are present, on the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale. It became extinct upon the death of its last native speaker, Marie Wilcox, in 2021.
Revitalization efforts In the early 2000s, Marie Wilcox, aided by her daughter Jennifer Malone, began compiling a Wukchumni dictionary. The work was copyrighted in 2019, but has not been published. Wilcox and Malone held classes teaching beginner and intermediate Wukchumni to interested tribal members; Malone continues this teaching at Owens Valley Career Development Center.
Efforts to revive Wukchumni have additionally been organized through the Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program.
Possibility of more native speakers Due to Wilcox's efforts, at least three people are fluent in the language. Destiny Treglown, Marie Wilcox's great-granddaughter, is raising her child, Oliver, as a Wukchumni speaker. If he reaches fluency, he will become the first native speaker of the language in four generations.
Phonology The following tables are based on Gamble (1978). Consonants BilabialDental/AlveolarPost-alveolarVelarGlottalPlosivevoicelessaspiratedejectiveAffricatevoicelessaspiratedejectiveFricativeNasalplainglottalizedApproximantplainglottalized Allophones of include . Vowels FrontCentralBackClose Mid Open A long vowel can be lowered to when occurring before an . The central vowels /ɨ/ and /ə/ are partially rounded.
All phonetic short vowel allophones include .
References
External links
English/Wukchumni dictionary