Hupa (native name: , ) is an extinct Athabaskan language (of Na-Dené stock) spoken along the lower course of the Trinity River in Northwestern California by the Hoopa Valley Hupa () and Tsnungwe/South Fork Hupa () and, before European contact, by the Chilula and Whilkut peoples, to the west.
Speakers The 2000 US Census estimated the language to be spoken by 64 persons between the ages of 5 and 17, including 4 monolingual speakers. As of 2024, Verdena Parker was the last native speaker. Perhaps another 50 individuals of all ages have restricted control of traditional Hupa phonology, grammar and lexicon. Beyond this, many tribal members share a small vocabulary of words and phrases of Hupa origin.
Phonology The consonants of Hupa in the standard orthography are listed below (with IPA notation in slashes):
+Hupa consonants Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal median lateral plain labial. plain labial. plain labial. Nasal Plosive plain ( ) aspirated ( ) ejective ( ) Affricate plain aspirated ejective ( ) Fricative ( ) Approximant
Golla 1996 presents the following vowel system: Front Central BackNear-close Close-mid Open-midɛ ʌ Open
Vowels , ɛ and can be lengthened.
Orthography The Hupa alphabet is as follows:
+ Hupa alphabet Spelling a a꞉ b ch chʼ chw chwʼ d dz e e꞉ g gy h i j k kʼ ky kyʼ l ł Phoneme a aː p tʃʰ tʃʼ tʃʷʰ tʃʷʼ t ts ɛ ɛː k kʲ h ɪ tʃ kʰ kʼ kʲʰ kʲʼ l ɬ Spelling m n ng o o꞉ q qʼ s sh t tʼ tł tłʼ ts tsʼ u w wh x xw y ʼ Phoneme m n ŋ o oː q qʼ s ʃ tʰ tʼ tɬʰ tɬʼ tsʰ tsʼ ʌ w hʷ χ χʷ j ʔ
Morphology
Verb themes and classes As with other Dene languages, the Hupa verb is based around a theme. Melissa Axelrod has defined a theme as "the underlying skeleton of the verb to which prefixes or strings of prefixes or suffixal elements are added in producing an utterance. The theme itself has a meaning and is the basic unit of the Athabaskan verbal lexicon." In addition to a verb stem, a typical theme consists of a classifier, one or more conjunct prefixes, and one or more disjunct prefixes.
According to Victor Golla (1970, 2001 and others), each Hupa theme falls into one of eight structural classes according to its potential for inflection, along the following three parameters: active vs. neuter, transitive vs. intransitive, and personal vs. impersonal.
Active themes are inflected for aspect-mode categories, while neuter themes are not. Transitive themes are inflected for direct object, while intransitive themes are not. Personal themes are inflected for subject, while impersonal themes are not.
Golla (2001) presents examples of themes from each of the eight structural classes. Orthography has been changed to conform to the current accepted tribal orthography:
Active themes: Transitive Personal: Impersonal:
Intransitive Personal: Impersonal:
Neuter themes: Transitive Personal: Impersonal:
Intransitive Personal: Impersonal:
Verb template As with other Dene languages, the Hupa verb is composed of a verb stem and a set of prefixes. The prefixes can be divided into a conjunct prefix set and disjunct prefix set. The disjunct prefixes occur on the outer left edge of the verb. The conjunct prefixes occur after the disjunct prefixes, closer to the verb stem. The two types of prefixes can be distinguished by their different phonological behavior. The prefix complex may be subdivided into 10 positions, modeled in the Athabaskanist literature as a template, as follows:
+Hupa verb templateadapted from 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 thematic material /aug-thematic . thematic material -thematic mode- ./. classifier (voice/valency marker) verb stem
Pronouns, pronominal inflection Hupa verbs have pronominal (i.e., pronoun) prefixes that mark both subjects and objects. The prefixes can vary in certain modes, particularly the perfective mode (See e.g., Mode and Aspect for a discussion of modes in Navajo, a related Dene language). The prefixes vary according to person and number. The basic subject prefixes are listed in the table below:
{| class="wikitable" frame=void style="vertical-align:top; text-align:center; white-space:nowrap;" ! rowspan="2" colspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | Subject Prefixes ! colspan="2" | Object Prefixes |- ! Singular !! Plural ! Singular !! Plural |- ! colspan="2" | 1st person | -wh- || -di- || -wh- || rowspan="2" | -noh- |- ! colspan="2" | 2nd person | ni- || -oh- || ni- |- ! rowspan="4" | 3rdperson ! animate | colspan="2" | -chʼi- || colspan="2" | xo- |- ! obviative | colspan="2" | yi- || colspan="2" | -Ø- |- ! indefinite | colspan="2" | kʼi- || colspan="2" | -Ø- |- ! impersonal(areal-situational) | colspan="2" | -xo- || colspan="2" | -Ø- |- ! colspan="2" | Reflexive | colspan="2" | – || colspan="2" | ʼa꞉di- |- ! colspan="2" | Reciprocal | colspan="2" | – || colspan="2" | n- łi
The subject prefixes occur in two different positions. The first and second subject prefixes (-wh- (or allomorph -e꞉ ), -di-, -ni-, -oh-) occur in position 2, directly before the classifier (voice/valency) prefixes. The animate, obviative, indefinite and "areal-situational" subject prefixes (chʼi-, yi-, kʼi- and xo-) are known as "deictic subject pronouns" and occur in position 8.
The direct object prefixes occur in position 7.
The Hupa free personal subject pronouns are as follows:
singular plural 1st person whe꞉ nehe 2nd person ning nohni 3rd person xong, min (low animacy) xong
Golla (2001) notes that the 3rd person free pronouns are very rarely used, with demonstrative pronouns being used in their place.
Demonstrative pronouns < < ( ) < ( ) < ( ) < ( )
References
Bibliography
External links Danny Ammon's Hupa Language Page Hupa language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages Hupa Language Dictionary and Texts Hupa basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database OLAC resources in and about the Hupa language