Hanis language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hanis |
|
|---|---|
| Coos | |
| Pronunciation | há·nis |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Coos Bay, Oregon |
| Ethnicity | Hanis people |
| Extinct | 1972 with the death of Martha Harney Johnson |
| Language family |
Coosan
|
Hanis, also called Coos, was a unique language spoken by the Hanis people. They lived in the United States, specifically around the Coos River and Coos Bay in Oregon. It was one of two languages in the Coosan language family. The name há·nis was what the Hanis people called themselves.
Sadly, Hanis is no longer spoken as a first language. The last person who spoke Hanis fluently was Martha Harney Johnson, who passed away in 1972. Another important speaker was Annie Miner Peterson. She worked with a language expert named Melville Jacobs to record and study the Hanis language. Their work helped to save a lot of information about it.
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Learning Hanis Today
Even though Hanis is no longer spoken every day, people are working hard to bring it back.
Classes and Resources
As of 2007, the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians started offering classes to teach Hanis. This helps younger generations learn about their heritage and language.
To help with learning, a special book and CD called Hanis for Beginners were published in 2011. There is also a website, hanis.org, that tribal members can use to learn more about the language. These resources are very important for keeping the Hanis language alive.
The Sounds of Hanis
Like all languages, Hanis had its own special sounds.
Vowels and Consonants
The Hanis language had five main vowel sounds: i, e, a, u. These vowels could be spoken as either long or short sounds. There was also a short 'schwa' sound, like the 'a' in 'about'.
Hanis also had many different consonant sounds. These sounds were made using different parts of the mouth, like the lips, tongue, and throat. Some sounds were made with a puff of air (aspirated), and some were made with a quick burst of air (ejective).
Stress in Words
In Hanis, the way you stressed a word (which part you emphasized) could change its meaning. This is called 'phonemic stress'. It means that where you put the emphasis was very important for understanding what someone was saying.
