Keres language facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Keresan
Native to	United States
Region	New Mexico
Ethnicity	Keres
Native speakers	13,190  (2013)
Language family	Language isolate
Dialects	East Keres West Keres
Pre-contact distribution of Keresan languages

Keres (pronounced like "kuh-REES"), also called Keresan (pronounced like "KEHR-iss-uhn"), is a Native American language. It is spoken by the Keres Pueblo people in New Mexico, USA.

Some experts think Keres is a small language family. Others believe it is a language isolate, meaning it is not clearly related to any other language family. The different ways of speaking Keres in each of the seven Keres pueblos are mostly understandable to people living nearby. However, there are big differences between the Western and Eastern groups. Sometimes, these are even thought of as separate languages.

Keresan Language Groups

In 2007, about 10,670 people spoke Keresan. The language is divided into two main groups: Eastern Keres and Western Keres.

Eastern Keres Speakers

The Eastern Keres group had about 4,580 speakers in 1990.

• Cochiti Pueblo (Kotyit dialect): Around 600 speakers (2007).
• San Felipe Pueblo (Katishtya dialect): About 2,340 speakers (2007).
• Kewa Pueblo (formerly Santo Domingo Pueblo) (Kewa dialect): Roughly 2,850 speakers (2007).
• Zia Pueblo (Ts'ia dialect): About 500 speakers (2007).
• Santa Ana Pueblo (Tamaiya dialect): Around 390 speakers (2007).

Western Keres Speakers

The Western Keres group had about 3,391 speakers in 1990.

• Acoma Pueblo (Áakʼu dialect): About 1,930 speakers (2007).
• Laguna Pueblo (Kawaika dialect): Around 2,060 speakers (2007).

Keresan's Language Family

Today, Keres is seen as a language isolate. This means it doesn't clearly belong to a larger language family. In the past, some linguists (people who study languages) tried to link it to other groups like Hokan–Siouan or Keresiouan. However, these ideas have not been proven by later research.

Sounds of Keresan

Keresan has a very rich sound system. It has between 42 and 45 different consonant sounds. It also has about 40 vowel sounds. This adds up to around 85 total sounds, which is a lot for a language!

Consonant Sounds

Keresan has many consonants. This is because it makes a difference between three types of sounds:

• Voiceless sounds (like the 'p' in "spin").
• Aspirated sounds (like the 'p' in "pin," with a puff of air).
• Ejective sounds (a special sound made by pushing air out quickly from your throat).

It also has more fricative sounds (like 's' or 'sh') and affricate sounds (like 'ch' or 'j') than many other languages.

Vowel Sounds

Keresan vowels can be either long or short. For example, the 'e' sound can be short or long (like 'ee'). Short vowels can also be "voiceless." This means they are spoken with less breath, almost like a whisper. A single vowel sound can be said in seven different ways. Each way can change the meaning of a word.

Voiceless Vowels

All short Keresan vowels can become voiceless. This often happens at the end of a word. For example, the word for "because" might sound like "pah-koo" but end with a whispered 'oo' sound.

Tones in Keresan

Acoma Keres, one of the dialects, uses four different tones to change the meaning of words. These are:

• High tone: The voice goes up.
• Low tone: The voice stays low.
• Rising tone: The voice goes from low to high.
• Falling tone: The voice goes from high to low.

Rising and falling tones only happen on long vowels. Voiceless vowels do not have tones.

How Syllables are Built

Most Keresan syllables are simple, like "CV" (consonant-vowel) or "CVV" (consonant-vowel-vowel). The shortest syllable is CV. The longest can be CCVVC (consonant-consonant-vowel-vowel-consonant). In native Keresan words, only a glottal stop (a sound like the break in "uh-oh") can end a syllable.

Sometimes, because of voiceless vowels, words might sound like they end in consonants.

Writing Keresan

Traditional Keresan beliefs say that Keres is a sacred language. It should only be spoken, not written. Also, the Pueblo people faced persecution for their religion in the past. These reasons explain why there isn't one official way to write Keresan.

However, practical spelling systems have been made for Laguna and Acoma Keres. These systems are quite consistent. In the Keres spelling system, each symbol usually stands for one sound. Some letters like 'c', 'q', 'z', and 'f' are not used. Special combinations of letters, called digraphs, are used for certain sounds. For example, 'ny' for a palatal sound or 'sr' for a retroflex sound.

Consonant Symbols

Here are some of the letters used to write Keresan consonant sounds:

Signs at Acoma Pueblo

Signage at Acoma Pueblo

Signs at Acoma Pueblo sometimes use special marks for ejective consonants. These marks are different from the symbols shown above. For example, 'pʼ' might be written as 'ṕ'.

Vowel Symbols

Vowel sounds in Keresan are usually written simply. Long vowels might use two letters (like 'aa' for a long 'a'). Voiceless vowels can be shown with an underline or a dot below the letter.

Tone Marks

Sometimes, special marks are placed above vowels to show the tone. These marks are not repeated for long vowels.

Keres Alphabetical Order

Keresan is not usually written. However, there is one dictionary for Western Keres. In this dictionary, some letter combinations (digraphs) count as single letters.

Sample Texts

Here are some examples of Keresan text. Some show tone marks, and some do not.

Text with Tone Marks

Woodpecker and Coyote

Ái dítʼîishu srbígà kʼánâaya dyáʼâʼu. Shʼée srbígà ái dyěitsị ái náyáa shdyɨ dyáʼa.

Text without Tone Marks

Boas text

Baanaʼa, egu kauʼseeʼe, atsi sʼaama-ee srayutse.

How Keresan Words Work

Keresan is a split-ergative language. This means that verbs (action words) change depending on who is doing the action and how they are involved. For example, verbs that describe states (like "to be sleepy") act differently from verbs that describe actions (like "to run").

Keresan words often use prefixes (parts added to the beginning of a word). They also use suffixes (parts added to the end) and reduplication (repeating part of a word). Keresan has nouns, verbs, numbers, and small connecting words called particles.

Keresan nouns usually don't change for case (like "he" vs. "him") or number (singular vs. plural). But they can change to show possession (who owns something).

Word Order

Keresan is a verb-final language. This means the verb usually comes at the end of a sentence. However, the order of words can be quite flexible.

Here is an example from Laguna Keres:

Saying "No"

To make a sentence negative in Keresan, you use two things. You add the word dzaadi (meaning "not"). You also add a suffix (like -u) to the verb.

• Gukacha means 'S/he saw her/him'.
• Dzaadi gukachau means 'S/he didn't see her/him'.

Verb Forms

The verb is very important in Keresan. It carries a lot of information about what is happening. Keresan verbs tell you:

• Who started the action (the subject).
• Who was affected by the action (the object).
• How the speaker feels about the action (like if they are sure it happened).
• Whether the action happened or not.
• When the action happened (like if it's still happening or finished).

Keresan verbs also show if the subject is singular (one), dual (two), or plural (more than two). They also show if the subject is the speaker (first person), the listener (second person), a known person (third person), or an unknown person (fourth person).

Verb Prefixes

A single prefix at the beginning of a Keresan verb can tell you many things. It shows who is doing the action, who is affected by it, how the speaker feels about it, and if it happened or not.

Number in Verbs

Keresan verbs show three numbers: singular (one), dual (two), and plural (more than two). They also show four persons: first (the speaker), second (the listener), third (a known person), and fourth (an unknown person). Plural and dual forms are often made by repeating part of the verb. For example, gukacha means 's/he saw it', but guʼukacha means 'the two of them saw it'.

How Actions are Described

Languages describe actions in two main ways:

• Actions that affect an object (like "kick a ball"). These use transitive verbs.
• Actions that don't affect an object (like "sneezing" or "breathing"). These use intransitive verbs.

Intransitive Verbs

In Keresan, intransitive verbs are divided into two types. This depends on how much the person doing the action is involved:

• Active verbs: For actions where the person is very involved (like "to write" or "to steal").
• Inactive verbs: For actions where the person is less involved (like "to believe" or "to be born").

Things that are adjectives in English (like "He is selfish") are often verbs in Keresan. So, you might say "He selfishes." These usually fall into the Inactive category.

Transitive Verbs

Here's how transitive verbs (verbs that take an object) work in Keresan. The example uses -ukạchạ which means 'to see'.

Aspect in Verbs

Aspect in Keresan shows how an action unfolds over time. It tells you if an action is ongoing, completed, or repeated. This is shown by adding suffixes to the verb.

Time Words (Adverbs)

Keresan uses special words called adverbs to show when an action happened. These are like "yesterday" or "tomorrow" in English.

Keresan Vocabulary

New words in Keresan are often made by combining existing word parts. This is called compounding.

Numbers in Keresan

The Keresan number system is based on 10, just like ours.

• Numbers from 11 to 19 are made by adding "kʼátsi" (ten) and "dzidra" (more). So, 11 is "ten-one-more."
• Numbers 20 and higher are made by adding a multiplying word to the base number and "kʼátsi." So, 20 is "two-times-ten."

Words Borrowed from Spanish

When European colonizers came to the Southwest US, they brought new items and ideas. The Keres people often borrowed words for these new things directly from Early Modern Spanish. Many of these borrowed words are still used in Keresan today.

Keresan in Popular Culture

Keres was one of seven languages sung in the Coca-Cola "It's Beautiful" commercial. This commercial aired during the 2014 Super Bowl and featured the song "America the Beautiful".

See also

In Spanish: Lenguas keresanas para niños