Oʼodham language facts for kids

Oʼodham (pronounced like "aw-aw-dham") is a language spoken by the Tohono Oʼodham and Akimel Oʼodham people. These groups live in southern Arizona in the United States and northern Sonora, Mexico. It is part of the Uto-Aztecan language family.

In 2000, about 9,750 people spoke Oʼodham in the U.S. and Mexico. This number might be even higher today. It is the 10th most-spoken native language in the United States. In Arizona, it is the 3rd most-spoken native language. Only Western Apache and Navajo have more speakers there.

About 8% of Oʼodham speakers in the U.S. do not speak English well or at all. This was found in the 2000 Census. Among younger Oʼodham speakers (ages 5-17), about 4% spoke little or no English.

The Oʼodham language has different names depending on the dialect. Some of these names are Oʼodham ha-ñeʼokĭ, Oʼottham ha-neoki, and Oʼodham ñiok.

Oʼodham Language Dialects

The Oʼodham language has several different ways of speaking, called dialects. The main dialects are:

• Tohono Oʼodham
  • Cukuḍ Kuk
  • Gigimai
  • Huhuʼula (Huhuwoṣ)
  • Totoguanh
• Akimel Oʼodham
  • Eastern Gila
  • Kohadk
  • Salt River
  • Western Gila
• Hia C-ed Oʼodham
  •  ?

The biggest differences are between the Tohono Oʼodham (also called Papago) and Akimel Oʼodham (also called Pima) dialects. These differences can be in the words they use or in their grammar rules.

How Dialects Differ

Here are some examples of how words can be different in Tohono Oʼodham and Akimel Oʼodham:

There are also differences between northern and southern dialects. For example, how they say "you" or "flesh":

The Cukuḍ Kuk dialect has some unique sounds. For example, it might skip a sound that other Tohono Oʼodham dialects have.

How Oʼodham Words Are Built

Oʼodham is an agglutinative language. This means words are built by adding many small parts (called morphemes) to the end of a main word. Each small part adds a specific meaning.

Sounds of Oʼodham

The Oʼodham language has 21 different consonant sounds and 5 vowel sounds. This is a common number of sounds for languages in the Uto-Aztecan family.

Consonant Sounds

Oʼodham has many sounds similar to English, like 'm', 'n', 'p', 't', 'k', 's', 'h', 'w', 'y'. It also has some unique sounds. For example, it has a sound like 'th' in "this" (ð) and a special 'd' sound (ɖ).

Vowel Sounds

Oʼodham has five main vowel sounds: 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u'.

Most vowels can be either long or short. Some can even be extra short. For example:

• ṣe꞉l (long 'e') means "Seri"
• ṣel (short 'e') means "permission"

In the Pima dialect, the /ɨ/ sound is pronounced a bit differently, like the 'u' in "but".

How Oʼodham is Written

There are two main ways to write the Oʼodham language: the Alvarez–Hale way and the Saxton way. The Tohono Oʼodham Nation uses the Alvarez–Hale system. The Gila River Indian Community uses the Saxton system.

It's usually easy to switch between the two systems. They mostly use different letters for the same sounds. However, the Alvarez–Hale system sometimes shows differences that the Saxton system does not.

Comparing the Writing Systems

Here are some examples of how words are spelled differently in the two systems:

The Saxton system does not mark a special sound at the beginning of words. It also doesn't mark extra-short vowels.

Oʼodham Grammar Basics

Oʼodham grammar has some interesting rules about how sentences are put together.

Sentence Structure

In Oʼodham, you can often change the order of words in a sentence. For example, all these sentences mean "the boy brands the pig":

• ceoj ʼo g ko꞉jĭ ceposid
• ko꞉jĭ ʼo g ceoj ceposid
• ceoj ʼo ceposid g ko꞉jĭ

Even with this freedom, the helper verb (like ʼo in the examples) usually comes second in the sentence.

• cipkan ʼañ "I am working"
• But pi ʼañ cipkan "I am not working" (the helper verb ʼañ still comes second after "pi").

Verbs and Actions

Verbs in Oʼodham change their form to show when something happened. They also change to show if the action is still happening or finished. They also change based on how many people or things are involved.

For example:

• ceoj ʼo cipkan "the boy is working" (one boy)
• cecoj ʼo cicpkan "the boys are working" (many boys)

If the verb is about an action done to something else, it changes based on the number of things being acted upon.

• ceoj ʼo g ko꞉ji ceposid "the boy is branding the pig" (one pig)
• ceoj ʼo g kokji ha-cecposid "the boy is branding the pigs" (many pigs)

Nouns and Things

Oʼodham nouns can show if there is one of something, many of something, or many of something spread all over. Not all nouns have forms for all three.

• gogs "dog"
• gogogs "dogs"
• goggogs "dogs (all over)"

Adjectives and Descriptions

Adjectives in Oʼodham describe nouns. They can be used directly with the noun or as a verb. Their form does not change.

• ʼi꞉da ṣu꞉dagĭ ʼo s-he꞉pid "This water is cold" (here "cold" acts like a verb)
• ʼs-he꞉pid ṣu꞉agĭ ʼañ hohoʼid "I like cold water" (here "cold" describes "water")

A Sample of Oʼodham

Here is a short story in the Salt River dialect of Oʼodham. It is from the Oʼodham Piipaash Language Program and is called Taḏai (which means "Roadrunner").

Na꞉nse ʼe꞉da, mo꞉ hek jeweḍ ʼu꞉d si we꞉coc, ma꞉ṣ hek Taḏai siskeg ʼu꞉d ʼuʼuhig. Hek ʼaʼanac c wopo꞉c si wo skegac c ʼep si cecwac. Kuṣ ʼam hebai hai ki g ʼOʼodham ṣam ʼoʼoidam k ʼam ʼupam da꞉da k ʼam ce꞉ ma꞉ṣ he꞉kai cu hek ha na꞉da. ʼI꞉dam ʼOʼodham ṣam ʼeh he꞉mapa k ʼam aʼaga ma꞉ṣ has ma꞉sma vo bei hek na꞉da ʼab ʼamjeḍ hek Tatañki Jioṣ. Ṣa biʼi ʼa ma꞉ṣ mo ka꞉ke hek Taḏai ma꞉ṣ mo me꞉tk ʼamo ta꞉i hek na꞉da ha we꞉hejeḍ ʼi꞉dam ʼOʼodham. Taḏai ṣa꞉ ma so꞉hi ma꞉ṣ mo me꞉ḍk ʼamo ta꞉i g na꞉da hek Tatañki Jioṣ. Tho ṣud me꞉tkam, ʼam "si ʼi nai꞉ṣ hek wo꞉gk" k gau mel ma꞉ṣ ʼam ki g Tatañki Jioṣ.

Here is the same text written using the Saxton orthography:

Nahnse ehtha, moh hek jeved uhth sih vehchoch, mahsh hek Tadai siskeg uhth uʼuhig. Hek aʼanach ch vopohch sih vo skegach ch ep sih chechvach. Kush am hebai hai kih g Oʼottham sham oʼoitham k am upam thahtha k am cheh mahsh hehkai chu hek ha nahtha. Ihtham Oʼothham sham eh hehmapa k am aʼaga mahsh has mahsma vo bei hek nahtha ab amjeth hek Tatanigi Jiosh. Sha biʼih a mahsh mo kahke hek Tadai mahsh mo mehtk amo tahʼih hek nahtha ha vehhejed ihtham Oʼottham. Tadai shah ma sohhih mahsh mo mehdk amo tahʼih g nahtha hek Tatanigi Jiosh. Tho shuth mehtkam, am "sih ih naihsh hek vohgk" k gau mel mahsh am kih g Tatanigi Jiosh.

See also

In Spanish: Idioma o'odham para niños