Shasta language
Extinct language of Western US
title: "Shasta language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["shastan-languages", "extinct-languages-of-north-america", "indigenous-languages-of-california", "indigenous-languages-of-oregon"] description: "Extinct language of Western US" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shasta_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Extinct language of Western US ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Shasta |
| states | United States |
| region | primarily northern California |
| ethnicity | Shasta people |
| extinct | 1978, with the death of Clara Wicks |
| ref | |
| familycolor | hokan |
| fam1 | Hokan ? |
| fam2 | Shasta–Palaihnihan |
| fam3 | Shastan |
| dia1 | Ikirakácˑu (Oregon Shasta) |
| dia2 | Iruhikwáˑcˑu (Klamath River Shasta) |
| dia3 | Uwáˑtuhúcˑu (Scott Valley Shasta) |
| dia4 | Ahútˑireˀeˑcˑu (Shasta Valley Shasta) |
| iso3 | sht |
| glotto | shas1239 |
| glottorefname | Shasta |
| notice | IPA |
| map | File:Shastan_languages-01.svg |
| mapcaption | |
| :: |
| name = Shasta | states = United States | region = primarily northern California | ethnicity = Shasta people | extinct = 1978, with the death of Clara Wicks | ref = | familycolor = hokan | fam1 = Hokan ? | fam2 = Shasta–Palaihnihan | fam3 = Shastan | dia1 = Ikirakácˑu (Oregon Shasta) | dia2 = Iruhikwáˑcˑu (Klamath River Shasta) | dia3 = Uwáˑtuhúcˑu (Scott Valley Shasta) | dia4 = Ahútˑireˀeˑcˑu (Shasta Valley Shasta) | iso3 = sht | glotto = shas1239 | glottorefname = Shasta | notice = IPA | map = File:Shastan_languages-01.svg | mapcaption = Shasta is an extinct Shastan language formerly spoken from northern California into southwestern Oregon. It was spoken in a number of dialects, possibly including Okwanuchu. The last fluent speaker, Clara Wicks, died in 1978, and by 1980, only two first language speakers, both elderly, were alive. Today, all ethnic Shasta people speak English as their first language.
Dialects
According to Golla, there were four distinct dialects of Shasta:
- Ikirakácˑu (Oregon Shasta)
- Iruhikwáˑcˑu (Klamath River Shasta)
- Uwáˑtuhúcˑu (Scott Valley Shasta)
- Ahútˑireˀeˑcˑu (Shasta Valley Shasta)
Phonology
Consonants
::data[format=table]
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | plain | affricated | Stop | ejective | unaspirated | Fricative | Nasal | Approximant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
The length of a consonant distinguishes meaning in Shasta words. All stops, fricatives and nasals can occur as long or short in Shasta, but approximants only occur as short consonants. Minimal pairs and near minimal pairs are shown below:
- a gnat vs. a board
- nothing vs. wild sunflower
- a person vs. cold
Vowels
Shasta has four vowels, , with contrastive length, and two tones: high and low.
::data[format=table] | Front | Central | Back | short || long | short || long | short || long | Close | Mid | Open | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::
Tones
Shasta vowels can have low or high tones. High tones are marked by an acute accent in the orthography devised by Silver (1966), whereas low tones are left unmarked. Examples for the vowel are given below: ::data[format=table]
| IPA | Orthography |
|---|---|
| /ú/ | ú |
| /úː/ | úˑ |
| /ù/ | u |
| /ùː/ | uˑ |
| :: |
Orthography
Silver (1966) devised a spelling system for distinguishing consonants and vowels in Shasta. Long phonemes are represented with the symbol following the character (e.g. and for and , respectively); ejectives are indicated by an apostrophe written over the character (e.g. for ). The phoneme is represented by , and the glottal stop is represented by the superscript IPA symbol . The letters are not used to represent Shasta sounds. ::data[format=table title="Shasta alphabet"]
| Y y | ˀ | ˀˑ | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
References
Bibliography
- Golla, Victor (2011), California Indian languages, Berkeley: University of California Press
- {{citation |last=Mithun |first=Marianne |title=The Languages of Native North America |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999
References
- "I need Your Money...!".
- Golla, Victor. (2011). "California Indian languages". University of California Press.
- Silver, Shirley. (1966). "The Shasta Language". University of California.
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