Jicarilla Apache

Jicarilla Apache refers to an Apache people currently living in New Mexico and to the Southern Athabaskan language they speak. The term jicarilla comes from Mexican Spanish meaning 'little basket'.

Culture

Language

Jicarilla (called Abáachii miizaa in Jicarilla) is an Eastern Southern Athabaskan language.

Sounds

Consonants

Jicarilla has 34 consonants:

• What has developed into /d/ in Jicarilla corresponds to /n/ and /ⁿd/ in other Southern Athabaskan languages (e.g. Navajo and Chiricahua).

Vowels

Jicarilla has 16 vowels:

All vowels may be

• oral or nasal
• short or long

Among the oral vowels, the long high vowel (i.e., /iː/), the short mid vowel (i.e. /ʊ/), and the short low vowel (i.e., /ə/) are slightly raised compared to their respective counterparts.

Nasal vowels are indicated by underlining in the Jicarilla orthography.

Tone

Jicarilla has three different tones:

• high
• low
• falling

High tone is indicated with an acute accent. Low tone is unmarked. Falling tone is indicated by a sequence of acute-accented vowel and an unmarked vowel.

• high tone: tsé 'rock', dééh 'tea'
• low tone: ts’e 'sagebush', jee 'pitch'
• falling tone: zháal 'money', ha’dáonáa 'how?'

Grammar

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Example text

Below is a (partial) text from Wilson & Martine (1996: 125–126).

Abáchii miizaa:

Shíí Rita shíízhii. Lósii’yé shii’deeshchíí shíí á’ee néésai. Shiika’éé na’iizii’íí nahiikéyaa’íí miiná’iisdzo’íí éí yaa shishíí. Shii’máá éí gé koghá’yé sidá nahaa daashishíí. Shiidádéé naakii. Dáłaa’é éí édii. Dáłaa’é éí dá aada’é miigha. Shiishdázha dáłánéé. Ałtso nada’iizii. Łe’ dá á’ee Lósii’ee daamigha. Isgwéela’yé naséyá, éí Lósii’ee naséyá dá áństs’íísédá. Łe’gó Santa Fe’yé dáłaa’é hai shee goslíí á’ee. Łe’gó Ináaso’yé éí kái’ii hai shee goslíí....

English translation:

My name is Rita. I was born and grew up in Dulce. My father worked to take care of our land. My mother stayed home and took care of all of us. I had two sisters. One of them is deceased. The other lives far from here. I have many younger sisters. They all work. Some of them live in Dulce. When I was a youngster, I went to school in Dulce. Then I lived for a year in Santa Fe. Later I lived three years in Ignacio....

Interlinear text:

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Links

• Jicarilla Apache Nation website
• Jicarilla Apache Tribe
• Jicarilla Apache: Tinde
• Myths of the Jicarilla Apache
• The Jicarilla Genesis
• An Apache Medicine Dance
• Jicarilla Texts (Internet Sacred Text Archive)

Bibliography

• Goddard, Pliny E. (1911). Jicarilla Apache texts. Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History (Vol. 8). New York: The American Museum of Natural History.
• Lachler, Jordan. (1998). Abáchi mizaa iłkee’ siijai: Jicarilla dictionary. Jicarilla Cultural Preservation Program; Department of Linguistics, University of New Mexico.
• Opler, Morris. (1941). A Jicarilla expedition and scalp dance. (Narrated by Alasco Tisnado).
• Opler, Morris. (1942). Myths and tales of the Jicarilla Apache Indians.
• Opler, Morris. (1947). Mythology and folk belief in the maintenance of Jicarilla Apache tribal endogamy.
• Phone, Wilma; & Torivio, Patricia. (1981). Jicarilla mizaa medaóołkai dáłáéé. Albuquerque: Native American Materials Development Center.
• Tuttle, Siri G.; & Sandoval, Merton. (2002). Jicarilla Apache. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 32, 105–112.
• Wilson, Alan, & Vigil Martine, Rita. (1996). Apache (Jicarilla). Guilford, CT: Audio-Forum. ISBN 0–8843–2903–8. (Includes book and cassette recording).