Wichita

Wichita is a Northern Caddoan language spoken near Anadarko in western Oklahoma. In 2008 there was one native speaker of Wichita, Doris McLemore, and 3 other speakers. Doris died in August 2016. Efforts are being made to teach and document the language in a partnership between the Wichita tribe and the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Wichita alphabet and pronunciation

Wichita is a tonal language with high and low tones. The high tone is indicated with an acute accent (á). The low tone is unmarked.

Download an alphabet chart for Wichita (Excel)

Sample text in Wichita

ka:ʔa:ʔa:kó:kha:rʔa, kíkʔi:s, khiʔas, kiyakihiteʔecaki, kiya:kiʔi:khíyaʔa hakihiʔiyaskwah. "ka:kiyaʔ, isí:ʔa! iskirhiʔiyaskwa!"

Translation

Once upon a time, turtle, poor thing, he was sitting at the edge, they say. He was wishing, they say to go across the water. Somebody come! Take me across the water!

Source: http://www.colorado.edu/linguistics/faculty/rood-old/Wichita/texts/tbc_a_b.html

Details of the last native speaker of Wichita

Links

Information about the Wichita language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wichita_language
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wichita_(langue)
http://www.colorado.edu/linguistics/faculty/rood-old/Wichita/
http://www.colorado.edu/linguistics/faculty/rood-old/Wichita/SketchofWichita.pdf
http://www.native-languages.org/wichita_guide.htm

The Last Living Speaker of Wichita
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18532656
http://www.nativetimes.com/archives/22/1171-woman-last-to-speak-wichita-language
http://kmuw.org/post/last-fluent-speaker-wichita-tribal-language-dies

Caddoan languages

Arikara, Caddo, Pawnee, Wichita

Other languages written with the Latin alphabet

If you need to type in many different languages, the Q International Keyboard can help. It enables you to type almost any language that uses the Latin, Cyrillic or Greek alphabets, and is free.

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