THE KIOWA LAjSTGUAGE 

 CHARACTERISTICS 



So far as at present known, the Kiowa language has no affinity with 

 any other, but it is possible that closer study and more abundant 

 material will establish its connection with some one of the linguistic 

 stocks on the headwaters of the Missouri and the Columbia, tlie region 

 from which the tribe has migrated to the south. All of the language 

 that has hitherto been printed is comprised in a list of one hundred 

 and eighty words collected by Bartlett in 1852 ("Personal Narrative," 

 1854), and in fifteen songs of the ghost dance, published by the author 

 in ISStG in the Fourteenth Annual Eeport of the Bureau of Ethnology. 

 To these may be added a few words and sentences printed in phonetic 

 type in a little paper called "The (.ilorious Sun," published at irregular 

 intervals in 1895 at Anadarko by Lewis D. Hadley. There is also in 

 possession of the Bureau an extended manuscript vocabulary with 

 texts collected on the reservation by Albert S. Gatschet in 1880. 



Although the Kiowa language is really vocalic, nearly every syllable 

 ending in a vowel and there being but few double consonants, yet the 

 frequency of the explosive or aspirated sounds renders it unpleasingto 

 the ear and unfitted for melodious musical composition, such as we find 

 in the Arapaho and Caddo songs. It has, however, a forcible effect in 

 oratory on account of the strong distinct enunciation of nearly every 

 vowel and syllable, the vigor of the gutturals and dentals, and the 

 redundance of the sonorous o. The distinct emphasis put upon nearly 

 every syllable gives to sentences the effect of a chant or recitation, 

 while the frequent rising inflection lends a querulous tone to an ordinary 

 conversation. 



The language lacks/, v, and r. In attempting to pronounce English 

 words, j>, fc, and I are substituted, respectively, for these sounds, while 

 ch is changed to ts. The diphthong an is also wanting, and short A 

 occurs only in a few words of foreign origin. With the exception of <t 

 short or obscure, the vowels are generally long. D has a slight explo- 

 sive sound and approximates t. Before I it is softened or sometimes 

 even entirely elided, the vowel being lengthened to supply the hiatus. 

 Thus in Bartlett's vocabulary we find ol, ¥ul, and l;ul for I'tihd, l/odal, 

 and (jadal. The same change is made by the Kiowa in pronouncing 

 English words of like character, as nal for saddle. The most common 

 vowel sounds are a, a, e, and o; a with certain speakers becomes o, and 

 e is weakened to /. Nasal vowels are frequent. There are several 

 aspirated or medial sounds and a strong explosive //. Below is given 

 the list of sounds according to the Bureau system, nasals being indi- 

 cated by ii. A frequent rising inflection at the end of words, repre- 



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