Cahto (also spelled Kato) is an extinct Athabaskan language that was formerly spoken by the Kato people of the Laytonville and Branscomb area at the head of the South Fork of the Eel River. It is one of the four languages belonging to the California Athabaskan cluster of the Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages. Most Kato speakers were bilingual in Northern Pomo and some also spoke Yuki. It went extinct in the 1960s. Phonology Consonants Labial Dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal Nasal Plosive/Affricate ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Fricative Approximant
Cahto has 26 consonant phonemes and 30 phones.
Vowels Front Central Back Diphthong High[(ː)] ī i ~ û[(ː)] ū[ai] aiHigh-Mid[(ː)] ē ɛ ~ ę[(ː)] ōLow-Mid ɛ ~ ę ą ~ aLow[(ː)] ā, ą ~ a Cahto has 9 vowel phonemes (including the diphthong) and 12 phones.
References
University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnography 5(3):65-238. Goddard, Pliny Earle (1912). Elements of the Kato Language. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnography 11(1):1-176.
Golla, Victor (2011). California Indian Languages. Berkeley: University of California Press. .
External links Kato language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages Kato Language (Cahto), nativelanguages.org The Cahto ("Kato") Language Experimental Cahto lexical database OLAC resources in and about the Kato language Kato Bibliography Kato basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database