Keres (), also Keresan (), is a Native American language, spoken by the Keres Pueblo people in New Mexico. Depending on the analysis, Keres is considered a small language family or a language isolate with several dialects. If it is considered a language isolate, it would be the most widely spoken language isolate within the borders of the United States. The varieties of each of the seven Keres pueblos are mutually intelligible with its closest neighbors. There are significant differences between the Western and Eastern groups, which are sometimes counted as separate languages.
Classification Keres is now considered a language isolate. In the past, Edward Sapir grouped it together with a Hokan–Siouan stock. Morris Swadesh suggested a connection with Wichita. Joseph Greenberg grouped Keres with Siouan, Yuchi, Caddoan, and Iroquoian in a superstock called Keresiouan. None of these proposals has been validated by subsequent linguistic research.
Internal classification In 2013, there was an estimate total of 13,190 speakers.
Keres Eastern Keres: total of 4,580 speakers (1990 census) Cochiti Pueblo Kotyit dialect: 600 speakers (2007) San Felipe Pueblo Katishtya dialect: 2,340 speakers (2007) Kewa Pueblo (formally Santo Domingo Pueblo) Kewa dialect: 2,850 speakers (2007) Zia Pueblo Ts'ia dialect: 500 speakers (2007) Santa Ana Pueblo Tamaiya dialect: 390 speakers (2007) Western Keres: total of 3,391 speakers (1990 census) Acoma Pueblo Áakʼu dialect: 1,930 speakers (2007) Laguna Pueblo Kawaika dialect: 2,060 speakers (2007)
Phonology Keresan has around 40 consonant phonemes, and around 12 vowel phonemes. Based on the classification in the World Atlas of Language Structures, Keres is a language with a large consonant inventory.
The great number of consonants relates to the three-way distinction between voiceless, aspirated and ejective consonants (e.g. ), and to the larger than average number of fricatives (i.e. ) and affricates, the latter also showing the three-way distinction found in stops.
The large number of vowels derives from a distinction made between long and short vowels (e.g. ), as well as from the presence of tones and voicelessness. Thus, a single vowel quality may occur with seven distinct realizations: , all of which are used to distinguish words in the language.
Consonants The chart below contains the consonants of the proto-Keresan (or pre-Keresan) from Miller & Davis (1963) based on a comparison of Acoma, Santa Ana, and Santo Domingo, as well as other features of the dialects compiled from The Language of Santa Ana Pueblo (1964), Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics (1987), and The Phonemes of Keresan (1946), and the Grammar of Laguna Keres (2005).
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" !colspan="2" | !Labial !Alveolar !Palatal !Retroflex !Velar !Glottal |- ! rowspan="2" |Nasal !voiced
!glottalized
! rowspan="3" | Plosive !voiceless
!aspirated
!ejective
! rowspan="3" |Affricate !voiceless
!aspirated
!ejective
!rowspan="2" | Fricative !voiceless
!ejective
!rowspan="2" | Approximant !voiced
!glottalized
Vowels Keresan vowels have a phonemic distinction in duration: all vowels can be long or short. Additionally, short vowels can also be voiceless. The vowel chart below contains the vowel phonemes and allophones from the information of the Keresan languages combined from The Language of Santa Ana Pueblo (1964), The Phonemes of Keresan (1946), and Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics (1987). LongShortPhonemicPhoneticPhonemicPhoneticVoicelessClose Mid-frontMid-centralOpen Back-close Notes: Western Keres does not have phonemic or , though both vowels may occur phonetically. Eastern Keres words containing show in Western Keres. For instance, the first vowel in the word-sentence Sraúka̠cha̠ – "I see you": Kotyit Keres: Kʼawaika Keres:
Voiceless vowels All Keresan short vowels may be devoiced in certain positions. The phonemic status of these vowels is controversial. Maring (1967) considers them to be phonemes of Áákʼu Keres, whereas other authors disagree. There are phonetic grounds for vowel devoicing based on the environment they occur, for instance word-finally, but there are also exceptions. Vowels in final position are nearly always voiceless and medial vowels occurring between voiced consonants, after nasals and ejectives are nearly always voiced. Word-final devoicing: because Word-medial devoicing: white paint
Tones Acoma Keres has four lexical tones: high, low, falling and rising. Falling and rising tones only occur in long vowels and voiceless vowels bear no tones:
TonesexamplestranslationHigh, here, matrilineal uncleLowyoung boyRisingbecauseFalling, and, whole part
Syllable structure
Most Keresan syllables take a CV(V) shape. The maximal syllable structure is CCVVC and the minimal syllable is CV. In native Keresan words, only a glottal stop ⟨ʼ⟩ can close a syllable, but some loanwords from Spanish have syllables that end in a consonant, mostly a nasal (i.e. but words containing these sequences are rare in the language).
Syllable typeexamplestranslationCV, I have it, left CVV, young boy, cooking potCCVI'm not fatCCVVbluejayCVC, expression of fear, workmate (Spanish "compañero")
Due to extensive vowel devoicing, several Keresan words may be perceived as ending in consonants or even containing consonant clusters. Word-internal cluster: yʼâakạ srûunị 'stomach' > ~ Word-final coda: úwàakạ 'baby'; > ~
Phonotactics The only sequence of consonants (i.e. consonant cluster) that occurs in native Keresan words is a sequence of a fricative and a stop or affricate. Clusters are restricted to beginnings of syllables (i.e. the syllable onset). When the alveolo-palatal consonant occurs as C1, it combines with alveolar and palatal C2, whereas the retroflex alveolar precedes bilabial and velar C2s, which suggest a complementary distribution. Consonant clusters may occur both word-initially and word-medially.
C1/C2 Bilabial Alveolar Velar Postalveolar/ʃ/shdáurákụ'frog, toad'shtérashtʼígá'cricket'shtʼidyàatịshị'plot of land'shjv'upward'shchúmúmá'wasp'shchʼísạ'six'srbúuná'water jug'srpàat'i'mockingbird'srpʼeruru'it's full'srgásrgáukʼa'quail'srkv́dútsị'mound, hill'srkʼabíhí'female in-law'
Orthography Traditional Keresan beliefs postulate that Keres is a sacred language that must exist only in its spoken form. The language's religious connotation and years of persecution of Pueblo religion by European colonizers may also explain why no unified orthographic convention exists for Keresan. However, a practical spelling system has been developed for Laguna (Kʼawaika) and more recently for Acoma (Áakʼu) Keres, both of which are remarkably consistent.
In the Keres spelling system, each symbol represents a single phoneme. The letters ⟨c q z f⟩ and sometimes also ⟨v⟩ are not used. Digraphs represent both palatal consonants (written using a sequence of C and ⟨y⟩), and retroflex consonants, which are represented using a sequence of C and the letter ⟨r⟩. These graphemes used for writing Western Keres are shown between ⟨...⟩ below.
Consonant symbols Labial Alveolar Palatal Retroflex VelarGlottalNasalvoiced⟨m⟩⟨n⟩⟨ny⟩glottalized⟨mʼ⟩⟨nʼ⟩⟨nyʼ⟩ Plosive voiceless ⟨b⟩ ⟨d⟩ ⟨dy⟩ ⟨g⟩ ⟨ʼ⟩ aspirated ⟨p⟩ ⟨t⟩ ⟨ty⟩ ⟨k⟩ ejective ⟨pʼ⟩ ⟨tʼ⟩ ⟨tyʼ⟩ ⟨kʼ⟩ Affricatevoiceless⟨dz⟩⟨j⟩⟨dr⟩aspirated⟨ts⟩⟨ch⟩⟨tr⟩ejective⟨tsʼ⟩⟨chʼ⟩⟨trʼ⟩ Fricative voiceless ⟨s⟩ ⟨sh⟩ ⟨sr⟩ ⟨h⟩ ejective ⟨sʼ⟩ ⟨shʼ⟩ ⟨srʼ⟩ Approximant voiced ⟨w⟩ ⟨r⟩ ⟨y⟩ glottalized ⟨wʼ⟩ ⟨rʼ⟩ ⟨yʼ⟩
Signage at Acoma Pueblo Signs at Acoma Pueblo sometimes use special diacritics for ejective consonants that differ from the symbols above, as shown in the table:
+Comparison between general orthography and the orthography used at AcomaGeneral⟨pʼ⟩⟨tʼ⟩⟨kʼ⟩⟨sʼ⟩⟨tsʼ⟩⟨mʼ⟩⟨wʼ⟩⟨yʼ⟩⟨nʼ shʼ srʼ tyʼ⟩Acoma signage⟨ṕ⟩⟨t́⟩⟨ḱ⟩⟨ś⟩⟨tś⟩⟨ḿ⟩⟨ẃ⟩⟨ý⟩?
Vowel symbols Vowel sounds are represented straightforwardly in the existing spellings for Keresan. Each vowel sound is written using a unique letter or digraph (for long vowels and diphthongs). However, there are two competing representations for the vowel . Some versions simply use the IPA ⟨ɨ⟩ whereas others use the letter ⟨v⟩ (the sound as in veal does not occur in Keresan). Voiceless vowels have also been represented in two ways; either underlined or with a dot below (see table).
Long vowelsShort vowelsVoiceless vowelsPhonemeGraphemePhonemeGraphemePhonemeGrapheme⟨ii⟩⟨i⟩⟨i̱⟩ or ⟨ị⟩⟨ee⟩⟨e⟩⟨e̱⟩ or ⟨ẹ⟩⟨ɨɨ⟩ or ⟨vv⟩⟨ɨ⟩ or ⟨v⟩⟨ɨ̱⟩ or ⟨ṿ⟩⟨aa⟩⟨a⟩⟨a̱⟩ or ⟨ạ⟩⟨oo⟩⟨o⟩⟨o̱⟩ or ⟨ọ⟩⟨uu⟩⟨u⟩⟨u̱⟩ or ⟨ụ⟩
Diacritics for tone Tone may or may not be represented in the orthography of Keresan. When represented, four diacritics may be used above the vowel. Unlike the system used for Navajo, diacritics for tone are not repeated in long vowels. +High toneLow toneRising toneFalling toneLong Vowel⟨áa⟩, ⟨úu⟩⟨àa⟩, ⟨ùu⟩ or unmarked⟨ǎa⟩, ⟨ǔu⟩ or ⟨aá⟩, ⟨uú⟩⟨âa⟩, ⟨ûu⟩ or ⟨aà⟩, ⟨uù⟩Short Vowel⟨á⟩, ⟨ú⟩⟨à⟩, ⟨ù⟩ or unmarked-
Keres orthography and alphabetical order Although Keresan is not normally written, there exists one dictionary of the language in which words are listed in any given order. In this dictionary of Western Keres, digraphs count as single letters, although ejective consonants are not listed separately; occurring after their non-ejective counterparts. The symbol for the glottal stop ⟨ʼ⟩, for long vowels (e.g. ⟨aa ee ii⟩ etc.) are not treated as separate letters. +Alphabetical order in the Acoma Keres Audio DictionaryA aB bCH chCHʼ chʼD dDR drDY dyDZ dzE eG gH hI i(Ɨ ɨ)J jK kKʼ kʼM mMʼ mʼN nNʼ nʼNY nyNYʼ nyʼ(O o)P pPʼ pʼR rRʼ rʼS sSʼ sʼSH shSHʼ shʼSR srSRʼ srʼT tʼTR trTRʼ trʼTS tsTSʼ tsʼTY tyTYʼ tyʼU uW w(V v)Wʼ wʼY yYʼ yʼ
Letters〈f q x z〉are not used to write Keres, whereas the letters ⟨ɨ o v⟩ are only used in some dialects.
Sample texts
Orthography marking tone Woodpecker and Coyote
⟨Ái dítʼîishu srbígà kʼánâaya dyáʼâʼu. Shʼée srbígà ái dyěitsị ái náyáa shdyɨ dyáʼa.⟩
Orthography without tone marking Boas text
Baanaʼa, egu kauʼseeʼe, atsi sʼaama-ee srayutse.
Morphosyntax Keresan is a split-ergative language in which verbs denoting states (i.e. stative verbs) behave differently from those indexing actions, especially in terms of the person affixes they take. This system of argument marking is based on a split-intransitive pattern, in which subjects are marked differently if they are perceived as actors than from when they are perceived as undergoers of the action being described.
The morphology of Keresan is mostly prefixing, although suffixes and reduplication also occur. Keresan distinguishes nouns, verbs, numerals and particles as word classes. Nouns in Keresan do not normally distinguish case or number, but they can be inflected for possession, with distinct constructions for alienable and inalienable possession. Other than possession, Keresan nouns show no comprehensive noun classes.
Word order Keresan is a verb-final language, though word order is rather flexible.
Negation Negation is doubly marked in Keresan. In addition to the adverb dzaadi, verbs index negation through a suffix (e.g. -u). Gukacha 'S/he saw her/him' Dzaadi gukachau 'S/he didn't see her/him'
Verbal morphology The verb is a central grammatical category in Keres, conveying the most information about events in communicative acts. Through its morphemes, Keresan verbs code not only person and number of the initiator of the action (e.g. "Tammy drinks decaf") as is common in Indo-European languages, but also how the initiator is implicated in the action. For instance, the three verbs that describe Tammy's actions in "Tammy kicked the ball" vs. "Tammy jumped" vs. "Tammy sneezed" require different levels of effort from Tammy, that is when kicking vs. jumping vs. sneezing.