Hupa
The
Hupa (also known as
Hoopa) are an
Athabaskan tribe which inhabit northwestern
California.
Hupa are
Native North Americans whose language belongs to the
Athabascan linguistic stock. They believe that they lived in the
Hoopa Valley for over 400,000 years, but their language suggests that they are relatively recent immigrants from what is now western Canada.
In the
19th century, they occupied the South Fork of the
Trinity River to the Hoopa valley to the
Klamath River in
California. Their
redcedar-planked houses, dugout
canoes, basket hats, and many elements in their
mythology identify them with the
Northwest Coast culture, of which they are the southernmost representatives; however, some of their customs, the use of a sweat house for ceremonies and the manufacture of acorn bread, are not characteristic of that culture area. In
1864, the
U.S. government signed a treaty that recognized the Hupa tribe's sovereignty to their land. The United States called the reservation Hoopa Valley, where the Hupa now reside next to the territory of their neighbours, the
Yurok at the connection of the
Klamath and Trinity Rivers.
The Hupa language belongs to the
Athabascan branch of the
Na-Dené family.
Phonologically, the language is interesting in being the only one known to contrast a
voiceless lateral approximant from a
voiceless lateral fricative, as well as contrasting three degrees of
rounding in its
velar fricatives.
Morphologically, it is remarkable for having an extremely small numberâ€"perhaps less than one hundredâ€"of basic (monomorphemic) nouns, as nearly all nouns in the language are derived from verbs.
* P. E. Goddard, Life and Culture of the Hupa (1903).
* Kixuh, Medil Xwe
*
Hoopa Valley Tribe*
San Francisco State University - Hupa
