About John McLaughlin Expertise I am a specialist in the Native American languages of the Great Basin and can answer nearly any question about the languages of the Numic family of the Uto-Aztecan stock (Shoshoni, Timbisha [Panamint], Comanche, Kawaiisu, Southern Paiute-Ute-Chemehuevi, Mono, and Northern Paiute). I can also answer questions about the science of linguistics, especially about comparative and historical linguistics, phonetics, phonology, and the classification of the world`s languages. I can answer most questions about the history of the English language, but would rather not get into questions about the origins of particular idioms or expressions.
Experience I have a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Kansas and am an Associate Professor at Utah State University. I teach both on-line and traditional classroom courses in linguistics. My dissertation was the first grammar of the Timbisha language of Death Valley, based on fieldwork among some of the last speakers.
Organizations Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas
Publications International Journal of American Linguistics; Anthropological Linguistics; Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics; Names; Publications of the Mid-America Linguistics Conference; Uto-Aztecan: Structural, Temporal, and Geographic Perspectives (2000, Universidad de Sonora)
Education/Credentials B.A., Geography, Utah State University; M.A., Linguistics, University of Utah; Ph.D., Linguistics, University of Kansas
Expert: John McLaughlin Date: 5/2/2004 Subject: word translation
Question I have begun to study the anthropology of native cultures of the Southwest and would like the following words translated from English to Southern Paiute (if possible):
community
home/homestead
urban
ranch/estate
singular/distinctive
Thank you, in advance, for your assistance.
-Ric
Answer The concepts of "urban, ranch, estate" are western and you'd have to ask a contemporary speaker of Southern Paiute if they've borrowed any words or constructed any words for these concepts recently.
'home' is identical with 'house' (not 'homestead' in the sense of a parcel of land)-- kanni. to specify the location of a house ('house place', camping place)-- kannittüa (the ü is a high back unrounded vowel like Japanese u in ryukyu).
'community' is identical with 'village'-- kanniakantaty (second k pronounced like 'g', last t is a tap pronounced like 't' or 'd' in 'writing' or 'riding'), literally, 'having many houses'.
'distinctive' is probably best translated with the adjective 'different (from me), stranger (hence, by extension, enemy)'-- kymma. (Hence, qymmantsi 'stranger, enemy', borrowed into Spanish as Comanche).
These concepts, however, are so modern and non-traditional that contemporary Southern Paiutes may not be in agreement as to what term to use in exactly translating them. The only SP community where the language is still being spoken on a daily basis is the San Juan community in Tuba City, Arizona. Pam Bunte at California State University, Long Beach works closely with that community and may have better terms (or community contacts) if you're serious about having SP equivalents.
