A Grammar Sketch of Tutelo-Saponi

Abstract

This is a sketch grammar of the Tutelo-Saponi language, a preliminary examination of the history, phonology, morphology, and syntax of the Southeastern Siouan language and its speakers. While previous works have presented the corpus’ data in the North American Phonetic Alphabet, this study presents data primarily in a combination of the International Phonetic Alphabet (for the phonology portion of the grammar) and the writing system currently being developed for the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation (a derivation of the orthography of the 19th-century philologist Horatio Hale). Included later in the sketch are methods currently being used to enrich the Tutelo-Saponi lexicon. Finally, this sketch presents a sample opening prayer in the language created in conjunction with an Occaneechi language consultant, as well as a land acknowledgment of the Tohono O’odham people created by Corey Roberts to open a linguistics presentation at the University of Arizona.