University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Linguistics ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fall 11-16-2020 Exploring Language Endangerment and Language Change in Tohono O'odham Keiko F. Beers University of New Mexico - Main Campus Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ling_etds Part of the Linguistics Commons Recommended Citation Beers, Keiko F.. "Exploring Language Endangerment and Language Change in Tohono O'odham." (2020). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ling_etds/72 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Linguistics ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Keiko Beers Candidate Linguistics Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Rosa Vallejos, Ph.D., Chairperson Melissa Axelrod, Ph.D. Melvatha Chee, Ph.D. Doris Payne, Ph.D. Ofelia Zepeda, Ph.D. i EXPLORING LANGUAGE ENDANGERMENT AND LANGUAGE CHANGE IN TOHONO O'ODHAM by KEIKO FRANCIS BEERS B.A., Art History, University of Minnesota, 1998 M.A., Linguistics, San Francisco State University, 2006 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Linguistics The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico December 2020 ii DEDICATION To my big brother, Tom, who supported me when I began to ask questions and encouraged me when I wanted to explore. iii ACKOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation led me through one of the most challenging adventures that I have yet to experience, and I feel certain that I was able to finish because of the unconditional support and encouragement from a number of people whom I would like to acknowledge. To begin with, I owe a special thanks to all members – past and present – of the O'odham Ñe'ok Revitalization Project. My involvement in this project is where my work among the O'odham community and on the O'odham language began. This dissertation would never have been possible without the support of a handful of members of the O'odham community in particular. I am grateful and deeply indebted to Robert Cruz, who shared countless hours of his time with me working on the O'odham materials on which this work is largely based, and who always made time to teach me about his language, O'odham culture, and history. I also would like to thank the late Philip Miguel, who was always willing to share his expertise on O'odham grammar with anyone who was interested and who generously set aside time during his spring break to work with me on translations. Other community members who contributed to this work or supported it in one way or another are David Garcia, Raphael García, the late Mel Ortega, and Frances Benavidez. Sincere gratitude to you all. I also owe many thanks to Jacob Franco Hernandez who provided Spanish translations for several of the texts that I utilize in my dissertation and who spent many hours Skyping with me from Sonora to talk about O'odham structure. Additional members of the O'odham Ñe'ok Revitalization Project from UNM who directly contributed to processing some of the texts that I include in my dissertation are Melissa Axelrod, Serena Kavanaugh, Laura Hirrel, Ginnie Kerfoot, and Andrés Sabogal. To Lo:la (Laura), Jinisk (Ginnie), and Antpik (Andrés), in particular, beyond transcribing and translating that old, crackling wax- iv cylinder recording with me, I have many fond memories of long (and often exhausting) drives to and from Arizona, co-organizing community events and presentations, and staying up late to meet project deadlines – nearly always with the three of you. Beyond the project, I want to express my sincere gratitude to my committee members. First, thank you to my chair, Rosa Vallejos, whose Language Contact seminar inspired me to explore the primary topic that I address in my dissertation and who provided me with guidance at the very inception of this work. Thank you, Rosa, for pushing me a little harder than I would have pushed myself. Thank you to Melissa Axelrod for not only supporting me while working on my dissertation and as a PhD student over the years, but also for introducing me to Robert and the O'odham group during my first year in the department. Through your example I have learned about how to build caring and respectful relationships with communities as a linguist. Many thanks also to Melvatha Chee, whom I first knew as a fellow graduate student and was lucky enough to later have on my dissertation committee. I appreciate your meaningful comments on my dissertation and for providing perspectives on my own work that I had not considered before. Thank you also to Doris Payne for your kind, helpful, and detailed comments on my dissertation. I'm certain that your feedback greatly improved the quality of my work. Thank you to Ofelia Zepeda for offering invaluable insights on my dissertation as both a Native speaker and scholar of the O'odham language. Much of the work that you had already carried out on O'odham frequently guided aspects of my own work. Finally, I also want to thank all five of you – as women in science – for all that you did before me and continue to do to help transform the field of linguistics into one that is more equitable. v Many thanks also to the following people who provided feedback on topics directly related to my dissertation: Joan Bybee, thank you for your comments on the very earliest stages of my research on progressive constructions, and thank you also to Madeleine Mathiot for corresponding with me at length about progressives in O'odham. My sincere appreciation also to Naomi Shin and Jill Morford for your useful suggestions regarding some of my findings on demonstratives. There are also a number of faculty in the linguistics department who enriched my learning experience during my studies in other ways. A warm thank you (again) to Jill Morford always being a source of encouragement in both my teaching and in my language work even though I was never a student in any of your classes. Thank you also to Caroline Smith for being a wonderful professor. I found your classes to be some of the most rewarding that I took while a student. Dawn Nordquist, thank you for asking me to collaborate with you on designing the online Ling 101 course. I learned many useful teaching methods from you. Sherman Wilcox, thank you for your friendship and mentorship over the years. Bill Croft, thank you for your many engaging ideas and for your useful feedback on my dissertation proposal. I also have a number of colleagues and friends in the department – past and present – who contributed in significant ways to the many positive (and entertaining) experiences I had as a PhD student. There are too many individuals to list here, but I especially want to thank the following people: Laura Hirrel, I don't think I would have survived without you. Nobody shared in both my pain and successes more than you, including at the very end of my PhD journey when I needed a final gentle push in the midst of all the unsettling events associated with the year vi 2020. Corrine Occhino, my fellow Midwesterner, thank you being a source of positivity at all times and for reminding me not to be so hard on myself. Ricardo Napoleão de Souza, you always put things into perspective in such a meaningful way, and I learned a lot from you about self-care and work-life balance. Susan Brumbaugh, you were the first person I met in the department when I had not yet decided which graduate program I would attend. You were warm and inviting and were a large determining factor in my decision to attend UNM, as well as a good friend once I arrived. Other friends in the department who have played a significant and important part in my graduate school experience: Logan Sutton, Shelece Easterday, Huichieh Hsu, Jalon Begay, Sara Siyavoshi, Benjamin Anible, Evan Ashworth, Chris Peverada, Motomi Kajitani, Ljubica Kostović, Deborah Wagner, Daven Hobbs, Daejin Kim, Josefina Bittar, Sook-kyung Lee, Rebeca Martínez Gomez, Jackelyn Van Buren, Aubrey Healey, Pavlina Peskova, and Karol Ibarra Zetter. Outside of the department, thank you to Kiyoko Simmons for providing me with the opportunity to mentor and work with several inspiring groups of young undergraduate scholars during my time as a project assistant with the Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program. Thank you also to Stephanie Sanchez for providing a safe and stimulating space for our small 'Women in Academia' group where we could both commiserate about and celebrate our experiences as we all worked towards the completion of our PhDs. I am also grateful to the following organizations who provided financial support for my dissertation: Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Latin American and Iberian Institute, and the Center for Regional Studies. Without this support, completing this work would have been much more challenging. vii I have also been fortunate to make a number of important friendships outside of the university since moving to New Mexico: Heather Trost, Jeremy Barnes, Rosie Hutchinson, Drake Hardin, Candice Hopkins, Raven Chacon, Nani Chacon, Lauren Kostelnick, Claudia Valdes, William Fowler-Collins, Babak Shahsiah, Mark Rudd, and Marla Painter. All of you have been an inspiration to me in one way or another. I also have my 'family of others' to thank for their love and support. With most of you, my relationships go back over two decades: Sylvia Algire, Vy Duong, Michael Carreira, Kate Fruchey, Nueng Julakasilp, Eric King, Jessica LaFlamme, Annie Lewandowski, Daniel Lewis, Yasi Perera, Benjamin Piekut, Conor Prischman, Sara Ryu, and Shannon Vogt; also, my dear friends from back home in Minneapolis, Eric Ostby, Michele Zoromski, Cullen Gallagher, Chad Popple, and John Lambe.