- Phonology Consonants Vowels
- References
- External links
{{Infobox language
|name=Kato
|nativename=Cahto
|region=California (Eel River)
|ethnicity=Cahto people
|extinct=1960s
|ref=e18
|familycolor=Dené-Yeniseian
|fam2=Na-Dené
|fam3=Athabaskan
|fam4=Pacific Coast Athabaskan
|fam5=California Athabaskan
|iso3=ktw
|glotto=kato1244
|glottorefname=Kato
}}Cahto (also spelled Kato) is an extinct Athabaskan language that was formerly spoken by the Kato people of the Laytonville and Branscomb area at the head of the South Fork of the Eel River. It is one of the four languages belonging to the California Athabaskan cluster of the Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages. Most Kato speakers were bilingual in Northern Pomo and some also spoke Yuki. PhonologyConsonants | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal |
|---|
| Nasal | {{IPAblink|m}} m | | n}} n | | | {{IPAblink|ŋ}} ñ | | |
|---|
| Stop | {{IPAblink|b}} b | {{IPAblink|tʰ}} t | {{IPAblink|tʼ}} t' | {{IPAblink|d}} d | {{IPAblink|ts}} ts {{IPAblink|tsʼ}} ts' | | Before front vowel | Before back vowel | {{IPAblink|k}}~{{IPAblink|q}} q | {{IPAblink|ʔ}} ′ |
|---|
| {{IPAblink|cʰ}} k | {{IPAblink|cʼ}} k' | {{IPAblink|ɟ}} g | {{IPAblink|kʰ}} k | {{IPAblink|kʼ}} k' | {{IPAblink|g}} g | | Affricate | | | tɬ}} L | {{IPAblink|t͡ʃʰ}} tc | {{IPAblink|t͡ʃʼ}} tc' | {{IPAblink|d͡ʒ}} dj | | {{IPAblink|kʷ}} kw {{IPAblink|kʷ|ʼ=}} kw' | | |
|---|
| Fricative | | | s}} s {{IPAblink|z}} z {{IPAblink|ɬ}} ʟ | {{IPAblink|ʃ}} c {{IPAblink|ʒ}} j | | {{IPAblink|ɣ}} ɢ | | {{IPAblink|h}} h |
|---|
| Approximant | | | l}} l | | {{IPAblink|j}} y | ({{IPAblink|ʍ}} w) {{IPAblink|w}} w | | |
|---|
Cahto has 26 consonant phonemes and 30 phones. Vowels | Front | Central | Back | Diphthong |
|---|
| High | i}}(ː)] ī | ɪ}} i ~ {{IPAblink|ʊ}} û | u}}(ː)] ū | |
|---|
| High-Mid | e}}(ː)] ē | e}} ɛ ~ {{IPAblink|ə}} ę | o}}(ː)] ō |
|---|
| Low-Mid | e}} ɛ ~ {{IPAblink|ə}} ę | | ʌ}} ą ~ {{IPAblink|a}} a |
|---|
| Low | [{{IPAlink|a}}(ː)] ā, {{IPAblink|ʌ}} ą ~ {{IPAblink|a}} a | [ai] ai |
|---|
Cahto has 9 vowel phonemes (including the diphthong) and 12 phones. References- {{cite book|last1=Goddard|first1=Pliny Earle|authorlink=Pliny Earle Goddard|author2=Bill Ray|title=Kato texts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v8k6AQAAIAAJ|accessdate=24 August 2012|year=1909|publisher=The University Press}} University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnography 5(3):65-238.
- Goddard, Pliny Earle (1912). Elements of the Kato Language. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnography 11(1):1-176.
- {{cite book|last1=Goddard|first1=Pliny Earle|title=Elements of the Kato language|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmEUAAAAYAAJ|accessdate=24 August 2012|year=1916|publisher=University of California Press}}
- Golla, Victor (2011). California Indian Languages. Berkeley: University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-052-026667-4}}.
External links- Kato language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
- Kato Language (Cahto), nativelanguages.org
- The Cahto ("Kato") Language
- Experimental Cahto lexical database
- OLAC resources in and about the Kato language
- Kato Bibliography
- Kato basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
{{Languages of California}}{{Athabaskan languages}}{{indigenousAmerican-lang-stub}} 4 : Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages|Extinct languages of North America|Languages of the United States|Languages extinct in the 1960s |