Хочунк тілі: АҚШ Орта Батысының сіуан тілі

Siouan language of US Midwest

The Ho Chunk language (Hoocąk, Hocąk), also known as Winnebago, is the language of the Ho Chunk people of the Ho Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. The language is part of the Siouan language family and is closely related to other Chiwere Siouan dialects, including those of the Iowa, Missouria, and Otoe. "Winnebago," a name now used for the Ho Chunk who were forcibly removed to Nebraska, is an exonym, an Anglicization of the Sauk and Fox word Oinepegi. The anglicized form of the endonym is "Ho Chunk".

Ho Chunk is a mora counting, but syllable accenting language. The stress placement of words spoken in isolation is extremely regular. Single syllable words always have a long vowel (two moras), and stress falls on the first mora (e. g. áa 'arm'). Two syllable words have two moras, and primary stress falls on the second mora (e. g. wajé 'dress'). In words longer than two syllables, primary stress most often falls on the third syllable, with secondary stress on each even numbered vowel after the point of primary stress (e. g. waǧįǧį́ 'ball,' or hocįcį́k 'boy'). A few rare examples of words with primary stress not on the third syllable include booráxux 'you break something into pieces' and gikąnąhé 'to invite somebody.' These and other exceptions are a result of syllable weight affecting stress location.

Ho Chunk's suffixes mark number, tense, mood, negation, and aspect.

Like other Siouan languages, Ho Chunk's basic word order is Subject Object Verb (SOV). An example of a typical sentence is Hinųkra wažątirehižą ruwį 'The woman bought a car.' In a sentence with two objects, such as Hinųkiža hocįcįhižą wiiwagaxhižą hok'ų 'A girl gave a boy a pencil,' the canonical word order is Subject Indirect Object Direct Object Verb. Word order is relatively free in Ho Chunk; however, while a word order such as Wažątirehižą, hinųkra ruwį 'The woman bought a car' is permissabie, the change from the basic neutral word order of SOV requires a prosodic pause indicated by a comma. Without this pause, an interpretation 'A car bought the woman' is possible, though highly unlikely.

Negative phrases are expressed with a particle, such as hąąke 'not' or hąkaga 'never' paired with the suffix/enclitic nį 'not.' Both elements are required in such phrases: the particle precedes the verb phrase, while nį is suffixed to the verb. The following examples demonstrate this construction: Some schools teach the language, or have elements of the language in cultural education. In Nebraska, the Ho Chunk Renaissance program teaches the language in local and reservation schools. Both tribal governments recognize the importance of technology in language learning, and are active in Facebook and YouTube to reach the younger generation of learners. A "Ho Chunk (Hoocąk) Native American Language app" is available for iPhone, iPad, and other iOS devices. Language is a crucial aspect of Ho Chunk culture:

"Within a lot of Native American cultures, language and culture go together," Lewis St. Cyr, language program director for the Ho Chunk, said. "You can't have culture without language and you can't have language without culture. The importance of it is of who we are."