Mescalero

This article is about the Native American tribe, for other uses of the word see Mescalero (disambiguation)

Mescalero (or Mescalero Apache) is a Native American tribe of Southern Athabaskan stock currently living on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in southcentral New Mexico where they live with other Chiricahua and Lipan Apaches. The Reorganization Act of 1936 consolidated the tribes onto this reservation, which currently has an Apache population of 4000 [1]. The population is integrated with the rest of Lincoln county, which includes ranching and tourism as major sources of income.

US Highway 70 is the major highway through this reservation, which lies on the eastern flank of the Sacramento mountains (see photo below). The mountains and foothills are forested with pines, and commercial development is restricted. However, the reservation itself has invested, for example, in a ski resort,now called Ski Apache, on a 12,000 foot mountain, Sierra Blanca, and a hotel in its shadow, the Inn of the Mountain Gods. An artificial lake is on the grounds. Sierra Blanca itself is sacred ground for the Apache.

A cultural center near the tribal headquarters on US 70 contains some historical information. Another museum on the western flank of the Sacramento mountains, in Dog Canyon, south of Alamogordo, New Mexico also contains more information.

The Mescalero language is an Southern Athabaskan language which is a subfamily of the Athabaskan and Na-Dené families. Mescalero lies on the southwestern branch of this subfamily and is very closely related to Chiricahua and more distantly related to Navajo and Western Apache.

Contents

1 Language 1.1 Sounds 1.1.1 Consonants 1.1.2 Vowels 2 External links 3 Notes

Language

The Mescalero language is very similar to Chiricahua.

Sounds

Consonants

The 31 consonants of Mescalero:

		Bilabial	Alveolar		Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			central	lateral
Stop	unaspirated	p	t				k
	aspirated		tʰ				kʰ
	ejective		t’				k’	ʔ
Affricate	unaspirated		ʦ	tɮ	ʧ
	aspirated		ʦʰ	tɬʰ	ʧʰ
	ejective		ʦ’	tɬ’	ʧ’
Nasal	simple	m	n
	prenasalized	(mb)	nd
Fricative	voiceless		s	ɬ	ʃ		x	h
	voiced		z	ɮ	ʒ	ʝ	ɣ

Vowels

The 16 vowels of Mescalero:

		Front		Central		Back
		short	long	short	long	short	long
High	oral	i	iː
	nasal	ĩ	ĩː
Mid	oral	ɛ	ɛː			o	oː
	nasal	ɛ̃	ɛ̃ː			õ	õː
Low	oral			a	aː
	nasal			ã	ãː

Mescalero has phonemic oral, nasal, short, and long vowels.

External links

• Mescalero Apache Reservation

Notes

[1] New York Times, Feb 6, 2005, section 5, pp7,14.

See also: Mescalero, Alveolar consonant, Apache, Athabaskan, Bilabial consonant, Chiricahua