Method and Conclusion. See here.
Results. A ratings system was designed in terms of how difficult it would be for an English-language speaker to learn the language. In the case of English, English was judged according to how hard it would be for a non-English speaker to learn the language. Speaking, reading and writing were all considered.
Ratings: Languages are rated 1-6, easiest to hardest. 1 = easiest, 2 = moderately easy to average, 3 = average to moderately difficult, 4 = very difficult, 5 = extremely difficult, 6 = most difficult of all. Ratings are impressionistic.
Time needed. Time needed for an English language speaker to learn the language “reasonably well”: Level 1 languages = 3 months-1 year. Level 2 languages = 6 months-1 year. Level 3 languages = 1-2 years. Level 4 languages = 2 years. Level 5 languages = 3-4 years, but some may take longer. Level 6 languages = more than 4 years.
This post will look at the Wichita language in terms of how difficult it would be for an English speaker to learn it.
Caddoan
Northern
Wichita
Wichita has many strange phonological traits. It has only one nasal. Labials are rare and appear in only two roots. It also may have only three vowels, i, e, and a, with only height as a distinction. Such a restricted vertical vowel distribution is only found in NW Caucasian and the Papuan Ndu languages. There is apparently a three-way contrast in vowel length – regular, long and extra-long. This is only found in Mixe and Estonian. There are some interesting tenses. Perfect tense means that an act has been carried out. The strange intentive tense means that one hopes or hoped to to carry out an act. The habitual tense means one regularly engages in the activity, not that one is doing so at the moment.
Long consonant clusters are permitted.
kskhaːɾʔa
nahiʔinckskih
while sleeping
There are many cases where a CVɁ sequence has been reduced to CɁ due to loss of the vowel, resulting in odd words such as:
ki·sɁ
bone
Word order is ordered in accordance with novelty or importance.
hira:wisɁiha:s kiyari:ce:hire:
Our ancestors God put us on this Earth.
weɁe hira:rɁ tiɁi na:kirih
God put our ancestors on this Earth.
In the sentence above, “our ancestors” is actually the subject, so it makes sense that it comes first.
Wichita has inclusive and exclusive 3rd person plural and has singular, dual and plural. There is an evidential system where if you say you know something, you must say how you know it – whether it is personal knowledge or hearsay.
Wichita gets a 6 rating, hardest of all.
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