A tradition that began as spoken
For most of their history the Apache languages were not written. Knowledge, law, history and humour were carried in speech: in narratives, in songs, in instruction from relatives and in the careful use of language for particular occasions. That does not make the tradition less literary. Oral performance has its own craft, including pacing, repetition, formal openings and closings, and the use of place and kinship to anchor a story. The Apache oral traditions are still a living part of community life, and many people regard them as the core of Apache literature.
Written Apache is therefore a relatively recent addition, and it came through several different routes, with different purposes and different degrees of community involvement.
Early recording by outsiders
The first sustained writing of Apache languages was largely done by outside observers. Missionaries wrote down words and sometimes prepared religious texts in an effort to teach Christianity. Government officials and military officers noted words and names, with spellings that varied and that were often inaccurate by the standards of later linguists.
In the early twentieth century, anthropologists and linguists began to record longer texts, often with Apache narrators, interpreters and collaborators. Some of this work remains important:
- Researchers produced collections of Chiricahua and Mescalero narratives in the original language with English translation. Harry Hoijer’s published Chiricahua and Mescalero texts, which appeared in the late 1930s, are an example.
- Morris Opler worked among the Jicarilla and the Chiricahua and published collections of myths and tales for each.
- Grenville Goodwin recorded material from the White Mountain Apache and other Western Apache communities in the same period.
These books are valuable records, and many contemporary learners and community researchers use them. They also have limits. They reflect what a particular scholar chose to ask about, who agreed to speak, and how the stories were rendered in English. Some spellings are inconsistent, and some accounts reflect the views of the era. The article on early ethnographies and their limits discusses the issue more broadly, and the topic of early Apache language documentation is treated in its own piece.
Alphabets and standardization
For a language to be written consistently, it needs a spelling system. Most Apache languages are now written with the Latin alphabet, plus extra marks for sounds that English does not have. Typical conventions include:
- a barred l for the voiceless lateral sound;
- an apostrophe for glottal stops and ejective, or “popped,” consonants;
- a hook or similar mark to show nasal vowels;
- accent marks or other devices to show tone and vowel length.
Details differ from nation to nation, and sometimes from program to program, so one community’s spelling may not match another’s. This is partly a technical matter, because the languages really do differ, and partly a matter of local decision-making. A basic introduction to how the writing system matches the sounds is given in the article on the Apache sound system.
Standardizing a spelling is often a sensitive process. Teachers, elders and linguists may disagree about which forms to treat as standard, and different dialects may have different preferred forms. Many programs have chosen to work slowly and to involve fluent speakers in the decisions.
Dictionaries, grammars and teaching materials
From the mid-twentieth century onward, dictionaries, grammars and teaching materials gradually appeared. Some were compiled by linguists, some by educators working with the nations, and some by tribal language programs themselves. These resources vary in scope and quality, and the quality of an individual item depends on how closely it was developed with fluent speakers.
The rise of Apache bilingual education, which was part of a wider shift in federal policy toward Native-controlled schooling, increased demand for such material. Federal law in 1990 for the first time stated a national policy to support Native American languages, and later legislation funded language programs. More recently, nations have produced storybooks, picture dictionaries, audio recordings and digital resources, often with elders recording the words. Details of what is available change quickly, so readers should check each nation’s own website for current materials.
Apache voices in print
Alongside scholarly texts, books by and with Apache people have become an important body of work. These take several forms.
- As-told-to histories and life stories. Several well-known books present Apache lives told by Apache narrators and written down with the help of a collaborator or interpreter. The autobiography of Geronimo, published in the early 1900s, was recorded through an interpreter and edited by a non-Apache writer, which shapes how it should be read. A White Mountain Apache woman’s family life story, told in her own words and published in the early 2000s, is another widely read example.
- Community histories. Tribal education programs and cultural centers have published local histories, often drawing on interviews from Apache oral history projects.
- Poetry, fiction and essays. Contemporary Native writers, including writers with Apache ancestry, work in English and sometimes include words from their heritage languages. Readers will find a fuller discussion under Apache writers and books by Apache authors.
Publishing in Apache languages themselves, as opposed to English, remains limited. The audience is small, and the work often falls to tribal programs, which may distribute their materials locally rather than through commercial presses.
Writing and place
Written material has also helped record place names. Western Apache place-names are among the best-known examples: they attach descriptive phrases to specific locations, and they have been recorded in writing as well as taught orally. Because such names link language, story and land, communities treat their recording as a cultural matter and not merely a technical one.
Written, spoken and sacred
It is worth remembering that writing is not always the right tool. Some material, especially anything connected to ceremony, is not meant for publication, and communities decide what may be written down and shared. Writing supports the languages, but speech remains the center of the tradition, and the written record is best understood as one means of keeping the spoken languages alive.