Earlier this month, the Mono Lake Kootzaduka’a Tribal Council established one official spelling for the Tribe’s name: Kootzaduka’a. This spelling better represents the word’s pronunciation in the Kootzaduka’a language.
The phonetic spelling is more accurate to the sounds in the word and preserves its pronunciation, the Tribe shared. Because some of those sounds do not exist in the English language, people often mispronounce the word by replacing unfamiliar sounds with ones from the English language. In the end, this can erode the word into more English-adjacent pronunciations, and the revised phonetic spelling was chosen to help avoid this.
The name Kootzaduka’a comes from the word kootzabe (alkali fly pupae) and the word duka (the verb ‘to eat’). The a’a at the end of the word indicates somebody who ‘does’ the verb, like adding –er to a word in English, turning a word such as ‘paint’ to ‘painter.’ A’a is also an emphasizer which intensifies the word, making it more like an identity or title than simply a reference to any person who eats alkali fly pupae. The apostrophe indicates a glottal stop sound, which further emphasizes the end of the word.
Pronouncing the name of the Tribe as closely as possible to the Kootzaduka’a language is an important part of preserving and respecting the Tribe’s culture. Assuming that English is the default language in the Mono Basin can erase Kootzaduka’a culture and overlook the fact that their language has been spoken here since time immemorial, thousands and thousands of years before English was ever used in this region.
Previously, the Tribe officially used the spelling “Kutzadikaa,” and there are also several variations of the spelling in common use. The Kutzadika’a spelling derived from a more formal linguistic representation of the Tribe’s name using the international phonetic alphabet, which has over 100 special characters representing a wide variety of precise sounds of speech. However, these special characters are not easily reproduced on standard keyboards, and the “Kutzadika’a” spelling is a simplification that replaces the special characters with similar-looking English letters that do not convey the correct pronunciation as well as the new spelling. The Mono Lake Committee previously used the spelling “Kutzadika’a,” and now, following the Tribe’s lead, will switch to using the Tribe’s established, preferred spelling.
A valuable way to learn the correct pronunciation of the Tribe’s name is to hear it spoken by a native speaker of the language. Elders from the Kootzaduka’a Tribe presented at the State Water Board workshop on Mono Lake’s low level in early 2023.
This post was written in collaboration and with approval from members of the Mono Lake Kootzaduka’a Tribe. Their website has lots of resources, information, photos, and history.
Top photo by Andrew Youssef.