Mohican language

Last updated
Mohican
Native to United States
Region New York, Vermont
Ethnicity Mohicans
Extinct ca. 1940
Revival 2010s onward
Dialects
  • Moravian
  • Stockbridge
Language codes
ISO 639-3 mjy
Glottolog mahi1248

Mohican (also known as Mahican, not to be confused with Mohegan) is a language of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family, itself a member of the Algic language family. [3] It was spoken in the territory of present-day eastern New York state and Vermont by the Mohican people. The last semi-proficient speaker died in the 1930s. Present day tribal members reject the term extinct and prefer to refer to the language as slumbering since elders have continuously taught children a limited number of words and phrases. Preliminary efforts to revive Mahican have been made since 2017, but much work remains to be done before a consensus can be reached among tribal members to resolve certain disputed phonological and morphosyntactic aspects of the language.

Contents

History

Aboriginally, speakers of Mohican lived along the upper Hudson River in New York State, extending as far north as Lake Champlain, east to the Green Mountains in Vermont, and west near Schoharie Creek in New York State. [4] Conflict with the Mohawk of the Iroquois Confederacy in competition for the fur trade, and European encroachment, triggered displacement of the Mohicans, some moving to west-central New York, where they shared land with the Oneida. After a series of dislocations, some Mohicans were forced to relocate to Wisconsin in the 1820s and 1830s, while others moved to several communities in Canada, where they lost their Mohican identity.

The Mohican language became extinct in the early twentieth century, with the last recorded documentation of Mahican made in the 1930s. [5]

Dialects

Two distinct Mohican dialects have been identified, Moravian and Stockbridge. [6] These two dialects emerged after 1740 as aggregations arising from the dislocation of Mohican and other groups. The extent of Mohican dialect variation prior to this period is uncertain.

The Stockbridge dialect emerged at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and included groups of New York Mohican, and members of other linguistic groups such as Wappinger (a once-large Munsee-speaking tribe south of the Mohican), Housatonic, Wawyachtonoc, and others. After a complex migration history, the Stockbridge group moved to Wisconsin, where they combined with Munsee Lenape migrants from southwestern Ontario. They are now known as the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe. [7]

The Moravian dialect arose from population aggregations centred at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Some Mohican groups that had been affiliated from about 1740 with the Moravian Church, in New York and Connecticut, moved in 1746 to Bethlehem. Another group affiliated with the Moravians moved to Wyoming, Pennsylvania. Subsequent to several members being massacred by white settlers, some members of these groups fled to Canada with Munsee Moravian converts, ultimately settling at what is now Moraviantown, where they have completely merged with the dominant Lenape population. Another group moved to Ohsweken at Six Nations, Ontario, where they merged with other groups at that location. [8]

Phonology and documentation

Mohican linguistic materials consist of a variety of materials collected by missionaries, linguists, and others, including an eighteenth-century manuscript dictionary compiled by Johann Schmick, a Moravian missionary. [9] In the twentieth century, linguists Truman Michelson and Morris Swadesh collected some Mohican materials from surviving speakers in Wisconsin. [10]

Mohican historical phonology has been studied based upon the Schmick dictionary manuscript, tracing the historical changes affecting the pronunciation of words between Proto-Algonquian and the Moravian dialect of Mohican, as reflected in Schmick’s dictionary. [11] The similarities between Mohican and the Delaware languages Munsee and Unami have been acknowledged in studies of Mohican linguistic history. In one classification Mohican and the Delaware languages are assigned to a Delawaran subgroup of Eastern Algonquian. [1]

Consonants

Mohican Consonants [12]
Labial Alveolar Palato-
alveolar 		Palatal Velar Labio-
velar 		Uvular Glottal
Nasal mn
Stop ptkkʷ
Affricate tstʃ
Fricative sʃxχh
Approximant jw

Vowels

/a,ã,aː,ʌ,ʌ̃,ə,ɛ,e,ɪ,i,ɔ,o,u,aɪ,aʊ/

Examples of Mohican words

The table below presents a sample of Mohican words, written first in a linguistically oriented transcription, followed by the same words written in a practical system that has been used in the linguistically related dialect of Munsee. [13] The linguistic system uses a raised dot (·) to indicate vowel length. Although stress is mostly predictable, the linguistic system uses the acute accent to indicate predictable main stress. As well, predictable voiceless or murmured /ă/ is indicated with the breve accent (˘). Similarly, the breve accent is used to indicate an ultra-short [ə] that typically occurs before a single voiced consonant followed by a vowel. [14] The practical system indicates vowel length by doubling the vowel letter, and maintains the linɡuistic system's practices for marking stress and voiceless/ultra-short vowels. The practical system uses orthographic ⟨sh⟩ for the phonetic symbol /š/, and ⟨ch⟩ for the phonetic symbol /č/. [15]

Comparison of linguistic and practical orthographies for Mohican
LinguisticPracticalEnglishLinguisticPracticalEnglishLinguisticPracticalEnglishLinguisticPracticalEnglish
xí·kanxíikanknifetəmahí·kantmahíikanaxntahndahmy heartsí·pəwsíipuwriver
kə̆tahəwá·nunktahwáanunI love youwəmí·sanwmíisanHis older sisterni·táhkanniitáhkanMy older brothernəyáh nkí·spihnuyáh ngíispihI am full
stá·wstáawfiretá·páwá·štáapáwáashsevenmpəymbuywaternətahəwá·tamunndahwáatamunI love it
wəná·yəwwunáayuwhe is goodahtá·wahtáawIt is therekíhkayi·tkíhkayiitchiefmáxkwmáxkwbear
wtayá·tamunwtayáatamunHe requires or wants itnəmá·saknmáasakfish (plural)na·ní·wi·naaniiwihninesó·kəná·nsóoknaanIt is raining
Numbers
ngwútahone
níisahtwo
naxáhthree
náawahfour
náananfive
ngwútaashsix
taapáwaashseven
xáasoheight
naaníiwihnine
mdáanutten

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Pentland, David, 1992, p. 15; Goddard, Ives, 1996, p. 5
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2022-05-24). "Delawaran". Glottolog . Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Archived from the original on 2022-10-30. Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  3. ↑ Raymond G. Gordon Jr., ed. 2005.
  4. ↑ Brasser, Ted, 1978
  5. ↑ Goddard, Ives, 1978, p. 71.
  6. ↑ Pentland, David, 1992, p. 15
  7. ↑ Brasser, Ted, 1978, pp. 207-210
  8. ↑ Brasser, Ted, 1978, p. 208
  9. ↑ Masthay, Carl, 1992
  10. ↑ Michelson, Truman, 1914.
  11. ↑ Pentland, David, 1992
  12. ↑ Masthay, Carl, 1991, p. 15-26
  13. ↑ Goddard, Ives, 1982; O'Meara, John, 1996
  14. ↑ See Goddard, Ives, 1982, p. 19 for further detail
  15. ↑ O'Meara, John, 1996

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Algonquian languages</span> Subfamily of the Algic languages of North America

The Algonquian languages are a family of Indigenous languages of the Americas and most of the languages in the Algic language family are included in the group. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Indigenous Ojibwe language (Chippewa), which is a senior member of the Algonquian language family. The term Algonquin has been suggested to derive from the Maliseet word elakómkwik, "they are our relatives/allies".

The Mohicans are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, whose indigenous territory was to the south as far as the Atlantic coast. The Mohicans lived in the upper tidal Hudson River Valley, including the confluence of the Mohawk River and into western New England centered on the upper Housatonic River watershed. After 1680, due to conflicts with the powerful Mohawk to the west during the Beaver Wars, many were driven southeastward across the present-day Massachusetts western border and the Taconic Mountains to Berkshire County around Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quiripi language</span> Language

Quiripi was an Algonquian language formerly spoken by the indigenous people of southwestern Connecticut and central Long Island, including the Quinnipiac, Unquachog, Mattabessett (Wangunk), Podunk, Tunxis, and Paugussett. It has been effectively extinct since the end of the 19th century, although Frank T. Siebert, Jr., was able to record a few Unquachog words from an elderly woman in 1932.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Algic languages</span> Indigenous language family of North America

The Algic languages are an indigenous language family of North America. Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian subfamily, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to Atlantic Canada. The other Algic languages are the Yurok and Wiyot of northwestern California, which, despite their geographic proximity, are not closely related. All these languages descend from Proto-Algic, a second-order proto-language estimated to have been spoken about 7,000 years ago and reconstructed using the reconstructed Proto-Algonquian language and the Wiyot and Yurok languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware languages</span> Native American languages centered around the Delaware River

The Delaware languages, also known as the Lenape languages, are Munsee and Unami, two closely related languages of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family. Munsee and Unami were spoken aboriginally by the Lenape people in the vicinity of the modern New York City area in the United States, including western Long Island, Manhattan Island, Staten Island, as well as adjacent areas on the mainland: southeastern New York State, eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, and Delaware.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unami language</span> Language spoken by the Lenape people

Unami is an Algonquian language initially spoken by the Lenape people in the late 17th century and the early 18th century, in the southern two-thirds of present-day New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, and the northern two-thirds of Delaware. The Lenape later migrated, largely settling in Ontario, Canada and Oklahoma. Today, it is only spoken as a second language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Munsee language</span> Algonquian language

Munsee is an endangered language of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family, itself a branch of the Algic language family. Munsee is one of two Delaware languages. It is very closely related to the Unami Delaware, but the two are sufficiently different that they are considered separate languages. Munsee was spoken aboriginally by Lenape in the vicinity of the modern New York City area in the United States, including western Long Island, Manhattan Island, Staten Island, as well as adjacent areas on the mainland: southeastern New York State, the northern third of New Jersey, and northeastern Pennsylvania.

Proto-Algonquian is the proto-language from which the various Algonquian languages are descended. It is generally estimated to have been spoken around 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, but there is less agreement on where it was spoken. The Algonquian family, which is a branch of the larger Algic language family, is usually divided into three subgroups: Eastern Algonquian, which is a genetic subgroup, and Central Algonquian and Plains Algonquian, both of which are areal groupings. In the historical linguistics of North America, Proto-Algonquian is one of the best studied, most thoroughly reconstructed proto-languages. It is descended from Proto-Algic.

Great Lakes Algonquian syllabics is a writing system for several Algonquian languages that emerged during the nineteenth century and whose existence was first noted in 1880. It was originally used near the Great Lakes: Fox, Sac, and Kickapoo, in addition to Potawatomi. Use of the script was subsequently extended to the Siouan language Ho-Chunk. Use of the Great Lakes script has also been attributed to speakers of the Ottawa dialect of the Ojibwe language, but supporting evidence is weak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fox language</span> Algonquian language spoken in US Midwest and northern Mexico

Fox is an Algonquian language, spoken by a thousand Meskwaki, Sauk, and Kickapoo in various locations in the Midwestern United States and in northern Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Algonquian languages</span> Subgroup of the Algonquian languages

The Eastern Algonquian languages constitute a subgroup of the Algonquian languages. Prior to European contact, Eastern Algonquian consisted of at least 17 languages, whose speakers collectively occupied the Atlantic coast of North America and adjacent inland areas, from what are now the Maritimes of Canada to North Carolina. The available information about individual languages varies widely. Some are known only from one or two documents containing words and phrases collected by missionaries, explorers or settlers, and some documents contain fragmentary evidence about more than one language or dialect. Many of the Eastern Algonquian languages were greatly affected by colonization and dispossession. Miꞌkmaq and Malecite-Passamaquoddy have appreciable numbers of speakers, but Western Abenaki and Lenape (Delaware) are each reported to have fewer than 10 speakers after 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa dialect</span> Native American dialect

Ottawa or Odawa is a dialect of the Ojibwe language spoken by the Odawa people in southern Ontario in Canada, and northern Michigan in the United States. Descendants of migrant Ottawa speakers live in Kansas and Oklahoma. The first recorded meeting of Ottawa speakers and Europeans occurred in 1615 when a party of Ottawas encountered explorer Samuel de Champlain on the north shore of Georgian Bay. Ottawa is written in an alphabetic system using Latin letters, and is known to its speakers as Nishnaabemwin 'speaking the native language' or Daawaamwin 'speaking Ottawa'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unalachtigo Lenape</span> Ethnic group

The Unalachtigo were a division of the Lenape, a Native American tribe whose homeland Lenapehoking was in what is today the Northeastern United States. They were part of the Forks Indians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wappinger</span> Native American tribe

The Wappinger were an Eastern Algonquian Munsee-speaking Native American people from what is now southern New York and western Connecticut.

The Mohegan are an Algonquian Native American tribe historically based in present-day Connecticut. Today the majority of the people are associated with the Mohegan Indian Tribe, a federally recognized tribe living on a reservation in the eastern upper Thames River valley of south-central Connecticut. It is one of two federally recognized tribes in the state, the other being the Mashantucket Pequot, whose reservation is in Ledyard, Connecticut. There are also three state-recognized tribes: the Schaghticoke, Paugusett, and Eastern Pequot.

Shekomeko was a historic hamlet in the southwestern part of the town of North East, New York, United States) in present-day Dutchess County. It was a village of the Mahican people. They lived by a stream which Anglo-Americans later named Shekomeko Creek, after their village. Shekomeko comes from Mahikanneuw and means "people of the place of eels ["linear fish"], from "shaxk" - linear, straight; "amek" = fish; = locative suffix "ink", + ethnonymial locative suffix "oik" - Shaxkaminkoik > Shekomeko.

The Plains Algonquian languages are commonly grouped together as a subgroup of the larger Algonquian family, itself a member of the Algic family. Though the grouping is often encountered in the literature, it is an areal grouping rather than a genetic one. In other words, the languages are grouped together because they were spoken near one another, not because they are more closely related to one another than to any other Algonquian language. Most studies indicate that within the Algonquian family, only Eastern Algonquian constitutes a separate genetic subgroup.

Truman Michelson was a linguist and anthropologist who worked from 1910 until his death for the Bureau of American Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution. He also held a position as ethnologist at George Washington University from 1917 until 1932.

Munsee is an endangered language of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family, itself a branch of the Algic language family.

Proto-Algonquian is one of the best-reconstructed proto-languages of the Americas. As it broke up, its daughters, such as Cree, Menominee, Ojibwe and Arapaho, changed the original phonology of Proto-Algonquian and gave rise to new languages. Notable changes include the merger of *θ and *r in most descendant languages, the merger of short *i and *e in Cree and Ojibwe, the far-reaching and unexpected sound shifts of Plains Algonquian languages, and the simplification of original clusters in the Algonquian languages.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.