Abenaki language

Abenaki, or Abnaki, is a recently extinct Algonquian language of Quebec and Maine. There were two varieties, Eastern and Western, which differ in vocabulary and phonology, and are sometimes considered distinct languages.

Eastern Abenaki was spoken by several peoples, of which the last were the Penobscot of coastal Maine. The last known speaker died in the 1990s in Penobscot, Maine.^[1][2] Other dialects of Eastern Abenaki, such as Caniba and Aroosagunticook, are documented in French-language materials from the colonial period.

In 1991, Western Abenaki was spoken by 20 individuals along the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City, mostly at Odanak, the site of the former mission village of St. Francis, and by about 50 individuals living throughout New York state and Connecticut. By 2006 five speakers were recorded,^[3] and by 2009 Ethnologue noted it was extinct.^[4] However, a new generation is actively preserving and revitalizing the language. Fluent speakers Joseph Elie Joubert from the Odanak reservation and Jesse Bowman Bruchac lead partial immersion classes in the language across the northeast. They have created several books in and about the language as well as audio, video and web-based media to help others learn the language.

The English word skunk, attested in New England in the 1630s, is probably borrowed from the Abenaki seganku^[5]

Phonology

The following description is for Western Abenaki.

Vowels

Consonants

Writing systems

Several different writing systems have been developed by various authors for writing the sounds of Abenaki: Pial Pol Wzokihlain, Sozap Lolô, Henry Lorne Masta, and Gordon Day (author of the Western Abenaki Dictionary) each use a slightly different system.^[6] Common to all four are the characters A, B, D, E, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, S, T, U, W, and Z. Wzokihlain, Lolô, and Masta all have an additional digraph CH, which corresponds to Day's C.^[6] Lolô writes I for /j/ and /i/; where confusion could result, he writes Ï for /i/.^[6]

Lolô and Masta use both W and U for the semivowel /w/. Day consistently writes lax stops using voiced symbols: B, D, G, J, Z; the other three write lax consonants using P, T, K, Ch, S word-initially and word-finally.^[6] Day also consistently writes the schwa /ə/ with E, while the others leave it unwritten when not stressed.^[6] Lolô and Day write the nasal vowel /ɔ̃/ as Ô, while Wzokihlain writes O and Masta writes ȣ.^[6]

Numerals

bazegw = one
niz = two
nas = three
yaw = four
n[ô]lan * = five
ngued[ô]z * = six
tôbawôz = seven
nsôzek = eight
noliwi = nine
mdala = ten
sanôba = man
p[e]hanem * = woman
miguen = feather

* letters in square brackets often lost in vowel syncope.

Notes

See also

• Abenaki (tribe)

External links

• Western Abenaki Online Dictionary and Radio
• Abenaki orthography and phonology
• Native Languages page for Abenaki
• Penobscot at Native-languages.org.
• Western Abenaki grammar sketch
• Western Abenaki morphology
• Western Abnaki at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
• Eastern Abnaki at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)

References

• Ethnologue entry for Western Abnaki
• Day, Gordon M. 1994a. Western Abenaki Dictionary. Volume 1: Abenaki to English. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, Mercury Series, Canadian Ethnology Service Paper 128.
• Day, Gordon M. 1994b. Western Abenaki Dictionary. Volume 2: English to Abenaki. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, Mercury Series, Canadian Ethnology Service Paper 128.
• Harvey, Chris. "Abenaki". Language Geek. http://www.languagegeek.com/algon/abenaki/abenaki.html. Retrieved 2007-03-12. 
• Laurent, Joseph. 1884. New Familiar Abenakis and English Dialogues. Quebec: Joseph Laurent. Reprinted 2006: Vancouver: Global Language Press, ISBN 0-9738924-7-1
• Masta, Henry Lorne. 1932. Abenaki Legends, Grammar and Place Names. Victoriaville, PQ: La Voix Des Bois-Franes. Reprinted 2008: Toronto: Global Language Press, ISBN 978-1-897367-18-6