Muskogean languages

 

Muskogean (also Muskhogean, Muskogee) is a language family of the Southeastern United States. The Muskogean languages are generally divided into two rough branches, Eastern and Western, though these distinctions are the subject of some debate. They are agglutinative languages.

Family division

The Muskogean family has been subdivided into two competing genetic trees. The traditional classification is from Mary Haas and her students. A more recent and controversial classification has been proposed by Pamela Munro.

A vocabulary of the Houma may be another under-documented Western Muskogean language or a version of Mobilian Jargon. Mobilian Jargon is a pidgin based on Western Muskogean.

Haas

I. Western Muskogean

1. Chickasaw

2. Choctaw (a.k.a. Chahta, Chacato)

II. Eastern Muskogean

A. Central Muskogean

i. Apalachee-Alabama-Koasati group

a. Alabama-Koasati

3. Alabama

4. Koasati

b. Apalachee

5. Apalachee

ii. Hitchiti-Mikasuki

6. Hitchiti-Mikasuki

B. Creek

7. Creek

Munro

I. Northern Muskogean

1. Creek/Seminole

II. Southern Muskogean

A. Southwestern Muskogean group

i. Apalachee

2. Apalachee

ii. Alabama-Koasati

3. Alabama

4. Koasati

iii. Western Muskogean

5. Chickasaw

6. Choctaw

B. Hitchiti-Mikasuki group

7. Hitchiti/Mikasuki

Genetic relationships

Muskogean languages have been tentatively linked by some to Natchez, a language isolate of Louisiana. This relationship is not considered proven, however, and most linguists still consider Natchez to not be demonstrably related to any other language. The languages are also linked to Native Americans in the South Carolina area, specifically the Yamasee of the Low Country^{[citation needed]}.

Family features

Phonology

Muskogean languages have relatively simple phonologies compared to many other Native American languages. Proto-Muskogean is reconstructed as having the phonemes^[1]:

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labiovelar
Stops		*p	*t		*k	*kʷ
Affricates			*ts	*tʃ
Fricatives	Central		*s	*ʃ	*x	*xʷ
	Lateral		*ɬ
Nasals		*m	*n
Glides	Central			*j		*w
	Lateral		*l
Other			*θ

The phonemes reconstructed by Mary Haas as */x/ and */xʷ/ show up as /h/ and /f/ (or /ɸ/), respectively, in all Muskogean languages; they are therefore reconstructed by some as */h/ and */ɸ/. */kʷ/ appears as /b/ in all the daughter languages except Creek, where it is /k/ initially and /p/ medially. The value of the proto-phoneme written <θ> is unknown; it appears as /n/ in Western Muskogean languages and as /ɬ/ in Eastern Muskogean languages. Mary Haas reconstructed it as a voiceless /n/, that is, */n̥/.

Nouns

Most family languages display lexical accent on nouns, as well as grammatical case which distinguishes the nominative from the oblique. Nouns do not obligatorially inflect for gender or number.

Verbs

Muskogean verbs have a complex ablaut system wherein the verbal stem changes depending on aspect (almost always), and less commonly depending on tense or modality. In Muskogean linguistics, the different forms are known as "grades".

Verbs mark for first and second person, as well as agent and patient (Choctaw also marks for dative). Third-persons (he, she, it) have a null-marker.

Plurality of a noun agent is marked by either 1) affixation on the verb or 2) an innately plural verbal stem.

Example (pluralization via affixation, Choctaw)

    ishimpa
    ish-impa
    2SG.NOM-eat
    "you [sg.] eat"
    
    hashimpa
    hash-impa
    2PL.NOM-eat
    "you [pl.] eat"

Example (innately-numbered verbal stems, Mikasuki)

    łiniik
    run. SG
    "to run (singular)"
    
    palaak
    run. PAUCAL
    "to run (several)"

    mataak
    run. PL
    "to run (many)"

References

External links

• Paper on Roots of Muskogean languages (discusses classifications)
• Ethnologue: Muskogean

Bibliography

• Booker, Karen. (2005). "Muskogean Historical Phonology." In Hardy and Scancarelli 2005, pp. 246-298.
• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Goddard, Ives (Ed.). (1996). Languages. Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 17). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-048774-9.
• Haas, Mary. (1973). The southeast. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), Linguistics in North America (part 2, pp. 1210-1249). The Hauge: Mouton.
• Hardy, Heather, and Janine Scancarelli. (2005). Native Languages of the Southeastern United States. University of Nebraska Press.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Sebeok, Thomas A. (Ed.). (1973). Linguistics in North America (parts 1 & 2). Current trends in linguistics (Vol. 10). The Hauge: Mouton. (Reprinted as Sebeok 1976).
• Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). (1978-present). Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 1-20). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. (Vols. 1-3, 16, 18-20 not yet published).

Donate to Wikimedia