The Algic languages (also Algonquian–Wiyot–Yurok or Algonquian–Ritwan)
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
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
to
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...
. The other Algic languages are the
Yurok and
Wiyot
The Wiyot (Wiyot: Wíyot, Chetco-Tolowa: Wee-’at xee-she or Wee-yan’ Xee-she’, Euchre Creek Tututni: Wii-yat-dv-ne - "Mad River People“, Yurok: Weyet) are an indigenous people of California living near Humboldt Bay, California and a sma ...
of northwestern
California, which, despite their geographic proximity, are not closely related. All these languages descend from
Proto-Algic
Proto-Algic (sometimes abbreviated PAc) is the proto-language from which the Algic languages (Wiyot language, Yurok language, and Proto-Algonquian) are descended. It is estimated to have been spoken about 7,000 years ago somewhere in the America ...
, 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
The Wiyot (Wiyot: Wíyot, Chetco-Tolowa: Wee-’at xee-she or Wee-yan’ Xee-she’, Euchre Creek Tututni: Wii-yat-dv-ne - "Mad River People“, Yurok: Weyet) are an indigenous people of California living near Humboldt Bay, California and a sma ...
and
Yurok languages.
History
The term ''Algic'' was first coined by
Henry Schoolcraft in his ''Algic Researches'', published in 1839. Schoolcraft defined the term as "derived from the words
Allegheny and
Atlantic, in reference to the indigenous people anciently located in this geographical area." Schoolcraft's terminology was not retained. The peoples he called "Algic" were later included among the speakers of Algonquian languages. This language group is also referred to as "Algonquian-Ritwan" and "Wiyot-Yurok-Algonquian."
When
Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir (; January 26, 1884 – February 4, 1939) was an American Jewish anthropologist-linguist, who is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the development of the discipline of linguistics in the United States.
Sap ...
proposed that the well-established Algonquian family was
genetically
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar working ...
related to the Wiyot and Yurok languages of northern
California, he applied the term ''Algic'' to this larger family. The Algic
urheimat is thought to have been located in the
Northwestern United States somewhere between the suspected
homeland of the Algonquian branch (to the west of
Lake Superior
Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...
according to Goddard) and the earliest known location of the Wiyot and Yurok (along the middle
Columbia River
The Columbia River ( Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, ...
according to Whistler).
Classification of Algic
The
genetic relation of Wiyot and Yurok to Algonquian was first proposed by
Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir (; January 26, 1884 – February 4, 1939) was an American Jewish anthropologist-linguist, who is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the development of the discipline of linguistics in the United States.
Sap ...
(1913, 1915, 1923), and argued against by Algonquianist
Truman Michelson (1914, 1914, 1935). According to Lyle Campbell (1997), the relationship "has subsequently been demonstrated to the satisfaction of all." This controversy in the early classification of North American languages was called the "Ritwan controversy" because Wiyot and Yurok were assigned to a genetic grouping called "Ritwan." Most specialists now reject the validity of the Ritwan genetic node.
[; ] Berman (1982) suggested that Wiyot and Yurok share sound changes not shared by the rest of Algic (which would be explainable by either areal diffusion or genetic relatedness); Proulx (2004) argued against Berman's conclusion of common sound changes.
More recently,
Sergei Nikolaev has argued in two papers for a systematic relationship between the
Nivkh language of
Sakhalin and the
Amur river
The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China ( Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long, ...
basin and the Algic languages, and a secondary relationship between these two together and the
Wakashan languages
Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
As is typical of the Nor ...
.
Proto-language
See also
*
Algonquian–Wakashan languages
Algonquian–Wakashan (also Almosan, Algonkian–Mosan, Algonkin–Wakashan) is a hypothetical language family composed of several established language families that was proposed in 1929. The proposal consists of the following:
I. Algic (Algonki ...
References
Bibliography
Journals and books
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*Michelson, Truman. 1915. Rejoinder. ''American Anthropologist'', n.s. 17:194–198.
*
* (hbk); .
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{North American languages
Language families
Indigenous languages of the North American Subarctic
Indigenous languages of California
Indigenous languages of the North American Plains
Indigenous languages of the North American eastern woodlands
Indigenous languages of the North American Southeast
Algonquian–Wakashan languages
Endangered Algic languages