The Algonquian languages ( or ; also Algonkian) are a subfamily of
indigenous American languages that include most languages in the
Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar
Algonquin
Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to:
Languages and peoples
*Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia
**Algonquin la ...
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 (), "they are our relatives/allies". A number of Algonquian languages are considered
extinct languages by the modern linguistic definition.
Speakers of Algonquian languages stretch from the east coast of
North America to the
Rocky Mountains. The
proto-language from which all of the languages of the family descend,
Proto-Algonquian
Proto-Algonquian (commonly abbreviated PA) 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 ...
, was spoken around 2,500 to 3,000 years ago. There is no scholarly consensus about where this language was spoken.
Family division
This subfamily of around 30 languages is divided into three groups according to geography:
Plains
In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands.
In ...
,
Central, and
Eastern Algonquian; of these three, only Eastern Algonquian constitutes a true
genetic subgroup.
The languages are listed below, following the classifications of Goddard (1996) and Mithun (1999).
Extinct languages are marked with †, and endangered languages are noted as such. For dialects and subdialects, consult the separate main articles for each of the three divisions.
: ''
Plains
In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands.
In ...
''
:: 1.
Blackfoot
:: ''
Arapahoan'' (including
Nawathinehena (†), and
Besawunena (†))
::: 2.
Arapaho proper
::: 3.
Gros Ventre (†)
:: 4.
Cheyenne
: ''
Central''
:: 5.
Cree–Innu–Naskapi
:: 6.
Menominee
The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...
:: ''Ojibwe–Potawatomi''
::: 7.
Ojibwe
::: 8.
Potawatomi
:: 9.
Sauk–Fox–Kickapoo
:: 10.
Shawnee
The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
:: 11.
Miami–Illinois (†)
: ''
Eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
''
:: 12.
Miꞌkmaq
:: ''
Abenaki''
::: 13.
Western Abenaki
The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pred ...
::: 14.
Eastern Abenaki
The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pred ...
(†)
:: 15.
Malecite–Passamaquoddy
:: 16.
Massachusett
:: 17.
Narragansett (†)
:: 18.
Mohegan–Pequot (†)
:: 19.
Quiripi-Naugatuck-Unquachog (†)
:: 20.
Mohican
The Mohican ( or , alternate spelling: Mahican) 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, who ...
(†)
:: ''
Lenape''
::: 21.
Munsee
::: 22.
Unami
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) was formed on 14 August 2003 by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1500 at the request of the Iraqi government to support national development efforts.
UNAMI's mandate includes ...
(†)
:: 23.
Nanticoke–Piscataway (†)
:: 24.
Carolina Algonquian (†)
:: 25.
Powhatan
The Powhatan people (; also spelled Powatan) may refer to any of the indigenous Algonquian people that are traditionally from eastern Virginia. All of the Powhatan groups descend from the Powhatan Confederacy. In some instances, The Powhatan ...
(†)
:: 26.
Etchemin (†)
:: 27.
Loup A (†)
:: 28.
Loup B (†)
:: 29.
Shinnecock (†)
Subgroups
''Eastern Algonquian'' is a true genetic subgrouping. The ''Plains Algonquian'' and the ''Central Algonquian'' groups are not genetic groupings but rather
areal groupings. Although these areal groups often do share linguistic features, these commonalities are usually attributed to
language contact. Paul Proulx has argued that this traditional view is incorrect, and that ''Central Algonquian'' (in which he includes the Plains Algonquian languages) is a genetic subgroup, with Eastern Algonquian consisting of several different subgroups. However, this classification scheme has failed to gain acceptance from other specialists in the Algonquian languages.
Instead, the commonly accepted subgrouping scheme is that proposed by
Ives Goddard
Robert Hale Ives Goddard III (born 1941) is a linguist and a curator emeritus in the Department of Anthropology of the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution. He is widely considered the leading expert on the Algonqui ...
(1994). The essence of this proposal is that
Proto-Algonquian
Proto-Algonquian (commonly abbreviated PA) 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 ...
originated with people to the west, perhaps in the Plateau region of Idaho and Oregon or the Rocky Mountain-Great Plains boundary of Montana, and then moved east, dropping off subgroups as people migrated. By this scenario, Blackfoot was the first language to branch off, which coincides well with its being the most divergent language of Algonquian. In west-to-east order, the subsequent branchings were:
* Arapaho-Gros Ventre, Cree-Montagnais, Menominee, and Cheyenne;
* then the core Great Lakes languages: (Ojibwe–Potawatomi, Shawnee, Sauk–Fox–Kickapoo, and Miami–Illinois); and
* finally, Proto-Eastern Algonquian.
This historical reconstruction accords best with the observed levels of divergence within the family, whereby the most divergent languages are found furthest west (since they constitute the earliest branchings during eastern migration), and the shallowest subgroupings are found furthest to the east (Eastern Algonquian, and arguably Core Central). Goddard also points out that there is clear evidence for pre-historical contact between Eastern Algonquian and Cree-Montagnais, as well as between Cheyenne and Arapaho-Gros Ventre. There has long been especially extensive back-and-forth influence between Cree and Ojibwe.
It has been suggested that the "Eastern Great Lakes" languages – what Goddard has called "Core Central", e.g., Ojibwe–Potawatomi, Shawnee, Sauk–Fox–Kickapoo, and Miami-Illinois (but not Cree–Montagnais or Menominee) – may also constitute their own genetic grouping within Algonquian. They share certain intriguing lexical and phonological innovations. However, this theory has not yet been fully fleshed out and is still considered conjectural.
Algonquian is sometimes said to have included the extinct
Beothuk language of
Newfoundland, whose speakers were both in geographic proximity to Algonquian speakers and who share DNA in common with the Algonquian-speaking
Miꞌkmaq. However, linguistic evidence is scarce and poorly recorded, and it is unlikely that reliable evidence of a connection can be found.
Grammatical features
The Algonquian language family is known for its complex
polysynthetic morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
* Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
* Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...
and sophisticated
verb system. Statements that take many words to say in
English can be expressed with a single word. Ex: (
Menominee
The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...
) ''paehtāwāēwesew'' "He is heard by higher powers" (''paeht''- 'hear', -''āwāē''- 'spirit', -''wese''- passivizer, -''w'' third-person subject) or (
Plains Cree) ''kāstāhikoyahk'' "it frightens us". These languages have been extensively studied by
Leonard Bloomfield,
Ives Goddard
Robert Hale Ives Goddard III (born 1941) is a linguist and a curator emeritus in the Department of Anthropology of the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution. He is widely considered the leading expert on the Algonqui ...
, and others.
Algonquian nouns have an
animate/inanimate contrast: some nouns are classed as ''animate'', while all other nouns are ''inanimate''. There is ongoing debate over whether there is a semantic significance to the categorization of nouns as animate or inanimate, with scholars arguing for it as either a clearly
semantic issue, or a purely
syntactic issue, along with a variety of arguments in between. More structurally inclined linguistic scholars have argued that since there is no consistent semantic system for determining the
animacy of a noun, that it must be a purely linguistic characterization. Anthropological linguists have conversely argued the strong connection between animacy and items viewed as having spiritual importance.
Another important distinction involves the contrast between nouns marked as ''proximate'' and those marked as ''
obviative''. Proximate nouns are those deemed most central or important to the discourse, while obviative nouns are those less important to the discourse.
There are personal pronouns which distinguish three persons, two numbers (singular and plural),
inclusive and exclusive first person plural, and proximate and obviative third persons. Verbs are divided into four classes:
transitive verbs with an animate object (abbreviated "TA"), transitive verbs with an inanimate object ("TI"),
intransitive
In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb whose context does not entail a direct object. That lack of transitivity distinguishes intransitive verbs from transitive verbs, which entail one or more objects. Additionally, intransitive verbs ar ...
verbs with an animate subject ("AI"), and intransitive verbs with an inanimate subject ("II").
A very notable feature of the Algonquian languages is their ''
direct-inverse'' (also known as ''hierarchical'')
morphosyntactic alignment, distinguishing between an unmarked voice where the subject outranks the object in a person hierarchy and a marked voice where the opposite relation obtains.
Vocabulary
:''See the lists of words in the
Algonquian languages and the list of
words of Algonquian origin at
Wiktionary, the free dictionary and Wikipedia's sibling project.''
Loan words
Because Algonquian languages were some of the first with which Europeans came into contact in North America, the language family has given many words to
English. Many eastern and midwestern
U.S. states have names of Algonquian origin (
Massachusetts,
Connecticut,
Illinois,
Michigan,
Wisconsin, etc.), as do many cities:
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, et al.
Ottawa, the capital of
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, is named after the Algonquian nation, the
Odawa people.
For a more detailed treatment of geographical names in three Algonquian languages, see the external link to the book by Trumbull.
See also
*
Algic languages (from
Proto-Algic)
*
Algonquian Bible
*
Algonquian peoples
*
Algonquin language - a similarly-named language which is a member of the Algonquian language family
*
Central Algonquian languages
*
Eastern Algonquian languages
*
Plains Algonquian languages
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 ...
*
Indigenous languages of the Americas
*
Leonard Bloomfield
*
Ives Goddard
Robert Hale Ives Goddard III (born 1941) is a linguist and a curator emeritus in the Department of Anthropology of the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution. He is widely considered the leading expert on the Algonqui ...
*
H.C. Wolfart
*
List of Algonquian personal names
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Algonquian language familyon Native-languages.org
Comparative Algonquian Swadesh vocabulary lists(from Wiktionary'
Swadesh-list appendix
Algonquian Linguistic Atlas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Algonquian Languages
Algonquian peoples
Aquinnah, Massachusetts
First Nations languages in Canada
Great Lakes tribal culture
Indigenous languages of North America
Indigenous languages of the North American eastern woodlands
Indigenous languages of the North American Plains
Indigenous languages of the North American Southeast
Indigenous languages of the North American Subarctic
Languages of the United States