The Central 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, not a genetic grouping. 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 other Algonquian languages. Within the Algonquian family, only

Eastern Algonquian 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 adj ...

is a valid genealogical group. Within the Central Algonquian grouping,

Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...

and Chippewa, otherwise known as

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

, are closely related and are generally grouped together as an Ojibwa-Potawatomi sub-branch. "Eastern Great Lakes" was first proposed by Richard Rhodes in 1988, and first discussed 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 ...

as "Core Central" in 1994. In Goddard's assessment, he divides the "Core Central" into the Ojibwa-Potawatomi and Miami-Illinois group, and the Sauk-Fox-Kickapoo and Shawnee group; the hypothesis for the subgroup was based on lexical and phonological innovations. David J. Costa in his 2003 book ''The Miami-Illinois Language'' agrees with Rhodes and Goddard that Central Algonquian has a specific language sub-branch that he refers to as "Eastern Great Lakes" but in his assessment Costa also states "...there seems to be no evidence that Miami-Illinois is closer to Ojibwe-Potawatomi than it is to Sauk-Fox-Kickapoo."

Family division

The languages are listed below along with dialects and subdialects. This classification follows Goddard (1996) and Mithun (1999). 1. Cree-Montagnais (also known as Kirištino˙ or Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi) : i. Cree ::* Plains Cree ::*

Woods Cree Woods Cree is an indigenous language spoken in Northern Manitoba, Northern Saskatchewan and Northern Alberta, Canada. It is part of the Cree language, Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi dialect continuum. The dialect continuum has around 116,000 speakers; ...

::* Western

Swampy Cree The Swampy Cree people, also known by their autonyms ''Néhinaw'', ''Maskiki Wi Iniwak'', ''Mushkekowuk,'' ''Maškékowak'' or ''Maskekon'' (and therefore also ''Muskegon'' and ''Muskegoes'') or by exonyms including ''West Main Cree,'' ''Lowlan ...

::* Eastern

and

Moose Cree Moose Cree (Cree: ''Mōsonī'' or ''Ililiw''), also known as Moosonee, and together with Eastern Swampy Cree, also known as Central Cree, West James Bay Cree or West Main Cree. They speak the l-dialect of the Cree language. The Moose Cree were fi ...

::*

Atikamekw The Atikamekw are the Indigenous inhabitants of the subnational country or territory they call ('Our Land'), in the upper Saint-Maurice River valley of Quebec (about north of Montreal), Canada. Their current population is around 8,000. One o ...

''(also known as Attikamek, Attikamekw, Atikamek or Tête de Boule)'' : ii. Montagnais-Naskapi ::* East Cree ''(also known as James Bay Cree or Eastern Cree)'' ::** Northern East Cree ::** Southern East Cree ::*

Naskapi The Naskapi (Nascapi, Naskapee, Nascapee) are an Indigenous people of the Subarctic native to the historical country St'aschinuw (ᒋᑦ ᐊᔅᒋᓄᐤ, meaning 'our nclusiveland'), which is located in northern Quebec and Labrador, neighb ...

::* Montagnais ''(also known as Innu-aimun or Innu)'' 2.

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 ...

(also known as Menomini)
? Eastern Great Lakes (also known as Core Central) :* Ojibwe–Potawatomi (also known as Ojibwe–Potawatomi–Ottawa, ''Anishinaabemowin'', or the Anishinaabe language) :: 3.

(also known as Ojibwa, Ojibway, Ojibwe–Ottawa, ''Ojibwemowin'' or the Anishinaabe language) ::: i. Northern ::::*

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 ...

::::*

Oji-Cree The Oji-Cree are a First Nation in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba, residing in a narrow band extending from the Missinaibi River region in Northeastern Ontario at the east to Lake Winnipeg at the west. The Oji-Cree people are des ...

''(also known as Severn Ojibwe, Anishininiimowin or the Anishinini language)'' ::: ii. Southern ::::*

Saulteaux The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations band government in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Al ...

''(also known as Nakawēmowin, Plains Ojibwe or Western Ojibwe)'' ::::* Eastern Ojibwe ''(also known as Mississauga Ojibwa or Jibwemwin)'' ::::* Southwestern Ojibwe ''(also known as Chippewa, Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Ojibwemowin or Ojibway)'' ::::*

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

''(also known as Odawa or Daawaamwin)'' ::::* Northern Ojibwe ''(also known as Northwestern Ojibwe)'' ::::* Nipissing Algonquin ''(also known simply as Algonquin)'' :: 4.

: 5.

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

(also known as Fox-Sauk-Kickapoo or Mesquakie-Sauk-Kickapoo) ::* Fox ''(also known as

Meskwaki The Meskwaki (sometimes spelled Mesquaki), also known by the European exonyms Fox Indians or the Fox, are a Native American people. They have been closely linked to the Sauk people of the same language family. In the Meskwaki language, the ...

, Mesquakie, or Meshkwahkihaki)'' ::* Sauk ''(also known as Sac or Thakiwaki)'' ::* Kickapoo ::*

Mascouten The Mascouten (also ''Mascoutin'', ''Mathkoutench'', ''Muscoden,'' or ''Musketoon'') were a tribe of Algonquian-speaking Native Americans located in the Midwest. They are believed to have dwelt on both sides of the Mississippi River, adjacent to ...

(unattested) : 6.

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 ...

: 7.

Miami-Illinois Miami-Illinois (endonym: , ) also known as Irenwa, or Irenwe is an indigenous Algonquian language spoken in the United States, primarily in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, western Ohio and adjacent areas along the Mississippi River by the Miami a ...

::* Miami ::* Illinois ::* Peoria ::*

Wea The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as either being closely related to the Miami Tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami. Today, the descendants of the ...

References

External links

Algonquian Family

Bibliography

* Campbell, Lyle (1997). ''American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America''. New York: Oxford University Press. . * Goddard, Ives (1994). "The West-to-East Cline in Algonquian Dialectology." In William Cowan, ed., ''Papers of the 25th Algonquian Conference'' 187-211. Ottawa: Carleton University. *———— (1996). "Introduction". In Ives Goddard, ed., "Languages". Vol. 17 of William Sturtevant, ed., ''The Handbook of North American Indians''. Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution. * Mithun, Marianne (1999). ''The languages of Native North America''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (hbk); . {{Algonquian languages Algic languages First Nations languages in Canada

Family division

See also

References

External links

Bibliography