Language endangerment and revitalization efforts
As of 2014, there are between 1,400 and 1,700 recorded tribal members (these figures vary by source). The Mohegan language has been dormant for approximately 100 years; the last native speaker, Fidelia Fielding, died in 1908. Fielding, a descendant of Chief Uncas, is deemed the preserver of the language. She left four diaries that are being used in the 21st-century process of restoring the language. She also took part in preserving the traditional culture. She practiced a traditional Mohegan way of life and was the last person to live in the traditional log dwelling. Another important tribal member was"In 1690, a Pequot vocabulary list was compiled by Rev. James Noyes in Groton. In 1717, Experience Mayhew, a Congregational Minister translated thePrayers from the Baháʼà Faith have been translated into the Mohegan-Pequot language.Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...into Mohegan-Pequot.Ezra Stiles Ezra Stiles ( – May 12, 1795) was an American educator, academic, Congregationalist minister, theologian, and author. He is noted as the seventh president of Yale College (1778–1795) and one of the founders of Brown University. According ..., president of Yale University collected Pequot linguistic data in Groton in 1762."
"It is a sacred obligation," says the Golden Hill Paugussett Chief, Big Eagle. "Indian people must keep their languages alive. If the language is not spoken, it must be made to live again."
Orthography
Historically, Mohegan-Pequot has not had a writing system, and its speakers relied on oral transfer of knowledge, as opposed to writing. The only significant historic writings have been produced by European colonizers who interacted with the speakers of Mohegan-Pequot. The dictionaries, grammar books, and other material that is being developed in recent decades as part of the effort to revitalize Mohegan-Pequot Language, have adopted and used a standardizedPhonology
is realized as only before . Vowel SoundsSimple vowels
The nasal sound can range to being an oral sound. "a" written with an acute accent (á) represents a long sound.Diphthongs
Morphology
NounsFielding, Stephanie (2006), A Modern Mohegan Dictionary 2006 Ed. Nouns in Mohegan have two forms: animate and inanimate. They are further distinguished by number. Animate nouns include people, animals, heavenly bodies (sun, moon, stars, but not clouds), and spirits. There are other items that call fall into the category of animate such as certain cultural items and plants, but it is not known why these items are considered animate. It is something that is simply learned and memorized. One way to help identify if a noun is animate or inanimate is to look at its plural form. Plural animate nouns typically end in ''-k'' while plural inanimate nouns ends in ''-sh''. Animate nouns have four forms: singular, plural, obviative and locative. The obviate form is used when there are two or more animate third person nouns in a sentence, to mark the noun which is less salient (less relevant to the discourse). The unmarked noun is called the proximate, which is more salient/relevant to the discourse. The obviate is also used to mark a third person possessed noun, with the possessor considered as the proximate, even if the possessed noun is more salient than its possessor. The locative is used to show where something is spatially. Note that there is no obviative form for inanimate nouns, and neither the obviative nor the locative have plural forms (plurality is known through context). Verbs Verbs in Mohegan come in several forms. Independent verbs exist in four forms: inanimate intransitive, animate intransitive, transitive inanimate and transitive animate. There is also the conjunct form which does not carry the affixes (used to clarify person) that the aforementioned hold.Person, number and gender
Person Mohegan animate intransitive verbs show who the subject is by utilizing affixes. Singular forms have prefixes, but third person (singular and plural) only have suffixes. In the plural forms there are inclusive and exclusive suffixes; the inclusive ''we'' includes the person who is speaking as well as the person he/she is talking to whereas the exclusive ''we'' does not include the person the speaker is talking to. When an animate intransitive verb stem ends in a long vowel (''á, i, o'' or ''ô'') the 3rd person singular does not take a final ''-w'', and in the 3rd person plural these same verbs take ''-k'' as an ending in lieu of ''- wak''. *affixes indicated in bold type *affixes indicated in bold type NumbersSpace
Locative case The locative case is used to show where something is. Mohegan utilizes the suffix ''-uk'' to indicate spatial relationships, which can be compared to the English prepositions "on," "at," and "in." In Mohegan there is no plural form to go with the obviative and the locative: the same form is used for singular and plural with the difference being distinguished by context. Example of the Locative Case Absentative case The absentative case is used to when referencing a person who has died (this includes any property that they left behind). This is accomplished by adding a suffix to either his/her name, title or the property. *suffix indicated by bold type The following example shows the absentative case in use: Niswi ''nusihsuk'' wikôtamak áposuhutut. Both of ''my late uncles'' enjoyed cooking.Syntax
Possession In Mohegan, there are two types of possession, alienable possession and inalienable possession. Nouns receive different marking depending on the relationship between the possessor and the possessed noun. If the possessed noun is connected (physically or sometimes metaphorically) to the possessed noun it is considered inalienable possession. For example in the phrase, the man's hand, the hand is possessed inalienably, because it is inseparable from the man. Inalienable possession can also be metaphorical, for example in the phrase, the man's mother, the mother is possessed inalienably, because of a cultural perception of kinship as a "strong" connection. Inalienable nouns must always receive marking. If the possessor owns the possessed noun, but is not physically attached to it, it is considered alienable possession. In the phrase, the man's house, the house is possessed alienably, because the house is not attached to the man. Nouns pertaining to kinship and body parts are always classified as inalienable, but there are some terms that don't fall under either of these umbrellas that must be classified as inalienable such as the noun "home." Various affixes are used to denote inalienability and different affixes are used to differentiate animate/inanimate and singular/plural. Additionally, when a term requires possession but the possessor is unclear or unknown it is marked with prefix that indicates an indefinite possessor. The locative (''-uk'') and obviate (''-ah'') suffixes are added to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular forms. Whether the word is singular or plural should be suggested in the content of the sentence. The obviate affixes only go on animate nouns. When a possessed noun is plural it must be shown. With an animate noun then suffix ''-ak'' is combined with the possessive ending (with the exception of third person singular and third person plural, where the plural is the same as the singular). *affixes on all charts are marked by bold type Clause Combining In Mohegan grammar verbs that are in a dependent clause are said to be in the conjunct order. Conjunct verbs have the same numbers of persons for each verb, but they do not have prefixes, only suffixes. In turn, all of the person information is at the end of the word. *suffixes on chart marked by bold type Example: Mô yáyuw maci ''ákacuyǒn''. Translation: It was so bad ''that I am ashamed''. When in the conjunct form if the first vowel of the word is a short vowel, that is /a/ or /u/, it changes to a long /á/. Transitive verbs with inanimate objects take only a suffix as well. The suffix vary based on the ending of the stem. For stems that end in -m- or -n- the suffixes are as follows: 1st person singular: -ôn 2nd person singular: -an 3rd person singular: -k 1st person plural: -ak 2nd person plural: -áq 3rd person plural: -hutut 3rd person plural participle: -kik Indefinite subject (passive): -uk For stems that end in -o- the suffixes are as follows: 1st person singular: -yôn 2nd person singular: -yan 3rd person singular: -ôk 1st person plural: -yak 2nd person plural: -yáq 3rd person plural: -w'hutut 3rd person plural participle: -ôkik Indefinite subject (passive): -muk For stems that end in -u- the suffixes are as follows: 1st person singular: -wôn 2nd person singular: -wan 3rd person singular: -k 1st person plural: -wak 2nd person plural: -wáq 3rd person plural: -'hutut 3rd person plural participle: -kik Indefinite subject (passive): -mukSee also
* Mohegan people * Pequot * Montaukett * Niantic people *Notes
References
Articles
* Cowan, WilliamExternal links