Everything about Algonquin Language totally explained
» For the larger language family of which Algonquin is but one member, see Algonquian.
Algonquin (or Algonkin or Anicinàbemowin) is either an distinct
Algonquian language closely related to the
Anishinaabe language or a particularly divergent
Anishinaabe dialect. It is spoken, alongside
French and to some extent
English, by the
Algonquin First Nations of
Quebec and
Ontario. As of 1998, there were 2,275 Algonquin speakers, less than 10% of whom were monolingual. Algonquin is the language for which the entire
Algonquian language subgroup is named. The similarity among the names often causes considerable confusion. Like many Native American languages, it's strongly verb based, with most meaning being
incorporated into verbs instead of using separate words for prepositions, tense, etc.
Classification
Algonquin is an
Algonquian language, of the
Algic family of languages, and is descended from
Proto-Algonquian. It is considered a particularly divergent dialect of
Ojibwe by many, acting as a transitional language between the Ojibwe languages and the
Abenaki languages. However, though the speakers call themselves
Anicinàbe ("Anishinaabe") like the Ojibwe, the speakers of this language are not identified as "Ojibwe" and are called
Odishkwaagamii (those at the end of the lake) by the Ojibwe. Among the Algonquins, however, the Nipissing are called
Otickwàgamì (the Algonquin orthography for the Ojibwe
Odishkwaagamii) and their language as
Otickwàgamìmowin while the rest of the Algonquin communities call themselves
Omàmiwininiwak (down-stream men), and the language as
Omàmiwininìmowin (speech of the down-stream men).
Other than Algonquin, languages considered as particularly divergent dialects of the
Anishinaabe language include Mississauga (often called "Eastern Ojibwe") and
Odawa. The
Potawatomi language was considered a divergent dialect of the Anishinaabe language but now is considered a separate language. Culturally, the Algonquin and the
Mississaugas were not part of the Ojibwe-Odawa-Potawatomi alliance known as the
Council of Three Fires, with Algonquins maintaining stronger cultural ties with
Abenaki,
Atikamekw and
Cree.
Among her sister Algonquian languages are
Blackfoot,
Cheyenne,
Cree,
Fox,
Menominee,
Potawatomi, and
Shawnee. The Algic family contains the Algonquian languages and the so-called "
Ritwan" languages,
Wiyot and
Yurok. Ojibwe and its similar languages are frequently referred to as a "
Central Algonquian" language; however, Central Algonquian is an areal grouping rather than a genetic one. Among Algonquian languages, only the
Eastern Algonquian languages constitute a true genetic subgroup.
Dialects
There are several dialects of Algonquin. Speakers at Maniwaki consider their language to be Algonquin, though linguistically it's a dialect of Eastern Ojibwe.
Phonology
Consonants
The consonant
phonemes and major
allophones of Algonquin in one of several common orthographies are listed below (with IPA notation in brackets):
Aspiration and Allophony
The Algonquin consonants
p,
t and
k are unaspirated when they're pronounced between two vowels or after an
m or
n; plain voiceless and voiceless aspirated stops in Algonquin are thus
allophones. So
kìjig (day) is pronounced
[kʰiːʒɪg], but
anokì kìjig (working day) is pronounced
[ʌnokiːkiːʒɪg].
[h] can be pronounced as either
[h] or
[ʔ].
Vowels
» short
*
a [ʌ]
» *
e [e] or [ɛ]
*
i [ɪ]
» *
o or
u [ʊ]
long » *
à (also
á or
aa) [aː]
*
è (also
é or
ee) [eː]
» *
ì (also
í or
ii) [iː]
*
ò (also
ó or
oo) [oː]
Diphthongs
» *
aw [aw]
*
ay [aj]
» *
ew [ew]
*
ey [ej]
» *
iw [iw]
*
ow [ow]
Nasal Vowels
Algonquin does have nasal vowels, but they're allophonic variants (similar to how in English vowels are sometimes nasalized before
m and
n). In Algonquin, vowels automatically become nasal before
nd,
ng,
nj or
nz. For example,
kìgònz is pronounced
[kʰiːɡõːz], not
[kʰiːɡoːnz].
Stress
Word stress in Algonquin is regular, but it's very complicated. If divides each word into
iambic feet, counting long vowels (
à,
è,
ì,
ò) as an entire foot, then the stress is usually on the strong syllable of the third from last foot--which, in words that are five syllables long or less, usually translates in practical terms to the first syllable (if it has a long vowel) or the second syllable (if it doesn't). Then the strong syllables of the other feet each have a secondary stress. For example:
ni-ˡbi,
ˡsì-ˈbi,
mi-ˡki-ˈzi,
ˡnà-no-ˈmi-da-ˈna.
Algonquin names for animals
Further Information
Get more info on 'Algonquin Language'.
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