The Algonquian (also Algonkian) languages are a subfamily of Native American languages that includes most of the languages in the Algic language family (others are Wiyot and Yurok of northwestern California). They should be carefully distinguished from Algonquin, which is only one language of many Algonquian languages. Native American languages are the indigenous languages of the Americas, spoken from Alaska and Greenland to the southern tip of South America. ... The Algic languages are an indigenous language family of North America. ... Most languages are known to belong to language families (families hereforth). ... Wiyot (also Wishosk) is an extinct Algic language. ... Yurok (also Weitspekan) is an Algic language. ... State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd)  - Land 404,298 km²  - Water 20,047 km² (4. ... For the larger language family of which Algonquin is but one member, see Algonquian. ...

Speakers of Algonquian languages stretch from the east coast of North America all the way to the Rocky Mountains. World map showing location of North America A satellite composite image of North America North America is the third largest continent in area and in population after Eurasia and Africa. ... Rocky Mountain National Park (photo courtesy of NPS) View of Colorado Rockies. ...

Family division

This large family can be divided roughly into three major groupings—Central, Plains, and Eastern Algonquian:

A. Central and Plains

• I. Plains
  • Arapaho (a.k.a. Arapaho-Atsina)
    • dialects:
      • Arapaho (a.k.a. Arrapahoe or Arapahoe)
      • Besawunena
      • Gros Ventre (a.k.a. Atsina, Aáni, Ahahnelin, Ahe, A'aninin, A'ane, A'ananin)
      • Nawathinehena
      • Haʔanahawunena
  • Blackfoot (a.k.a. Blackfeet)
  • Cheyenne
    • dialects:
      • Cheyenne
      • Sutaio (a.k.a. Soʔtaaʔe)
• II. Central
  • Cree (a.k.a. Cree-Montagnais or Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi)
    • Eastern dialects:
      • East Cree (a.k.a. James Bay Cree or Eastern Cree)
      • Naskapi
      • Montagnais (a.k.a. Innu-aimun or Innu)
    • Western dialects:
      • Atikamekw (a.k.a. Attikamek, Attikamekw, Atikamek or Tête de Boule)
      • Eastern Swampy & Moose Cree
      • Plains Cree
      • Michif (a.k.a. Mitchif, Métif, or Métchif) (mixed language based on Plains Cree and French)
      • Western Swampy Cree
      • Woods Cree
  • Fox (a.k.a. Fox-Sauk-Kickapoo or Mesquakie-Sauk-Kickapoo)
    • dialects:
      • Fox (a.k.a. Mesquakie or Meshkwahkihaki)
      • Sauk (a.k.a. Saki)
      • Kickapoo
      • Mascouten (unattested)
  • Menominee (a.k.a. Menomimi)
  • Miami-Illinois (a.k.a. Peoria)
    • dialects:
      • Miami
      • Illinois
  • Ojibwa (a.k.a. Ojibway, Ojibwe, Chippeway, Ojibwa-Potawatomi, or Ojibwa-Potawatomi-Ottawa)
    • dialects:
      • Saulteaux
      • Northwestern Ojibwa
      • Southwestern Ojibwa
      • Severn Ojibwa
      • Central Ojibwa
      • Ottawa (a.k.a. Odawa)
      • Eastern Ojibwa
      • Algonquin
  • Potawatomi (a.k.a. Ojibwa-Potawatomi)
  • Shawnee

B. Eastern Scabby Bull, Arapaho 1806 Arapaho camp, ca. ... Scabby Bull, Arapaho 1806 Arapaho camp, ca. ... Blackfoot is the name of any of the Algonquian languages spoken by the Blackfeet tribe of Native Americans, currently in the northwestern plains of North America. ... The Cheyenne language is a Native American language spoken in present_day Montana and Oklahoma, USA. It is part of the Algonquian language family. ... Cree is the name for a group of closely-related Algonquian languages spoken by approximately 50,000 speakers across Canada, from Alberta to Labrador. ... The Innu are the indigenous inhabitants of an area they refer to as Nitassinan, which comprises most of the Quebec-Labrador peninsula in Eastern Canada. ... Michif is the indigenous language of the Métis people of Canada. ... The Fox tribe of Native Americans are an Algonquian language-speaking group that are now merged with the allied Sac tribe as the Sac and Fox Nation. ... The Kickapoo are Native American tribes. ... The Menominee language is an Algonquian language spoken on the Menominee (Menomini) Nation lands in Northern Wisconsin in the United States. ... The Miami language is a Native American language formerly spoken in the United States, primarily in northern Indiana and Ohio by members of the Miami tribe. ... The Illinois language is a Native American language formerly spoken in the United States, primarily in Illinois by the Illiniwek tribes. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... The Ottawa (also Odawa or Odaawa) are a Native American people. ... For the larger language family of which Algonquin is but one member, see Algonquian. ... The Potawatomi (also spelled Pottawatomie or Pottawatomi) are an Aboriginal American people of the upper Mississippi River region. ... The Shawnee are a people native to North America, and are therefore considered to be Native Americans. ...

• Eastern Abenaki (a.k.a. Abenaki or Abenaki-Penobscot)
  • dialects:
    • Penobscot (a.k.a. Old Town or Old Town Penobscot)
    • Caniba
    • Aroosagunticook
    • Pigwacket
• Western Abenaki (a.k.a. Abnaki, St. Francis, Abenaki, or Abenaki-Penobscot)
• Etchemin (uncertain - See Note 1)
• Loup A (maybe Nipmuck or Pocumtuck ??) (uncertain - See Note 1)
• Loup B (uncertain - See Note 1)
• Mahican (a.k.a. Mohican)
  • dialects:
    • Stockbridge
    • Moravian
• Maliseet (a.k.a. Maliseet-Passamquoddy or Malecite-Passamquoddy)
  • dialects:
    • Maliseet (a.k.a. Malecite)
    • Passamaquoddy
• Massachusett (a.k.a. Natick)
  • dialects:
    • North Shore
    • Natick
    • Wampanoag
    • Nauset
    • Cowesit
• Mi’kmaq (a.k.a. Micmac, Mi’kmag, or Mi’kmaw)
• Mohegan-Pequot
  • dialects:
    • Mohegan (a.k.a. Mohican)
    • Pequot
    • Niantic
    • Montauk (a.k.a. Montauketts)
• Munsee (a.k.a. Delaware)
  • dialects:
    • Munsee (a.k.a. Minnisink)
    • Wappinger
• Nanticoke (a.k.a. Nanticoke-Convoy)
  • dialects:
    • Nantikoke
    • Choptank
    • Piscataway (a.k.a. Conoy)
• Narragansett
• Pamlico (a.k.a. Carolina Algonquian, Pamtico, or Pampticough)
• Powhatan (a.k.a. Virginia Algonquian)
• Quiripi-Naugatuck-Unquachog-Shinnecock
  • dialects:
    • Quiripi (a.k.a. Quinnipiak or Connecticut)
    • Naugatuck
    • Unquachog
• Shinnecock (uncertain)
• Unami (a.k.a. Delaware or Lenape)
  • dialects:
    • Northern Unami
    • Southern Unami
    • Unalachtigo

Notes The Penobscot are a sovereign people indigenous to what is now the northeastern U.S. and Maritime Canada, particularly Maine. ... Abenaki wigwam with birch bark covering The Abenaki (also Wabanaki) are a tribe of Native Americans belonging to the Algonquian peoples of the Northeast portion of North America. ... The Mohicans were, during the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, a functional confederation of several branches of Native Americans. ... The Maliseet (also known as Wolastoqiyik and in French also as Étchemins and Malécites) are a Native American tribe that inhabits the Saint John River valley and its tributaries, roughly overlapping the International Boundary between New Brunswick and Quebec in Canada, and Maine in the United States. ... Passamaquoddy is the name of a tribe of Native Americans located in northeastern North America, primarily in Maine and New Brunswick. ... The Wampanoag are a Native American people. ... The Mikmaq (also Míkmaq, Micmac, Migmaw; in Quebec, Migmaq) are a Canadian First Nations people indigenous to northeastern New England, Canadas Maritimes, and the Gaspé Peninsula of the province of Quebec. ... The Mohicans were, during the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, a functional confederation of several branches of Native Americans. ... The Montauk Lighthouse Montauk is a census-designated place and hamlet located in Suffolk County, New York. ... The Munsee-Delaware Nation No. ... Nanticoke is the name of two places in the United States: Nanticoke in New York Nanticoke in Pennsylvania This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Nahahigansek Soveriegn Nation people live in Narragansett Bay as well as in present-day Rhode Island, Connecticut, and eastern Massachusetts. ... The Powhatan (also spelled Powatan and Powhaten) were a very powerful tribe of Native Americans, speaking an Algonquian language, who lived in what is now Virginia at the time of the first European-Native encounters. ... Quiripi is the name of a Native American language of the Algonquin language family, specifically the Algonquin-Mosan branch. ... The Lenape or Lenni-Lenape (later named Delaware Indians by Europeans) were, in the 1600s, loosely organized bands of Native American people practicing small-scale agriculture to augment a largely mobile hunter-gatherer society in the region around the Delaware River, the lower Hudson River, and western Long Island Sound. ...

1. Etchemin and Loup were ethnographic terms used inconsistently by French colonists and missionaries. There is some debate whether distinct groups could ever have been identified with those names.

Etchemin is only known from a list of numbers from people living between the St. John and Kennebec Rivers recorded in 1609 by Marc Lescarbot. The name Etchemin has also been applied to other material from what many scholars of Algonquian ethnography and linguistics believe to be Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, or Eastern Abenaki.

Some of the attested Loup vocabulary can be identified with different eastern Algonquian communities, including the Mahican, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy and other groups. Loup A and Loup B refer to two vocabulary lists which cannot be conclusively identified with another, known community. Loup A may be Pocumtuck or Nipmuck. It is somewhat similar to Agawam. Loup B seems like a composite of different dialects. It is closest to Mahican and Western Abenaki. They also may represent unknown tribes or bands, or may have been interethnic trade pidgins of some kind. Documentary evidence is very thin. See Uncertain/Extinct Algonquian Languages (http://www.native-languages.org/lostalg.htm).

The St. ... The Kennebec River is a river, 150 mi (240 km) long, in the state of Maine in the northeastern United States. ... The Maliseet (also known as Wolastoqiyik and in French also as Étchemins and Malécites) are a Native American tribe that inhabits the Saint John River valley and its tributaries, roughly overlapping the International Boundary between New Brunswick and Quebec in Canada, and Maine in the United States. ... Passamaquoddy is the name of a tribe of Native Americans located in northeastern North America, primarily in Maine and New Brunswick. ... The Mohicans were, during the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, a functional confederation of several branches of Native Americans. ... The Maliseet (also known as Wolastoqiyik and in French also as Étchemins and Malécites) are a Native American tribe that inhabits the Saint John River valley and its tributaries, roughly overlapping the International Boundary between New Brunswick and Quebec in Canada, and Maine in the United States. ... Passamaquoddy is the name of a tribe of Native Americans located in northeastern North America, primarily in Maine and New Brunswick. ... The Mohicans were, during the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, a functional confederation of several branches of Native Americans. ...

Genetic and areal relationships

It is important to note that only Eastern Algonquian is a true genetic subgrouping. The Plains Algonquian and the Central Algonquian groups are not genetic groupings but rather areal groupings. This means that Blackfoot is no more related to Cheyenne than it is to Menominee. However, these areal groups often do have certain shared linguistic features, but the features in question are attributed to language contact. Language contact occurs when speakers of distinct speech varieties interact. ...

The group is sometimes said to have included the extinct Beothuk language of Newfoundland, although evidence is scarce and poorly recorded, and the claim is mainly based on geographic proximity. Etchimin and the pre-colonial language of the Lumbees may also have been Algonquian languages, but in both cases documentary evidence is at best very weak. There is no documentary evidence whatsoever of an aboriginal Lumbee language. The Beothuks were the native inhabitants of the island of Newfoundland at the time of European contact in the 15th and 16th centuries. ... Newfoundland (French: Terre-Neuve; Irish: Talamh an Éisc; Latin: Terra Nova) is a large island off the north-east coast of North America, and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. ... The Lumbee are a distinct ethnic group of southeastern North Carolina. ...

Grammatical features

The Algonquian language family is renowned for its complex polysynthetic morphology and sophisticated verb system. Statements that take many words to say in English can be expressed with a single "word". Ex: (Menominee) enae:ni:hae:w "He is heard by higher powers" or (Plains Cree) kāstāhikoyahk "it frightens us." Languages in this family typically mark at least two distinct third persons, so that speakers can keep track of central characters in narrative. These languages have been famously studied in the structuralist tradition by Leonard Bloomfield and Edward Sapir among others. Many of these languages are extremely endangered today, while others have died completely. Polysynthetic languages are highly synthetic languages, i. ... Morphology is the following: In linguistics, morphology is the study of the structure of word forms. ... A verb is a part of speech that usually denotes action (bring, read), occurrence (to decompose (itself), to glitter), or a state of being (exist, live, soak, stand). Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many factors, possibly including its tense, aspect, mood and voice. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The Menominee language is an Algonquian language spoken on the Menominee (Menomini) Nation lands in Northern Wisconsin in the United States. ... Cree camp near Vermilion, Alberta The Cree form an aboriginal nation of North America. ... Leonard Bloomfield (1887 - 1949) was an American linguist. ... Edward Sapir (pronunciation: suh PEER), (1884-1939) was an American anthropologist-linguist, a leader in American structural linguistics, and one of the creators of what is now called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. ...

For information on the peoples speaking Algonquian languages, see Algonquian peoples. This article is about the large number of peoples speaking Algonquian languages. ...

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 Wiktionary is a sister project to Wikipedia intended to be a free wiki dictionary (thesaurus, lexicon therein) in every language. ...

Main article: words of Algonquian origin

Because Algonquian languages were some of the first that Europeans came in contact with in North America, the language family has given many words to English. Many eastern U.S. states have names of Algonquian origin (Massachusetts, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin), as do many cities: Milwaukee, Chicago, et al. The capital of Canada is named after an Algonquian nation - the Odawa. Words of Algonquian origin have entered American English and thence have been exported to the English language in general and many European languages. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A U.S. state is any one of the 50 states which have membership of the federation known as the United States of America (USA or U.S.). The separate state governments and the U.S. federal government share sovereignty. ... State nickname: Bay State Other U.S. States Capital Boston Largest city Boston Governor Mitt Romney Official languages English Area 27,360 km² (44th)  - Land 20,317 km²  - Water 7,043 km² (25. ... State nickname: Land of Lincoln, The Prairie State Other U.S. States Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Governor Rod Blagojevich Official languages English Area 149,998 km² (25th)  - Land 143,968 km²  - Water 6,030 km² (4. ... State nickname: Wolverine State or Great Lakes State Other U.S. States Capital Lansing Largest city Detroit Governor Jennifer Granholm Official languages English Area 250,941 km² (11th)  - Land 147,255 km²  - Water 103,687 km² (41. ... State nickname: The Buckeye State Other U.S. States Capital Columbus Largest city Columbus Governor Bob Taft Official languages None Area 116,096 km² (34th)  - Land 106,154 km²  - Water 10,044 km² (8. ... One of the periods of glaciation was also termed the Wisconsin glaciation. ... Milwaukee is the largest city in the state of Wisconsin, United States and the county of Milwaukee. ... Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... The Ottawa (also Odawa or Odaawa) are a Native American people. ...

External links

• Algonquian Family (http://www.native-languages.org/famalg.htm)
• Algonquin First Nation, Language Resource (http://www.hilaroad.com/camp/nation/speak.html)

Bibilography

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Grimes, Barbara F. (Ed.). (2000). Ethnologue: Languages of the world, (14th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671106-9. Online edition: http://www.ethnologue.com/, accessed on Mar. 3, 2005.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.