The Creek language, also known as Muscogee (Mvskoke in Creek), is a Muskogean language spoken by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Seminole Indians in Florida and Oklahoma. Official language(s) None Capital Oklahoma City Largest city Oklahoma City Area  Ranked 20th  - Total 69,960 sq mi (181,196 km²)  - Width 230 miles (370 km)  - Length 298 miles (480 km)  - % water 1. ... Official language(s) English Capital Montgomery Largest city Birmingham Area  Ranked 30th  - Total 52,419 sq mi (135,765 km²)  - Width 190 miles (306 km)  - Length 330 miles (531 km)  - % water 3. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... Pre-contact distribution of Muskogean languages Muskogean (also Muskhogean, Muskogee) is a language family of the U.S. Southeast. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone meaning sound, voice) is the study of sounds and the human voice. ... Because of technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... This is a concise version of the International Phonetic Alphabet for English sounds. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Muskogean (also Muskhogean, Muskogee) is a language family of the Northern American Southeast. ... The Creeks are an American Indian people originally from the southeastern United States, also known by their original name Muscogee (or Muskogee), the name they use to identify themselves today. ... The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, and now residing in that state and in Oklahoma. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Official language(s) None Capital Oklahoma City Largest city Oklahoma City Area  Ranked 20th  - Total 69,960 sq mi (181,196 km²)  - Width 230 miles (370 km)  - Length 298 miles (480 km)  - % water 1. ...

Orthography

The traditional Creek alphabet was adopted by the tribe in the late 1800s (Innes 2004). There are 20 letters. Although it is based on the Latin alphabet, some of the sounds are vastly different from those in English — in particular those represented by c, e, i, r, and v. Here are the (approximately) equivalent sounds using familiar English words. A Specimen of typeset fonts and languages, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... http://www. ... A Specimen of typeset fonts and languages, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

1. a, as in father.
2. c, like the "ch" such.
3. e, like the "i" in hit.
4. ē, like the "ee" in seed.
5. f, as in father.
6. h, as in hero.
7. i, like the "ay" in day, but really more of a pure vowel like Spanish language "e".
8. k, like the "k" in risk.
9. l, as in look.
10. m, as in moon.
11. n, as in moon.
12. o, which can be short like "oo" in book, or long like "o" in bone.
13. p, as in spot.
14. r, a sound which does not occur in English. This is often represented as "hl" or "thl" in non-Creek texts. The sound is made by blowing air around the sides of the tongue while pronouncing English "l".
15. s, as in spot.
16. t, like the "t" in spot.
17. u, essentially the same sound as that given for short o, above.
18. v, like the English schwa sound: "a" in about or the second "o" in common.
19. w, as in wet.
20. y, as in yet.

There are only three major diphthongs in written Mvskoke: Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... This article is about the international language known as Spanish. ... Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... In phonetics, a diphthong (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds, or with two tones) is a vowel combination in a single syllable involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ...

• ue, like the "oy" in boy.
• vo, like the "aw" in hawk.
• eu, which is simply the Creek short e sound blended smoothly into the Creek u sound.

There are no silent letters in Creek; everything is pronounced. In an alphabetic writing system, a silent letter is a letter that, in a particular word, does not correspond to any sound in the words pronunciation. ...

Consonants

Four consonants in Mvskoke are slightly different from what English speakers would expect, being unaspirated and unvoiced. When placed between two voiced sounds or at the beginning of a word, they can sound slightly different (Innes 2004). In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure or stricture of the vocal tract sufficient to cause audible turbulence. ... In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies the release of some stop consonants. ... Phoneticians define phonation as use of the laryngeal system to generate an audible source of acoustic energy, i. ...

• c can sound like the "j" in just.
• k can sound like the "g" in goat.
• p can sound like the "b" in boat.
• t can sound like the "d" in dust.

In addition, certain combinations of consonants sound differently to English speakers, giving multiple possible transcriptions. The most prominent case is the 2nd person singular ending for verbs. Wiketv means "to stop"; the verb for "you are stopping" may be written in Creek as wikeckes or wiketskes. Both are pronounced the same. The -eck- transliteration is preferred by Innes (2004), while the -etsk- transliteration has been used by Martin (2000) and Loughridge (1964). Transcription is the conversion into written, typewritten or printed form, of a spoken language source, such as the proceedings of a court hearing. ...

Vowel Length

A key point in Mvskoke is the length of vowels. Generally speaking, vowels come in long and short pairs; alteration of this vowel sound is the basis for many changes in meaning, for example, alteration of verb tense, mood, and aspect. The vowel pairs are: Grammatical tense is a way languages express the time at which an event described by a sentence occurs. ... In linguistics, many grammars have the concept of grammatical mood (or mode), which describes the relationship of a verb with reality and intent. ... In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb defines the temporal flow (or lack thereof) in the described event or state. ...

• The short vowel v with the long vowel a.
• The short vowel e with the long vowel ē.
• The short vowel u with the long vowel o.

Unfortunately, in written Mvskoke, sometimes the traditional spelling for a word is written using a when the actual vowel is v; similarly, o is used in some spellings where a u sound is pronounced. For instance, Martin (2000) points out that kono (skunk) might also be found as kunu; in either case, the correct pronunciation is close to the English words cook nook without the k's. Genera Conepatus Mydaus Mephitis Spilogale Skunks are moderately small mammals, usually with black-and-white fur, belonging to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora. ...

Non-Standard Orthography

Creek words may have specific tone and nasalization of their vowels. These additional qualities are not given in the standard orthography, only in dictionaries. The following additional markers have been used by Martin (2000) and Innes (2004). It has been suggested that Tonal language be merged into this article or section. ... In phonetics, nasalization is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that air escapes partially or wholly through the nose during the production of the sound. ...

• Falling tone in a syllable is shown using a circumflex. In English, falling tone is only really found in phrases such as uh oh. In Creek, however, changing a verb such as acces ("she is putting on (a dress)") to âcces alters the meaning from one of process to one of state ("she is wearing (a dress).")
• Nasalization of a vowel is given by an ogonek under the vowel. Changing the verb acces to ącces adds the imperfective aspect, that is, a sense of repeated or habitual action ("she kept putting on (that same dress)").
• The key syllable of a word is often shown with an accent mark. This is the last syllable of the word with normal tone; the following syllables are all lower in pitch.

The circumflex ( ˆ ) (often called a caret, a hat or an uppen) is a diacritic mark used in written Greek, French, Dutch, Esperanto, Norwegian, Romanian, Slovak, Vietnamese, Japanese romaji, Welsh, Portuguese, Italian, Afrikaans and other languages, and formerly in Turkish [citation needed]. It received its English name from Latin circumflexus (bent... Ogonek (Polish for little tail; In Lithuanian it is nosinÄ— which literally means nasal) is a diacritic hook placed under the lower right corner of a vowel in the Latin alphabet used in Polish (letters Ä…, Ä™), Lithuanian (Ä…, Ä™, į, ų), Navajo and Western Apache (Ä…, Ä…Ä…, Ä™, ęę, į, įį, , ), Chiricahua and Mescalero (Ä…, Ä…Ä…, Ä™, ęę, į, įį, ų, ųų) and Tutchone. ... The imperfective aspect, sometimes known as the continuous or progressive aspect, is a grammatical aspect. ...

Distinctive Features of the Language

Sentence Structure

The general sentence structure fits the pattern "subject, object, verb". The subject or object may be a noun or a noun followed by one or more adjectives. Adverbs tend to occur either at the beginning of the sentence (for time adverbs) or immediately before the verb (for manner adverbs). In linguistics, a sentence is a unit of language, characterised in most languages by the presence of a finite verb. ... The subject of a sentence is one of the two main parts of a sentence, the other being the predicate. ... An object in grammar is a sentence element and part of the sentence predicate. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... A noun, or noun substantive, is a part of speech which can co-occur with (in)definite articles and attributive adjectives, and function as the head of a noun phrase. ... An adjective is a part of speech which modifies a noun, usually describing it or making its meaning more specific. ... An adverb is a part of speech. ...

Verbs

In Creek, a single verb can translate into an entire English sentence. The root infinitive form of the verb is altered for: In grammar, the infinitive is the form of a verb that has no inflection to indicate person, number, mood or tense. ...

• Person (of subject). Letketv = to run.
  • Letkis. = I am running.
  • Letkeckes. (or Letketskes.)= You are running.
  • Letkes. = He / She is running.
  • Plural forms can be a bit more complicated (see below).

• Person (of direct or indirect object). This is accomplished with prefixes. Hecetv = to see.
  • Cvhēcis = I see you.
  • Cehēceckes. = You see me.

• Tense. Pohetv = to hear.
  • Pohis. = I am hearing (present).
  • Pohhis. = I just heard (1st or immediate past; within a day ago).
  • Pohvhanis. = I am going to hear.
  • Pohares. = I will hear.
  • Pohiyunks. = I heard recently (2nd or middle past, within a week ago).
  • Pohimvts. = I heard (3rd or distant past, within a year ago).
  • Pohicatēs. = Long ago I heard. (4th or remote past, beyond a year ago).
  • There are at least ten more tenses, including perfect versions of the above, as well as future, indefinite, and pluperfect tenses.

• Mood. Wiketv = to stop.
  • Wikes. = He / She is stopping (indicative).
  • Wikvs. = Stop! (imperative)
  • Wikv-wites. = He / She may stop (potential).
  • Wike-nomat. = If he / she stops (subjunctive).
  • Wikepueces. = He / She made someone stop (causative).

• Aspect. Kerretv = to learn.
  • Kērris. = I am learning (progressive, ongoing or in progress).
  • Kêrris. = I know (resulting state).
  • Kęrris. = I keep learning (imperfect, habitual or repeated action).
  • Kerîyis. = I just learned (action completed in the past).

• Voice.
  • Wihkis. = I just stopped (active voice, 1st past).
  • Cvwihokes. = I was just stopped (passive voice, 1st past).

• Negatives.
  • Wikarēs. = I will stop (positive, future tense).
  • Wikakarēs. = I will not stop (negative, future tense).

• Questions. Hompetv = to eat; nake = what.
  • Hompeckes. = You are eating.
  • Hompeckv? = Are you eating? (expecting a yes or no answer)
  • Nake hompecka? = What are you eating? (expecting a long answer)

In linguistics, a prefix is a type of affix that precedes the morphemes to which it can attach. ... Look up Perfect in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The pluperfect tense exists in most Indo-European languages, including English. ... In grammar, the voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments (subject, object, etc. ...

Verbs with Irregular Plurals

Some Creek verbs, especially those involving motion, have highly irregular plurals. For example, letketv = to run, with a singular subject. However, tokorketv = to run of two subjects, and pefatketv = to run of three or more.

Stative Verbs

Another entire class of Creek verbs are the stative verbs. These verbs express no action, imply no duration, and provide only description of a static condition. In some languages, such as English, these are expressed as adjectives. In Creek, the verbs behave similar to adjectives, yet are classed and treated as verbs. However, these verbs are not altered for the person of the subject by an affix, as above; instead, the prefix changes. A stative verb is one which asserts that one of its arguments has a particular property (possibly in relation to its other arguments). ... Look up affix in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In linguistics, a prefix is a type of affix that precedes the morphemes to which it can attach. ...

Example: Enokkē = to be sick; enokkēs = he / she is sick; cvnokkēs = I'm sick; cenokkēs = you are sick.

Locative Prefixes

Prefixes are also used in Creek for shades of meaning of verbs which are expressed in English using preposition stranding. For example, in English, the verb to go can be changed to to go up, to go in, to go around, and other variations. In Mvskoke, the same principle of shading a verb's meaning is handled by locative prefixes: Preposition stranding, sometimes called P-stranding, is the syntactic construction in which a preposition appears without an object. ...

Example: vyetv = to go (singular subjects only, see above); ayes = I am going; ak-ayes = I am going (in water / in a low place / under something); tak-ayes = I am going (on the ground); oh-ayes = I am going (on top of something).

However, for verbs of motion, Creek also has a large selection of verbs with specific meaning: ossetv = to go out; ropottetv = to go though.

Possession

In some other languages, a special form of the noun, the genitive case, is used to show possession. This process is handled in two fundamentally different ways in Creek, depending on the nature of the noun. The genitive case is a grammatical case that indicates a relationship, primarily one of possession, between the noun in the genitive case and another noun. ... Possession, in the context of linguistics, is an asymmetric relationship between two constituents, one of which possesses (owns, rules over, has as a part, has as a relative, etc. ...

Nouns in Fixed Relationships (Inalienable Possession)

A body part or family member cannot be discussed in Creek without mentioning the possessor; it is an integrated part of the word. A set of changeable prefixes serves this function:

• enke = his / her hand;
• cvnke = my hand;
• cenke = your hand;
• punke = our hand.

Even if the possessor is mentioned specifically, the prefix still must be part of the word, for example, Toske enke = Toske's hand. This is not redundant in Creek (e.g. "Toske's his hand").

Transferrable Nouns

All other nouns are possessed through separate set of prepositions. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with adposition. ...

• efv = dog;
• vm efv = my dog;
• cem efv = your dog;
• em efv = his / her dog;
• pum efv = our dog.

Again, even though the construction in English would be redundant, the proper way to form the possessive in Creek must include the correct preposition. For example, Toske em efv = Toske's dog. This is grammatically correct in Creek, unlike the literal English translation "Toske's his dog".

Locative Nouns

A final distinctive feature of Creek, tied to the above, is the existence of locational nouns. In English, we have prepositions to indicate location, for example, behind, around, beside, and so on. In Creek, these locations are actually nouns. These are possessed just like parts of the body and family members were above.

• cuko = house; yopv = noun for "behind"; cuko yopv = behind the house; cvyopv = behind me; ceyopv = behind you.
• lecv = under; eto = tree; eto lecv = under the tree.
• tempe = near; cvtempe = near me; cetempe = near you; putempe = near us.

Phonology

The phonology of Creek seems to be: [1], [2] The vowels of modern (Standard) Arabic and (Israeli) Hebrew from the phonological point of view. ...

/ʧ/ is spelled <c>, /ɬ/ is spelled <r>, and /j/ is spelled <y>. Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips (bilabial articulation) or with the lower lip and the upper teeth (labiodental articulation). ... Alveolars are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, the internal side of the upper gums (known as the alveoles of the upper teeth). ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... The vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are composed of twin infoldings of mucous membrane stretched horizontally across the human larynx. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... An affricate is a consonant that begins like a stop (most often an alveovelar, such as [t] or [d]) and that doesnt have a release of its own, but opens directly into a fricative (or, in one language, into a trill). ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... The term lateral can refer to: an anatomical definition of direction. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum&#8212;that fleshy part of the palate near the back&#8212;is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... The term lateral can refer to: an anatomical definition of direction. ... Semivowels (also called semiconsonants or glides) are vowels that function phonemically as consonants. ...

Creek has three diphthongs: /ej ow aw/. Nasal vowels are indicated using an ogonek underneath: <ę>, <ų>, <į>, etc. There are three tones: high (marked with an acute: á), low (unmarked: a), and falling (marked with a circumflex: â). Short vowels /i o a/ are subject to centralization, to around [ɪ ɔ ə]. The orthographical conventions discussed here are those used primarily by linguists, and not necessarily the traditional orthographies. Vowels Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. ... A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. ... A close-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... An open vowel is a vowel sound of a type used in most spoken languages. ... In phonetics, a diphthong (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds, or with two tones) is a vowel combination in a single syllable involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ... Ogonek (Polish for little tail; In Lithuanian it is nosinÄ— which literally means nasal) is a diacritic hook placed under the lower right corner of a vowel in the Latin alphabet used in Polish (letters Ä…, Ä™), Lithuanian (Ä…, Ä™, į, ų), Navajo and Western Apache (Ä…, Ä…Ä…, Ä™, ęę, į, įį, , ), Chiricahua and Mescalero (Ä…, Ä…Ä…, Ä™, ęę, į, įį, ų, ųų) and Tutchone. ... The orthography of a language is the set of symbols (glyphs and diacritics) used to write a language, as well as the set of rules describing how to write these glyphs correctly, including spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. ...

See also

• Creek people
• Creek mythology

The Creek are an American Indian people originally from the southeastern United States, also known by their original name Muscogee (or Muskogee), the name they use to identify themselves today. ... The Creek are a tribe of Native Americans from the southeastern United States. ...

References

• Loughridge, R.M., David M. Hodge (1964). Dictionary Muskogee and English. Okmulgee, OK: Baptist Home Mission Board.

• Martin, Jack B., Margaret McKane Maudlin (2000). A Dictionary of Creek/Muskogee. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-8302-4.

• Innes, Pamela, Linda Alexander, Bertha Tilkens (2004). Beginning Creek: Mvskoke Emponvkv. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3583-2.

University of Nebraska Press at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska, is a major publisher of original and reprint editions of significant works about the West. ...

External links

Creek language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• The Creek Language Archive. This site includes a draft of a Creek textbook, which may be downloaded in .pdf format (Pum Opunvkv, Pun Yvhiketv, Pun Fulletv: Our Language, Our Songs, Our Ways by Margaret Mauldin, Jack Martin, and Gloria McCarty).
• Comprehensive Creek Language materials online.
• The official website for the Muskogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma
• Ethnologue report for Creek
• Acoustic vowel reduction in Creek: Effects of distinctive length and position in the word (pdf)