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| Massachusett Wampanoag, Natick, Pokanoket |
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| Spoken in: | United States | |
| Region: | Southeast Massachusetts | |
| Language extinction: | Late 19th century,[1] revival efforts underway | |
| Language family: | Algic Algonquian Eastern Algonquian Massachusett |
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| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | wam | |
| ISO 639-3: | wam | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
The Massachusett language was a Native American language, a member of the Algonquian language family. It is also known as the Wampanoag, Natick, or Pokanoket language.
Massachusett was spoken by the Massachusett and the Wampanoag nations of Native Americans, who lived in the area now occupied by Boston, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. As such, Massachusett was one of the first Native American languages encountered and learned by English settlers.
The first Bible translation published in North America was a translation of the entire Bible into Massachusett, which was published by John Eliot in 1663, who followed with a primer in 1669, and a second edition of the Bible in 1685. Eliot's missionary work made the Wampanoags literate, and wills, deeds, and other documents survive that were written in Massachusett using the orthography he introduced. This tradition of literacy has given Massachusett a much richer documentation than many other extinct Native American languages, and members of the Wampanoag nation are attempting to revive the study of the language.
The Lord's Prayer in Massachusett goes:
- Nooshun kesukqut, wunneetupantamuch koowesuounk. Peyamooutch kukkeitasootamounk. Toh anantaman ne n-naj okheit, neane kesukqut. Asekesukokish petukqunnegash assaminnean yeu kesukok. Ahquontamaiinnean nummatcheseongatch, neane matchenehikqueagig nutahquontamanóunonog. Ahque sagkompaguninnean en qutchhuaonganit, webe pohquohwussinnan wutch matchitut. Newutche keitassootamoonk, kutahtauun, menuhkesuonk, sohsumoonk micheme kah micheme. Amen.
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Phonology
As reconstructed by Algonquianists, Massachusett apparently had 11 consonants, two short vowels, and four long vowels. The consonants consisted of the stops /p/, /t/, /c/, /ʧ/, and /k/; fricatives /s/ and /ʃ/; nasals /m/ and /n/; and semivowels /w/ and /j/. The short vowels were /a/ and /ə/, and the long vowels were /iː/, /uː/, /aː/, and /ãː/.[2]
References
Bibliography
- Ethnologue entry on Wampanoag
- Jessie Little Doe Fermino. 2000. "An Introduction to Wampanoag Grammar," Massachusetts Institute of Technology MS thesis.
- Goddard, Ives (1978). "Eastern Algonquian Languages" in Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 15 (Bruce G. Trigger, ed.). Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution.
- Goddard, Ives and Kathleen J. Bragdon (eds.) (1989) Native Writings in Massachusett. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0-87169-185-X
- Moondancer and Strong Woman (2007) A Cultural History of the Native Peoples of Southern New England: Voices from Past and Present. Boulder, CO: Bauu Press. ISBN 0-97213-493-X
- Walker, Willard B. (1997). "Native Writing Systems" in Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 17 (Ives Goddard, ed.). Washington, D.C.: The Smithsonian Institution.
External links
- Wampanoag Language and the Wampanoag Indian Tribe
- Fermino, Jessie Little Doe (2000): An introduction to Wampanoag grammar
