View source for Algonquian languages

{{short description|Subfamily of the Algic languages of North America}}
{{Infobox language family
 | name            = Algonquian
 | altname         = Algonkian
 | region          = [[North America]]
 | ethnicity       = [[Algonquian peoples]]
 | familycolor     = Algic
 | fam1            = [[Algic languages|Algic]]
 | glotto          = algo1256
 | glottoname      = Algonquian-Blackfoot
 | glottorefname   =
 | glotto2         = algo1257
 | glottoname2     =
 | glottorefname2  = Algonquian
 | protoname       = [[Proto-Algonquian language|Proto-Algonquian]]
 | child1          = [[Arapahoan languages|Arapahoan]]
 | child2          = [[Blackfoot language|Blackfoot]]
 | child3          = [[Cheyenne language|Cheyenne]]
 | child4          = [[Cree language|Cree]]–[[Innu-aimun|Montagnais]]–[[Naskapi language|Naskapi]]
 | child5          = [[Eastern Algonquian languages|Eastern Algonquian]]
 | child6          = [[Menominee language|Menominee]]
 | child7          = [[Fox language|Meskwaki-Sauk-Kickapoo]]
 | child8          = [[Miami–Illinois language|Miami–Illinois]]
 | child9          = [[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]]–[[Potawatomi language|Potawatomi]]
 | child10         = [[Shawnee language|Shawnee]]
 | map             = Algonquian map.svg
 | mapcaption      = Pre-contact distribution of Algonquian languages
 | iso2            = alg
 | iso5            = alg
 | ancestor        =
 | notes           =
}}
The '''Algonquian languages''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|l|ˈ|ɡ|ɒ|ŋ|k|(|w|)|i|ə|n}} {{respell|al|GONG|k(w)ee|ən}};{{sfn|Dictionary.com: Algonquian}} also '''Algonkian''') are a branch of the [[Algic languages|Algic language family]]. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar [[Algonquin language|Algonquin]] dialect of the Indigenous [[Ojibwe language]] (Chippewa), which is a senior member of the Algonquian language family. The term ''Algonquin'' has been suggested to derive from the [[Wolastoqey]] word {{lang|pqm|elakómkwik}} ({{IPA|alg|ɛlæˈɡomoɡwik|pron}}), meaning 'they are our relatives/allies'.{{sfn|Campbell|1997|pp=401, notes 133, 136}}{{sfn|Bright|2004|p=32}}

[[Algonquian peoples|Speakers of Algonquian languages]] stretch from the east coast of [[North America]] to the [[Rocky Mountains]]. The [[proto-language]] from which all of the languages of the family descend, [[Proto-Algonquian language|Proto-Algonquian]], was spoken around 2,500 to 3,000&nbsp;years ago.{{sfn|Goddard|1978|p=587}} There is no scholarly consensus about where this language was spoken.

==Family division==
{{Main|Plains Algonquian languages|Central Algonquian languages|Eastern Algonquian languages}}
This subfamily of around 30 languages is divided into three groups according to geography: [[Plains Algonquian languages|Plains]], [[Central Algonquian languages|Central]], and [[Eastern Algonquian languages|Eastern Algonquian]]. Of the three, only Eastern Algonquian constitutes a true [[genetic (linguistics)|genetic]] subgroup.{{sfn|Mithun|1999|pp=328, 333–335}}

The languages are listed following the classifications of Goddard (1996) and Mithun (1999). [[Language death|Extinct]] languages are marked with †, and endangered languages are noted as such. For dialects and subdialects, consult the separate main articles for each of the three divisions.

{{tree list}}
* '''Algonquian'''
** ''[[Plains Algonquian languages|Plains]]''
*** 1. '''[[Blackfoot language|Blackfoot]]'''
*** ''[[Arapahoan languages|Arapahoan]]'' (including [[Besawunena language|Besawunena]] {{extinct}})
**** 2. '''[[Arapaho language|Arapaho proper]]'''
**** 3. {{extinct}} '''[[Gros Ventre language|Gros Ventre]]'''
**** 4. {{extinct}} '''[[Nawathinehena language|Nawathinehena]]'''
*** 5. '''[[Cheyenne language|Cheyenne]]'''
** ''[[Central Algonquian languages|Central]]''
*** 6. '''[[Cree language|Cree–Innu–Naskapi]]'''
*** 7. '''[[Menominee language|Menominee]]''' {{small|(severely endangered)}}
*** ''Ojibwe–Potawatomi''
**** 8. '''[[Ojibwe language|Ojibwe]]'''
**** 9. '''[[Potawatomi language|Potawatomi]]''' {{small|(nearly extinct)}}
**** 10. '''[[Sauk language|Sauk]]–[[Fox language|Fox]]–[[Kickapoo language|Kickapoo]]''' {{small|(severely endangered)}}
**** 11. '''[[Shawnee language|Shawnee]]''' {{small|(severely endangered)}}
**** 12. {{extinct}} '''[[Miami-Illinois language|Miami–Illinois–Peoria]]'''
** ''[[Eastern Algonquian languages|Eastern]]''
*** 13. '''[[Miꞌkmaq language|Miꞌkmaq]]'''
*** ''[[Abenaki language|Abenaki]]''
**** 14. '''[[Western Abenaki language|Western Abenaki]]''' {{small|(nearly extinct)}}
**** 15. {{extinct}} '''[[Eastern Abenaki language|Eastern Abenaki]]'''
*** 16. '''[[Maliseet-Passamaquoddy language|Maliseet-Passamaquoddy]]'''
*** 17. ({{extinct}}) '''[[Massachusett language|Massachusett]]'''
*** 18. {{extinct}} '''[[Narragansett language|Narragansett]]'''
*** 19. {{extinct}} '''[[Mohegan-Pequot language|Mohegan–Pequot]]'''
*** 20. {{extinct}} '''[[Quiripi language|Quiripi-Naugatuck-Unquachog]]'''
*** 21. {{extinct}} '''[[Mahican language|Mohican]]'''
*** ''[[Delaware languages|Lenape]]''
**** 22. '''[[Munsee language|Munsee]]''' {{small|(nearly extinct)}}
**** 23. {{extinct}} '''[[Unami language|Unami]]'''
*** 24. {{extinct}} '''[[Nanticoke language|Nanticoke]]'''
*** 25. {{extinct}} '''[[Piscataway language|Piscataway]]''' {{small|(uncertain)}}
*** 26. {{extinct}} '''[[Carolina Algonquian language|Carolina Algonquian]]'''
*** 27. {{extinct}} '''[[Powhatan language|Powhatan]]'''
*** 28. {{extinct}} '''[[Etchemin language|Etchemin]]''' {{small|(uncertain – See [[Eastern Algonquian languages]])}}
*** 29. {{extinct}} '''[[Loup languages|Loup]]''' {{small|(probably about 5 different languages, uncertain)}}
{{tree list/end}}

===Subgroups===
''Eastern Algonquian'' is a true genetic subgrouping. The ''Plains Algonquian'' and the ''Central Algonquian'' groups are not genetic groupings but rather [[areal feature|areal]] groupings. Although these areal groups often do share linguistic features, these commonalities are usually attributed to [[language contact]].{{sfn|Goddard|1994|p=187}} Paul Proulx has argued that this traditional view is incorrect,{{sfn|Proulx|2003}} and that ''Central Algonquian'' (in which he includes the Plains Algonquian languages) is a genetic subgroup, with Eastern Algonquian consisting of several different subgroups. However, this classification scheme has failed to gain acceptance from other specialists in the Algonquian languages.{{sfn|Goddard|1994|p=199}}

Instead, the commonly accepted subgrouping scheme is that proposed by [[Ives Goddard]] (1994). The essence of this proposal is that [[Proto-Algonquian language|Proto-Algonquian]] originated with people to the west who then moved east, although Goddard did not attempt to identify a specific western [[Linguistic homeland|urheimat]] for Proto-Algonquian in his 1994 paper. By this scenario, Blackfoot was the first language to branch off, which coincides well with its being the most divergent language of Algonquian. In west-to-east order, the subsequent branchings were:
* Arapaho-Gros Ventre, Cree-Montagnais, Menominee, and Cheyenne;
* Then the core Great Lakes languages: (Ojibwe–Potawatomi, Shawnee, Sauk–Fox–Kickapoo, and Miami–Illinois); and
* Finally, Proto-Eastern Algonquian.

This historical reconstruction accords best with the observed levels of divergence within the family, whereby the most divergent languages are found furthest west (since they constitute the earliest branches during eastern migration), and the shallowest subgroupings are found furthest to the east (Eastern Algonquian, and arguably Core Central). This general west-to-east order is compatible with the proposal from J.P. Denny (1991) that Proto-Algonquian people may have moved east from the [[Columbia Plateau|Plateau]] region of [[Idaho]] and [[Oregon]] or the [[Continental Divide of the Americas|Rocky Mountain-Great Plains]] boundary of [[Montana]], dropping off subgroups as people migrated.{{sfn|Denny|1991|p=103}} Goddard also points out that there is clear evidence for pre-historical contact between Eastern Algonquian and Cree-Montagnais, as well as between Cheyenne and Arapaho–Gros Ventre. There has long been especially extensive back-and-forth influence between Cree and Ojibwe.{{sfn|Goddard|1994}}

It has been suggested that the "Eastern Great Lakes" languages – what Goddard has called "Core Central", e.g., Ojibwe–Potawatomi, Shawnee, Sauk–Fox–Kickapoo, and Miami-Illinois (but not Cree–Montagnais or Menominee) – may also constitute their own genetic grouping within Algonquian. They share certain intriguing lexical and phonological innovations. However, this theory has not yet been fully fleshed out and is still considered conjectural.

Algonquian is sometimes said to have included the extinct [[Beothuk language]] of [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]], whose speakers were both in geographic proximity to Algonquian speakers and who share DNA in common with the Algonquian-speaking [[Miꞌkmaq people|Miꞌkmaq]].{{sfn|Goddard|1979|pp=106–7}}{{sfn|Kuch|2007}} However, linguistic evidence is scarce and poorly recorded, and it is unlikely that reliable evidence of a connection can be found.{{sfn|Mithun|1999|p=368}}

==Grammatical features==
The Algonquian language family is known for its complex [[Polysynthetic language|polysynthetic]] [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] and sophisticated [[verb]] system.{{sfn|Pentland|2006|p=163}} Statements that take many words to say in [[English language|English]] can be expressed with a single word. Ex: ([[Menominee language|Menominee]]) ''paehtāwāēwesew'' 'He is heard by higher powers' (''paeht''- 'hear', -''āwāē''- 'spirit', -''wese''- passivizer, -''w'' third-person subject) or ([[Plains Cree language|Plains Cree]]) ''kāstāhikoyahk'' "it frightens us".  These languages have been extensively studied by [[Leonard Bloomfield]], [[Ives Goddard]], and others.

Algonquian nouns have an [[Animacy|animate/inanimate]] contrast: some nouns are classed as ''animate'', while all other nouns are ''inanimate''.{{sfn|Pentland|2006|p=163}} There is ongoing debate over whether there is a semantic significance to the categorization of nouns as animate or inanimate, with scholars arguing for it as either a clearly [[Semantics|semantic]] issue, or a purely [[Syntax|syntactic]] issue, along with a variety of arguments in between. More structurally inclined linguistic scholars have argued that since there is no consistent semantic system for determining the [[animacy]] of a noun, that it must be a purely linguistic characterization. Anthropological linguists have conversely argued the strong connection between animacy and items viewed as having spiritual importance.

Another important distinction involves the contrast between nouns marked as ''proximate'' and those marked as ''[[obviative]]''. Proximate nouns are those deemed most central or important to the discourse, while obviative nouns are those less important to the discourse.{{sfn|Pentland|2006|p=164}}

There are personal pronouns which distinguish three persons, two numbers (singular and plural), [[Inclusive and exclusive we|inclusive and exclusive first person plural]], and proximate and obviative third persons. Verbs are divided into four classes: [[Transitive verb|transitive]] verbs with an animate object (abbreviated "TA"), transitive verbs with an inanimate object ("TI"), [[Intransitive verb|intransitive]] verbs with an animate subject ("AI"), and intransitive verbs with an inanimate subject ("II").{{sfn|Pentland|2006|p=164}}

A very notable feature of the Algonquian languages is their [[Direct–inverse alignment|direct–inverse]] (also known as ''hierarchical'') [[morphosyntactic alignment]], distinguishing between an unmarked voice where the subject outranks the object in a person hierarchy and a marked voice where the opposite relation obtains.<ref>See e.g. {{cite journal
|last=Klaiman
|first=M. H.
|year=1992
|title=Inverse languages
|volume=88
|issue=3–4
|pages=227–261
|url=http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/rvogel/ws0809/synmorph/klaiman93inverse.pdf
|journal=[[Lingua (journal)|Lingua]]
|doi=10.1016/0024-3841(92)90043-i
|access-date=2022-01-14
|archive-date=2022-01-14
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114002408/http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/rvogel/ws0809/synmorph/klaiman93inverse.pdf
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>

==Vocabulary==
{{hatnote|See the lists of words in the [[wikt:Category:Algonquian languages|Algonquian languages]] and the list of [[wikt:Category:Terms derived from Algonquian languages|words of Algonquian origin]] at [[Wiktionary]], the free dictionary and Wikipedia's sibling project.}}

===Loan words===
{{Main|List of English words from Indigenous languages of the Americas#Words from Algonquian languages|l1=List of English words of Algonquian origin}}
Because Algonquian languages were some of the first with which Europeans came into contact in North America, the language family has given many words to [[English language|English]]. Many eastern and midwestern [[U.S. states]] have names of Algonquian origin ([[Massachusetts]], [[Connecticut]], [[Illinois]], [[Michigan]], [[Wisconsin]], etc.), as do many cities: [[Milwaukee]], [[Chicago]], et al. [[Ottawa]], the capital of [[Canada]], is named after the Algonquian nation, the [[Odawa people]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ottawa {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ottawa-ont |access-date=2022-06-22 |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca}}</ref>

For a more detailed treatment of geographical names in three Algonquian languages, see the external link to the book by Trumbull.

==See also==
{{sister project |project=wiktionary |text=[[Wiktionary]] has a list of reconstructed forms at '''''[[wikt:Appendix:Proto-Algonquian reconstructions|Appendix:Proto-Algonquian reconstructions]]'''''}}
[[File:Femme algoquien.png|thumb|The word '[[woman]]' in the different Algonquian languages]]
* [[Algic languages]] (from [[Proto-Algic]])
* [[Algonquian Bible]]
* [[Algonquian peoples]]
* [[Algonquin language]] – a similarly named language which is a member of the Algonquian language family
* [[Central Algonquian languages]]
* [[Eastern Algonquian languages]]
* [[Plains Algonquian languages]]
* [[Indigenous languages of the Americas]]
* [[Leonard Bloomfield]]
* [[Ives Goddard]]
* [[H.C. Wolfart]]
* [[List of Algonquian personal names]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist|20em}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|35em}}
* {{cite encyclopedia| title = Algonquian | dictionary = [[Dictionary.com]] | url = https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Algonquian
 | access-date = 2008-07-07 | ref = {{harvid|Dictionary.com: Algonquian}}
}}
* {{Cite book| chapter = Algonquian | last = Bloomfield | first = Leonard | year = 1946 | title = Linguistic Structures of Native America | location = New York | volume = 6 | series = Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology
}}
* {{Cite book| title = Native American Place Names of the United States | last = Bright | first = William | year = 2004 | publisher = [[University of Oklahoma Press]] | location = Norman
}}
* {{Cite book| title = American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America | last = Campbell | first = Lyle | year = 1997 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | location = New York | isbn = 0-19-509427-1
}}
* {{Cite conference| title = The Algonquian Migration from Plateau to Midwest: Linguistics and Archaeology | last = Denny | first = J. Peter | year = 1991 | editor-last = Cowan | editor-first = William | publisher = [[Carleton University]] | location = Ottawa | book-title = Papers of the 22nd Algonquian Conference | conference = 22nd Algonquian Conference | pages = 103–24 | url = https://ojs.library.carleton.ca/index.php/ALGQP/article/view/1049/932
}}
* {{Cite book| chapter = Central Algonquian Languages | last = Goddard | first = Ives | year = 1978 | title = Northeast | editor-last = Trigger | editor-first = Bruce G. | publisher = Smithsonian Institution | place = Washington, DC | volume = 15 | series = ''Handbook of North American Indians'', ed. William C. Sturtevant | pages = 583–87 | isbn = 978-0-16-004575-2
}}
* {{Cite book| chapter = Comparative Algonquian | last = Goddard | first = Ives | year = 1979 | title = The Languages of Native North America: Historical and Comparative Assessment | editor1-last = Campbell | editor1-first = Lyle | editor2-last = Mithun | editor2-first = Marianne | publisher = University of Texas Press | location = Austin | pages = 70–132
}}
* {{Cite conference| title = The West-to-East Cline in Algonquian Dialectology | last = Goddard | first = Ives | year = 1994 | editor-last = Cowan | editor-first = William | publisher = [[Carleton University]] | location = Ottawa | book-title = Papers of the 25th Algonquian Conference | conference = 25th Algonquian Conference | pages = 187–211 | url = https://ojs.library.carleton.ca/index.php/ALGQP/article/view/616/516
}}
* {{Cite book| chapter = Introduction | last = Goddard | first = Ives | year = 1996 | title = Languages | editor-last = Goddard | editor-first = Ives | publisher = [[Smithsonian Institution]] | location = Washington, DC | volume = 17 | series = [[Handbook of North American Indians]], edited by [[William C. Sturtevant]] | isbn = 978-0-87474197-1
}}
* {{cite journal | title = A preliminary analysis of the DNA and diet of the extinct Beothuk: A systematic approach to ancient human DNA | last = Kuch | first = Melanie | journal = American Journal of Physical Anthropology | year = 2007 | volume = 132 | issue = 4 | pages = 594–604 | url = http://www.sjdimond.us/document/2007_Extinct%20Beothuk.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110725031405/http://www.sjdimond.us/document/2007_Extinct%20Beothuk.pdf | archive-date = 2011-07-25 | doi = 10.1002/ajpa.20536 | pmid = 17205549
}}
* {{Cite book| title = The languages of Native North America | last = Mithun | first = Marianne | year = 1999 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | isbn = 0-521-23228-7
}}
* {{Cite book| title = A Cultural History of the Native Peoples of Southern New England: Voices from Past and Present | last1 = Moondancer | last2 = Woman | first2 = Strong | year = 2007 | publisher = Bauu Press | location = Boulder, Colorado | isbn = 978-0-9721349-3-4
}}
* {{Cite book| title = Understanding Indian Place Names in Southern New England | last = O'Brien | first = Frank Waabu | year = 2010 | publisher = Bauu Press | location = Colorado | isbn = 978-0-9820467-6-0
}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia| title = Algonquian and Ritwan Languages | edition = 2nd | last = Pentland | first = David H. | year = 2006 | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Languages and Linguistics | editor-last = Brown | editor-first = Keith | publisher = Elsevier | pages = 161–6
}}
* {{Cite journal | title = The Evidence on Algonquian Genetic Grouping: A Matter of Relative Chronology | last = Proulx | first = Paul | journal = Anthropological Linguistics | year = 2003 | volume = 45 | pages = 201–25
}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Gutenberg|no=18279|name=Composition of Geographical Names from the Algonkin Languages, by J. Hammond Trumbull}}
* [https://www.native-languages.org/famalg.htm Algonquian language family] on Native-languages.org
* [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists_for_Algonquian_languages Comparative Algonquian Swadesh vocabulary lists] (from Wiktionary's [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists Swadesh-list appendix])
* [https://www.atlas-ling.ca/ Algonquian Linguistic Atlas]

{{Algic languages}}
{{North American languages}}
{{Anishinaabe}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Algonquian Languages}}
[[Category:Algonquian languages| ]]
[[Category:Algonquian peoples]]
[[Category:Aquinnah, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:First Nations languages in Canada]]
[[Category:Great Lakes tribal culture]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of North America]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of the North American eastern woodlands]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of the North American Plains]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of the North American Southeast]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of the North American Subarctic]]
[[Category:Languages of the United States]]