Abenaki language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Abenaki Wôbanakiôdwawôgan |
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Spoken in: | Canada | |
Region: | Odanak, Centre-du-Québec, Quebec | |
Total speakers: | 20 in 1991 | |
Language family: | Algic Algonquian Eastern Algonquian Abenaki |
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Language codes | ||
ISO 639-1: | none | |
ISO 639-2: | — | |
ISO 639-3: | either: aaq — Eastern Abenaki (extinct) abe — Western Abenaki |
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Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. |
Abenaki (also Abnaki) is the cover term for a complex of dialects of one of the Eastern Algonquian languages, originally spoken in what is now Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Modern Western Abenaki is currently spoken by a very small handful of Abenaki elders in Odanak, Quebec. Eastern Abenaki was until quite recently spoken by elders of the Penobscot tribe in eastern Maine, although it is now extinct[1]. Other dialects of Eastern Abenaki, such as Caniba and Aroosagunticook, now extinct, are documented in French-language materials from the colonial period.
Western and Eastern Abenaki share many similarities but are also different in striking ways, not only in vocabulary but also phonology.
[edit] References
- Day, Gordon M. 1994a. Western Abenaki Dictionary. Volume 1: Abenaki to English. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, Mercury Series, Canadian Ethnology Service Paper 128.
- Day, Gordon M. 1994b. Western Abenaki Dictionary. Volume 2: English to Abenaki. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, Mercury Series, Canadian Ethnology Service Paper 128.
- Laurent, Joseph. 1884. New Familiar Abenakis and English Dialogues. Quebec: Joseph Laurent. Reprinted 2006: Vancouver: Global Language Press, ISBN 0-9738924-7-1
- Penobscot-Abenaki Pronunciation and Spelling Guide. Native Languages of the Americas. Retrieved on 2007-03-12.