| Algic | |
|---|---|
| Algonquian–Ritwan | |
| Geographic distribution: |
northern North America |
| Linguistic classification: | Algic |
| Subdivisions: | |
| ISO 639-5: | aql |
Pre-contact distribution of Algic languages (in red). Note distribution in northwestern California.
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The Algic (also Algonquian–Wiyot–Yurok or Algonquian–Ritwan) languages are an indigenous language family of North America. Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian family, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to Atlantic Canada. The other Algic languages are the Yurok and Wiyot of northwestern California, which despite their geographic proximity are not closely related. All these languages are thought to descend from Proto-Algic, a second-order protolanguage reconstructed using reconstructed Proto-Algonquian and the attested languages Wiyot and Yurok.
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The term "Algic" was first coined by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft in his Algic Researches, published in 1839. Schoolcraft defined the term as "derived from the words Alleghany and Atlantic, in reference to the race of Indians anciently located in this geographical area."[1] Schoolcraft's terminology was not retained. The peoples he called "Algic" were later included among the speakers of Algonquian languages.
When Edward Sapir proposed that the well-established Algonquian family was genetically related to the Wiyot and Yurok languages of northern California, he applied the term Algic to this larger family. The original Algic homeland is thought to have been located in the American Northwest somewhere between the suspected homeland of the Algonquian branch (to the west of Lake Superior according to Goddard[2]) and the earliest known location of the Wiyot and Yurok (along the middle Columbia River according to Whistler[3]).
All Algic languages still spoken are endangered. Yurok is thought to have ten or fewer speakers. Extinct Algic languages include Wiyot, Miami-Illinois, Etchemin, Loup A, Loup B, Mahican, Massachusett, Mohegan-Pequot, Nanticoke, Narragansett, Pamlico, the Penobscot dialect of Abnaki, Powhatan, Quiripi-Naugatuck, Unami, Unquachog, and Shinnecock. The last known Wiyot speaker died in 1962.
Within the Algonquian subfamily, there is a smaller genetic grouping of the Eastern Algonquian languages. The other (non-Eastern) Algonquian languages have sometimes been categorized into two smaller subgroups: Central Algonquian and Plains Algonquian. However, these two subgroups are not based on genetic relationship but are rather geographic or areal subgroups. (See Algonquian languages.)
The genetic relation of Wiyot and Yurok to Algonquian was first proposed by Edward Sapir (1913, 1915, 1923), and argued against by Algonquianist Truman S. Michelson (1914, 1914, 1935). The relationship "has subsequently been demonstrated to the satisfaction of all".[4] This controversy in the early classification of North American languages was called the "Ritwan controversy" because Wiyot and Yurok were assigned to a genetic grouping called "Ritwan". Most specialists now reject the validity of the Ritwan genetic node.[5] Berman (1982) suggested that Wiyot and Yurok share sound changes not shared by the rest of Algic (which would be explainable by either areal diffusion or genetic relatedness); Berman's conclusion of common sound changes was refuted by Proulx (2004).
AA = American Anthropologist; IJAL = International Journal of American Linguistics