Abenaki language

Abenaki (Eastern: Alənαpαtəwéwαkan, Western: Alnôbaôdwawôgan), also known as Wôbanakiak,^[3] is an endangered Eastern Algonquian language of Quebec and the northern states of New England. The language has Eastern and Western forms which differ in vocabulary and phonology and are sometimes considered distinct languages.

Due to French and English contact with Western Abenaki people in the 1640s and earlier, many loan words were quickly incorporated into Western Abenaki and have stayed for nearly four centuries. During the latter half of the 19th century, word borrowing increased due to many Western Abenaki people being in close contact with summer resorts in Vermont and New Hampshire, as well as continued contact with French-Canadians. Notably, plural English nouns were borrowed into Western Abenaki as a singular form that were then made plural by adding Abenaki plural endings. For example, the word oxen was borrowed as asken 'an ox' that was pluralized into aksenak. Similarly, the word potatoes was borrowed as badades 'potato' that was pluralized into badadesak.^[4]

Amaseconti, Androscoggin, Kennebec, Maliseet, Ouarastegouiak, Passamaquoddy, Patsuiket, Penobscot, Pigwacket, Rocameca, Sokoni, and Wewenoc.

Seven mission orientated communities along the St. Lawrence River in 1750: Caughnawaga (Mohawk), Lake of the Two Mountains (Iroquois and Nipissing), St. Francois (Sokoki, Pennacook, and New England Algonquin, Becancour (Eastern Abenaki), Oswegatchie (Onondaga and Oneida), Lorette (Huron), and St. Regis (Mohawk).

Amaseconti (between upper Kennebec River and Androscoggin River, western Maine) Androscoggin (Amariscoggin, Ameriscoggin, Anasaguniticook, Arosaguntacook, Asschincantecook). Important note - Main village, on the river of the same name was called Arosaguntacook Town. Arosaguntacook is sometimes applied in error to the St. Francois Indians. Kennebec (Caniba, Sagadahoc, Kanibesinnoak, Norridgewock, Nurhantsuak) lived along the Kennebec River in northern Maine.

Penobscot (Pentagoet, Panaomeska). Meaning "rocky place", or "ledge place". Penobscot Tribe subdivisions and villages included: Moosehead Lake area tribes were known as "Moosehead Lake Indians". Villages: Agguncia, Asnela, Catawamtek, Kenduskeag, Mattawamkeag, Meecombe, Negas, Olamon, Oldtown, Passadumkeag, Pentagouet, Precaute, Segocket, and Wabigganus. Pigwacket (Pegouakki, Peguaki, Pequawket). Main village called Pequawket Town was located on the upper Saco River. Rocameca Upper Androscoggin River. Wewenoc (Ouanwinak, Sheepscot, Wawenock, Wawnock) Coastal areas of southern Maine. Wolinak (Becancour) Trois-Rivieres, Quebec.

Amaseconti (Amesokanti, Anmissoukanti), Norridgewock (Naridgewalk, Neridgewok, Noronjawoke), Kennebec, and Sagadahoc.

Ossipee: located on a lake of the same name in east-central New Hampshire. Other names associated with the eastern Abenaki are Arsikantegou, Kwupahag (Kwapahag).

Closer in language and culture to the Micmac, the Maliseet and Passamaquoddy have been listed as Abenaki for historical reasons. The French usually referred to both tribes as the Etchemin. Maliseet (Aroostook, Malecite, Malicite, St. John's Indians). From the Mi'kmaq word malisit meaning 'broken talker'. Their own name Wulastegniak means 'good river people'. They were located along the St. John River in northeastern Maine and western New Brunswick. Devon, Kingsclear, Madawaska, Mary's, Medoctec (Medoktek, Meductic), Okpaak, Oromocto, St. Anne, St. Basile, The Brothers (Micmac), Tobique, Viger, and Woodstock.

Passamaquoddy (Machias Tribe, Opanango, Pesmokant, Quoddy, Scotuks, Scootuck, St. Croix Indians, Unchechauge, Unquechauge). The name means 'pollock spearing place' with their villages were located on Passamaquoddy Bay, the St. Croix River, and Schoodic Lake. Villages: Gunasquamekook, Imnarkuan, Machias, Sebaik, and Sipayik. There were other towns at Lewis Island and Calais in Maine with a few locations on the Canadian side of the St. Croix River.

Originally composed of Abenaki tribes in Vermont and New Hampshire west of the White Mountains, Sokoki means 'people who separated'. Various forms of Sokoki are: Assokwekik, Ondeake, Onejagese, Sakukia, Sokokiois, Sokoquios, Sokoquis, Sokokquis, Sokoni, Sokwaki, Soquachjck, and Zooquagese. Some accounts include groups of the western Pennacook as Sokoki: Amoskeag, Naamkeek, Nashaway, Souheyan, and Winnipesaukee.

Sokoki is often confused with the Saco, a name given to eastern Abenaki who lived near the Saco River (a combination of Pigwacket, Kennebec, and Androscoggin). Cowasuck (Cahass, Cohassiac, Coos, Coosuc, Koes). Hoosac was a mixed settlement with the Mahican. Missisquoi (Mazipskoik, Misiskuoi, Missiassik, Missique, Missisco) means 'place of flint'. It was located on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain. Schaghticoke. Mixed Mahican and New England Algonquin on the Hudson River north of Albany, New York. Squakheag (Squaeg, Squawkeag). Mixed population and probably at various times was occupied by any of these tribes.

Aquadocta, Cobbosseecontee, Ebenecook, Ketangheanycke, Mascoma, Masherosqueck, Mecadacut, Moshoquen, Muscongus, Negusset, Ossaghrage, Ouwerage, Pasharanack, Pauhuntanuc, Pemaquid, Pocopassum, Sabino, Sagadahoc, Satquin, Segotago, Sowocatuck, Taconnet, Unyjaware, and Wacoogo. ...end of section needing more work-->

A new generation is actively preserving and revitalizing the language.^[5] The late Joseph Elie Joubert from the Odanak reservation and fluent speaker, Jesse Bruchac, lead partial immersion classes in the language across the Northeastern United States. They have created several Abenaki books, audio, video, and web-based media to help others learn the language.^[6] In July 2013, the Penobscot Nation, the University of Maine and the American Philosophical Society received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to expand and publish the first Penobscot Dictionary.^[7]

Middlebury College in Vermont, in collaboration with Bruchac, opened its School of Abenaki in 2020, which offers a two-week immersion program in the summer.^[8][9]

As with most Indigenous languages, due to residential schooling and colonialism, and with the fading of generations, the number of speakers has declined. Abenaki had as few as twelve native speakers in 2015, but with recent focus and extra efforts in the Abenaki community, this number seems to be growing. Today, there are some passionate Abenaki, like Jeanne Brink,^[10] and non-Abenaki people who are trying to revitalize Abenaki culture, including their language and basket-making traditions. Currently, there are about 12,000 people of varying Abenaki heritage in the Canadian and New England regions. In Maine, there are about 3,000 Penobscot Native Americans, and this group is a large driving force of the language resurrection.^[11]

In addition to Brink and others, Jesse Bruchac is a loud voice in the Abenaki culture. Along with writing and publishing various Abenaki books, he created a movie and sound piece telling the Native American side of Thanksgiving, spoken in Abenaki. In this film, Saints & Strangers, the three actors not only memorized their lines in Abenaki but also learned the syntax behind the language.^[12] This revitalization of the famous Thanksgiving story from a new tongue and perspective offered a more original and full version of what Thanksgiving might have really been like so many years ago.

In his novel, L8dwaw8gan Wji Abaznodakaw8gan: The Language of Basket Making, Bruchac notes that Abenaki is a polysynthetic language. Abenaki consists of both dependent and independent grammar which addresses the gender of the speaker. Abenaki has nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives. The structure of the sentence or phrase varies depending on whether the noun is animate or inanimate.^[13]

Although written primarily in English, Aln8bak News helped to preserve the Abenaki language through the inclusion of Abenaki words and their translations. Aln8bak News was a quarterly newsletter that discussed cultural, historical, and contemporary information regarding the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook Abenaki. It was started in 1993 by Paul Pouilot, Sagamo of the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook Abenaki.^[14] The word Aln8bak/Alnôbak (pronounced: /'al.nɔ̃.bak/) is often used as a synonym to Abenaki. Initially the newsletter was called Aln8ba8dwa National News (Aln8ba8dwa or Alnôbaôdwa means 'Speaking Abenaki').^[15] Issues of the quarterly newsletter from 2003 to 2010 were published by the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook Abenaki on their website.^[16] According to a statement made by the Band, after 2010, they stopped publishing the newsletter on their website due to a lack of financial support from online readers.^[17] Aln8bak News included community-related information such as updates on governance issues, notices of social events, and obituaries. The newsletter also included Band history, genealogy, language lessons, recipes, plant and animal studies, books reviews, and writings by Band members.^[14]

The English word skunk, attested in New England in the 1630s, is probably borrowed from the Abenaki segôkw.^[18] About 500 Penobscot words are still being used in the community in everyday language such as Muhmum for 'grandpa' and nolke for 'deer'.^[7]

The 2015 National Geographic Channel miniseries Saints & Strangers told the story of the founding of Plymouth Plantation and the celebration of the "First Thanksgiving". It contained a considerable amount of dialogue in Western Abenaki. Several actors, including Tatanka Means (Hobbamock), and Raoul Trujillo (Massasoit) spoke the language exclusively throughout the series, and Kalani Qweypo (Squanto) spoke both Abenaki and English. Western Abenaki language teacher Jesse Bruchac of Ndakinna Education Center was hired as a language consultant on the film.^[19]

Eastern Abenaki dialects include Penobscot, Norridgewock, Caniba, Androscoggin, and Pequawket.

Western Abenaki dialects are Arsigantegok, Missisquoi, Sokoki, Pennacook, and Odanak.

Both the Eastern and Western dialects of Abenaki have 18 consonant sounds in total.^[20][21]

• Abenaki people

• Bach, Emmon (2014). "Wôbanakiôdwawôgan: Sketch of Western Abenaki Grammar". Linguistics Department Faculty Publication Series. Amherst: University of Massachusetts. — this paper has been withdrawn
• Beach, Jesse (2004). The Morphology of Modern Western Abenaki (Thesis). Dartmouth College.
• Day, Gordon M. (1994a). Western Abenaki Dictionary. Vol. 1: Abenaki to English. Hull, QC: Canadian Museum of Civilization. ISBN 978-0-660-14024-7.
• Day, Gordon M. (1994b). Western Abenaki Dictionary. Vol. 2: English to Abenaki. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization. ISBN 978-0-660-14030-8.
• Harvey, Chris. "Abenaki". Language Geek. Retrieved March 12, 2007.
• Heald, B. (2014). A History of the New Hampshire Abenaki. Charleston, SC: The History Press.
• Laurent, Joseph (2006) [1884, Quebec, Joseph Laurent]. New Familiar Abenakis. Vancouver: Global Language Press. ISBN 0-9738924-7-1.
• LeSourd, Philip S. (June 2011). "Enclitic Particles in Western Abenaki: The Syntax of Second Position". Anthropological Linguistics. 53 (2): 91–131. doi:10.1353/anl.2011.0009.
• LeSourd, Philip S. (July 2015). "Enclitic Particles in Western Abenaki: Form and Function". International Journal of American Linguistics. 81 (3): 301–335. doi:10.1086/681577. S2CID 141980112.
• Masta, Henry Lorne (2008) [1932; Victoriaville, QC; La Voix des Bois-Franes]. Abenaki Legends, Grammar and Place Names. Toronto: Global Language Press. ISBN 978-1-897367-18-6.
• Voorhis, Paul (October 1979). Grammatical Notes on the Penobscot Language from Frank Speck's Penobscot Transformer Tales. University of Manitoba Anthropology Papers. Vol. 24. hdl:1993/18305.
• Warne, Janet (1975). A historical phonology of Abenaki (MA thesis). McGill University.

• Media related to Abenaki language at Wikimedia Commons
• Western Abenaki Online Dictionary and Radio
• "Native American Audio Collections: Abenaki". American Philosophical Society. Archived from the original on August 14, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
• "Native American Audio Collections: Penobscot". American Philosophical Society. Archived from the original on March 2, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
• Abenaki orthography and phonology
• Abenaki-Penobscot at Native-languages.org
• Penobscot at Native-languages.org
• Western Abenaki grammar sketch
• Western Abenaki morphology
• Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs