Massachusett phonology
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The phonology of the Massachusett language was re-introduced to the Mashpee, Aquinnah, Herring Pond and Assonet tribes that participate in the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project, co-founded by Jessie Little Doe Baird in 1993. The phonology is based regular sound changes that took place in the development of Proto-Eastern Algonquian from Proto-Algonquian, as well as cues in the colonial orthography regarding pronunciation, as the writing system was based on English pronunciation and spelling conventions in use at the time, keeping in mind differences in late seventeenth century English versus today. Other resources included information from extant Algonquian languages with native speakers.[1]
The Massachusett language is an eastern branch Algonquian language within the Algic language family. It was historically spoken by the Massachusett people of Greater Boston, the Pawtucket of southernmost Maine, coastal New Hampshire and the lower Merrimack River watershed, the Wampanoag of southeastern Massachusetts but specifically Cape Cod and the Islands and portions of Rhode Island, the Nauset (possibly a Wampanoag sub-group) of the outer Cape and the Coweset of north-western Rhode Island, and likely spread as a common second language to many Nipmuc and Pennacook speaking groups. In a simplified Pidgin form, it was a common medium of intertribal communication across most of New England and Long Island.[2]
The historical phonology of the language is hampered by the dormancy of the language with the death of the last speakers at the end of the nineteenth century as well as dialect leveling. Since the Bible and most of the missionary translations were based on the dialect of the Massachusett people, specifically its Natick variety, that form gained prestige. The use of Natick as a training center for Indian missionaries and teachers, who were literate and often drawn from Natick's local families, helped spread the prestige of the particular variety, so that most dialectal differences were quickly lost.[3] Dialects certainly existed given the diversity of peoples that used it and its broad distribution.[2]
Vocalic allophones
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iː | uː | |
| Mid | ə | ||
| Open | aː, aːj | ã |
Massachusett vowels can be subdivided into two categories, the short vowels /a/ and /ə/ and the long vowels /aː/, /ã/, /iː/, and /uː/—although /ã/ is sometimes considered in its own category of nasal vowel.[4] The sequence /aːj/ is prevalent in inanimate intransitive verbs that translate as 'it is X', and in the colonial orthography it had unitary spellings like ⟨i⟩, e.g. PA *wapyawi > PEA *wa·pe·yɘw > PSNEA *wąpa·yɘw > Massachusett wompi (wôpay) /wãpaːj/, ('it is white.')[5]
The exact values and ranges for allophonic variation of the vowels is unknown, given the death of the last native speakers a century and a quarter in the past, but given that the colonial orthography was based on English values as spoken in the seventeenth century, some clues are provided. The short vowel /a/ before /h/ was often replaced by ⟨u⟩ in colonial documents. Given that open front unrounded /a/ before /h/ was often syncopated, it is likely this allophone approached [ə].[6] Dialectal variation aside, it is likely that /a/ may have also backed to [ɑ] in some environments.[7]
The long vowel /iː/ was often written with ⟨i⟩ in colonial documents before /sk/ or /ʃk/, indicating it may have shortened to [i] in these environments. A similar process also occurs in Abenakian languages. In the development of Massachusett from Proto-Eastern Algonquian, historical *ī weakened to [ə], which triggers k-palatization and vowel affection in certain environments, processes described further down in the article.[6]
The long vowel /aː/ is written in a myriad of ways, which may just be the difficulty in rendering the vowel according to English spelling rules as used in the colonial orthography. It is likely that most instances were generally [aː], but it most likely backed [ɑː] or [ɔː].[6]
The long, nasal vowel /ã/ (possibly better represented by /ãː/ to indicate length in addition to nasality) may also frequently approach the mid-open nasal [ɔ̃ː]. Before /h/, colonial writers used ⟨u⟩, possibly indicating an allophone [ə̃ː] before /h/. The colonial orthography assigns vowels with a circumflex to write them, but this was not done consistently. A silent ⟨m⟩ (before /p/) and ⟨n⟩ (elsewhere) was often used to indicate nasality, but writers often confused usage of the circumflex, to mark nasality, and the acute accent, to mark stress and length.[8]
The long vowel /uː/, represented in the colonial orthography by ⟨ꝏ⟩ or ⟨oo⟩ and ⟨8⟩ in the modern one, was often written with ⟨o⟩ in the earliest colonial writings, suggesting a change from a mid-back vowel or close-mid vowel [oː] to a close-back [uː], which can be reconstructed from development.[6] For example, 'snake' is askꝏk (ask8k) /askuːk/ and descends from Proto-Algonquian *aθko·ka and Proto-Eastern Algonquian *axko·k.[9] Eliot created a letter ⟨ꝏ⟩ represented in the modern Wampanoag script as ⟨8⟩ to distinguish the long 'oo' from the short 'oo,' but noted that the vowel he was trying to represent was between the two.[6] Just as /oː/, represented in Algonquian linguistics as ⟨*o·⟩, shifted to /uː/, a similar process occurred in English just a few generations before Eliot's time during the Great Vowel Shift, and both book and mood would have rhymed with the current pronunciations of poke and mode; even in the Early Modern English of Eliot's time, mood and book shared the same vowel.[10]
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal/ Postalveolar |
Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Plosive | p | t | tʲ | k | |
| Affricate | tʃ | ||||
| Fricative | s | ʃ | h | ||
| Approximant | w | j |
Massachusett has thirteen consonant phonemes, not including possible allophones. They are divided into the affricate /tʃ/; plosive /p/, /t/, /k/, /kʷ/ and the voiceless alveolo-palatal stop /tʲ/; the voiceless affricates /s/, /ʃ/ and /h/ and the voiced continuants, which comprises the voiced nasal /m/ and /n/ and the voiced approximants /w/ and /j/. The stop consonants were particularly difficult for early English missionaries to record with the Latin alphabet because Massachusett did not make phonemic distinctions of voicing with these consonants, and these consonants likely had voiced allophones of [b, d, ɡ, ɡʷ, dʲ], dependent upon word environment, dialect, or speaker. In addition, Massachusett consonants probably lacked distinctions based on aspiration for these consonants. In English, the equivalent stop consonants are aspirated in stressed and in final positions, but not in consonant clusters after /s/ (for example, English spin is pronounced [spɪn] while pin is pronounced [pʰɪn]).[11]
As a result of these differing phonologies, the colonial orthography can be separated into unvoiced/voiced pairs that do not change meaning, such as ⟨c⟩/⟨k⟩/⟨g⟩, ⟨p⟩/⟨b⟩, ⟨q[u]⟩/⟨g[w]⟩, ⟨s⟩/⟨z⟩ and ⟨d⟩/⟨t⟩, which correspond to ⟨k⟩, ⟨p⟩, ⟨q⟩, ⟨s⟩ and ⟨t⟩, respectively, in the modern orthography.[7] Eliot and the other colonial missionaries often switched between the unvoiced-voiced pairs, and it is possible that the consonants themselves had allophones dependent on word position and dialect.[12][7]
The phonetic value of /s/ in clusters probably approached [s̪], given the alteration of /hs/ and /hʃ/ and /sk/ and /ʃk/ in representation in the colonial orthography. As /s/ and /ʃ/ had merged in Proto-Southern New England Algonquian, restoration of /ʃ/ in consonants, especially in clusters with /h/, indicates that the allophone of /s/ in these environments was generally [s̪], which sounds closer to /ʃ/[dubious – discuss] and generally represented by ⟨sh⟩ in the WLRP new orthography.[13]
As a result of borrowings, English-language religious, technical, agricultural, legal, societal, cultural, and governmental terminology was adopted by the Indians. Foreign sounds, or recognition of the preferred allophone, led to the adoption of /b/, /d/, /f/, /ɡ/, /dʒ/, /ʒ/, /θ/, /ð/ and /ŋ/ as phonemes in these English loanwords. However, it is likely that only bilingual speakers or those exposed to English speakers pronounced these words more akin to their English values, whereas monolingual Massachusett speakers and those further from English contact would have likely used native approximantions. For example, colonial-era documents include both preserved Frenchmenog (possibly [frɛntʃmənak]) vs. nativized panachmanog (possibly [pənãtʃmənak]). In addition, anecdotal evidence from accounts of English colonists indicate that the Massachusett or related N-dialect speakers had trouble with English /r/ and /l/, even though they existed in related languages, since they pronounced English words sleep and lobster as sneep and nobstah. However, final /r/ goes unnoticed as English in New England developed non-rhotically.
Although the revived dialect of the Wampanoag continues to use some loan words from English (such as pâyum-, /paːjəm/ from English pay), most borrowings are eschewed for native equivalents, neologisms coined from known Massachusett radicals and adoption of terms from cognate, extant Algonquian languages since the new speakers of the language are all bilingual or more proficient in English.[14] For example, the colonial-era Indians adopted the English calendrical system, and adopted all the terms for units of time and names for the days and months. Thus, 'Thursday' and as well as its alternate Early Modern English form Yurſday existed along the lesser-used Massachusett coinage nappanatashikquinishonk (nôpanatahshuquneehshôk) /nãpanatahʃəkʷəniːhʃãk/, which can be translated as 'that which goes five days long' (after the [original] Sabbath).[15] However, nappanatashikquinishonk is created from Massachusett radicals by the Indians, even if it referred to a Western cultural introduction.[16]
Phonotactics
Few consonant clusters, especially in relation to Proto-Eastern Algonquian and Proto-Algonquian, are permitted in the Massachusett language; however, syncopation, i.e., deletion of /a/, /ə/ or /iː/ when they fall in weak or weaker stress positions in a word, increased the number of possible clusters in the rare Massachusett dialects that employed it. Clusters also tend to occur at the end of a root word before a following suffix, often restoring etymological /ʷ/ and /ʲ/[clarification needed] or even entire syllables, which were dropped at the end of consonants as early as Proto-Eastern Algonquian, but are common enough that they have to be learned. For example, annum (anum, 'dog,') but annúmmwag (anumwak, /anəmwak/, 'dogs').[17] Also, additional morphemes attached to the root word often begin with consonants themselves, thus increasing their likelihood at these junctures.
Massachusett uses /hk/, /hkʷ/, /hp/, /hpw/, /hs/, /hsw/, /hʃ/, /hʃw/, /htʲ/, /htʃ/, /htw/, /hw/, /mw/, /nw/, /pw/, /sk/, /skʷ/, /sp/ and /ʃk/.[18][19] In the rare dialects that permitted syncopation, combinations such as /kskʷ/, /ths/, /skʷ/, /ks/, /kʷs/, /skʷh/ and /mʃ/ have been recorded in the literature, although some examples from translations of the Book of Psalms that were intended to be sung were forcibly altered to fit the meter of the music. The Massachusett word, wussuhquohhonk (wusuhqahôk /wəsəhkʷahɔ̃k/, 'writing' or 'book') was altered to wussukwhonk (*wusuhqhôk /wəsəhkʷhãk/),[20] yielding a cluster /hkʷh/.[21]
Prosody
Stress in the language is unknown, but Massachusett likely had a stress system similar to extant languages, such as Ojibwe, Algonquin, Mi'kmaq, Munsee and Unami.[22] In Ojibwe, the rule is as follows: A metrical foot consists of two syllables, ideally with the stress on the second syllable. All long vowels are stressed, and when they occur in the weaker syllable of a metrical foot, the syllable that contains them is counted as its own foot and counting begins on the next syllable pair, and the last syllable is always stressed.[23]
In M'ikmaq, Unami and Munsee, languages that are more closely related to Massachusett, the rules are a little more complex. In these languages, metrical feet consist of two syllables or morae, forming either strong right-foot iambs or strong left-foot trochees. Primary stress generally falls on either the rightmost (iambic) or leftmost (trochaic) syllables, but there are numerous exceptions. Unlike the Ojibwe system, these Eastern Algonquian languages allow for word-final unstressed syllables. Long vowels tend to be stressed, but may be shortened when long vowels fall in the weaker position. Long vowels and short syllables in the strong part of the foot receive secondary stress. Stressed words, especially the primary stress, are pronounced louder and at a higher pitch, with secondary stress the effects less so.[23] Because Massachusett, generally, does not undergo vowel syncope, weak vowels can receive secondary stress and entire words can consist of weak, short vowel syllables as in Mi'kmaq and Unami.[24][23]
- weyaus (weeyâws) /ˈwiː ˌjaːws/, ('flesh')
- sépꝏ (seepuw) /ˈsiːp ˌəw/, ('river')
- sábahég (sâpaheek) /ˈsaːp aˌhiːk/, ('soup')
- wampanoag (wôpanâak) /ˌwãp an ˈaː ak/, ('Wampanoag')
- keen (keen) /ˈkiːn/, ('you')
- askꝏk (ask8k) /ask ˈuːk/, ('snake')
- mishoon (muhsh8n) /ˈməhʃ ˌuːn/, ('canoe')
- kuttuntantamummin (kutunantamumun) /ˌkə tə ˈnan ˌtam əm ˌən/, ('we (inclusive) think')
- peyaumꝏash (peeyômuwash) /ˌpiː ˈjãm ˌəw ˌaʃ/, ('they come' or 'they are coming')
- ohkeomꝏs (âhkeeôm8s) /ˌaːhk ˈiː ˌãm ˌuːs/, ('bee')
- waskétop (waskeetôp) /ˈwask ˌiː ˌtãp/, ('man')
- mockus (mahkus) /ˈmahk əs/, ('shoe')