Potawatomi language

Potawatomi
	Neshnabémwen
Native to	United States, Canada
Region	Michigan, Oklahoma, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, and southern Ontario
Language family	Algic Algonquian Ojibwe–Potawatomi Potawatomi; ; ;
Writing system	Latin (various alphabets), ; Great Lakes Algonquian syllabics
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pot
Glottolog	pota1247[1]
Linguasphere	62-ADA-dc (Potawatomi)

Potawatomi (/ˌpɒtəˈwɒtəmi/, also spelled Pottawatomie; in Potawatomi Bodéwadmimwen, or Bodéwadmi Zheshmowen, or Neshnabémwen) is a Central Algonquian language. It was historically spoken by the Pottawatomi people who lived around the Great Lakes in what are now Michigan and Wisconsin in the United States, and in southern Ontario in Canada. Federally recognized tribes in Michigan and Oklahoma are working to revive the language.

Language revitalization

Cecilia Miksekwe Jackson, one of the last surviving native speakers of Potawatomi, died in May 2011, at the age of 88. She was known for working to preserve and teach the language.[2]

The federally recognized Pokégnek Bodéwadmik Pokagon Band of Potawatomi started a master-apprentice program in which a "language student (the language apprentice) will be paired with fluent Potawatomi speakers (the language masters)" in January 2013.[3] In addition, classes in the Potowatomi language are available, including those at the Hannahville summer immersion camp,[4] with webcast instruction and videoconferencing.[3]

Classification

Potawatomi is a member of the Algonquian language family (itself a member of the larger Algic stock). It is usually classified as a Central Algonquian language, with languages such as Ojibwe, Cree, Menominee, Miami-Illinois, Shawnee and Fox. The label "Central Algonquian" signifies a geographic grouping rather than the group of languages descended from a common ancestor language within the Algonquian family. Of the Central languages, Potawatomi is most similar to Ojibwe, but it also has borrowed a considerable amount of vocabulary from the Sauk.

Generally, in developments since Indian Removal in the 19th century, Potawatomi has become differentiated in North America among separated populations. It is divided between Northern Potawatomi, spoken in Ontario, Canada; and Michigan and Wisconsin of the United States; and Southern Potawatomi, which is spoken in Kansas and Oklahoma, where certain Pottawatomi ancestors were removed who had formerly lived in Illinois and other areas east of the Mississippi River.[5]

Writing systems

Current writing system

Though no standard orthography has been agreed upon by the Potawatomi communities, the system most commonly used is the "Pedagogical System" developed by the Wisconsin Native American Languages Program (WNALP). As the name suggests, it was designed to be used in language teaching. The system is based on the Roman alphabet and is phonemic, with each letter or digraph representing a contrastive sound. The letters used are: a b ch d e é (ë) (ê) (ė) g ' h i j k m n o p s sh t w y z zh.

In Kansas, a different system called BWAKA is used. It too is both based on the Roman alphabet and phonemic, with each letter or digraph representing a contrastive sound. The letters used are: ' a b c d e e' g h i I j k m n o p s sh t u w y z zh.

Traditional system

The traditional system used in writing Potawatomi is a form of syllabic writing. Potawatomi, Ottawa, Sac, Fox and Winnebago communities all used it. Derived from the Roman alphabet, it resembles handwritten Roman text. However, unlike the Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics or the Cherokee alphabet, it has not yet been incorporated into the Unicode standards.

Each Potawatomi syllabic block in the system has at least 2 of the 17 alphabetic letters, which consist of 13 consonants and 4 vowels. Of the 13 phonemic consonantal letters, the /h/, written ⟨A⟩, is optional.

Consonants		Consonants		Consonants		Vowels
Traditional System	Pedagogical System	Traditional System	Pedagogical System	Traditional System	Pedagogical System	Traditional System	Pedagogical System
l	b/p	(ĸA)	(k)	q	gw/kw	a	a
(lA)	(p)	s	z/s	(qA)	(kw)	e	e (ë) (ê)
t	d/t	(sA)	s	g	g of "-ng"	e	é (ė)
(tA)	(t)	sH	zh/sh	w	w	i	i
tt	j/ch	(sHA)	(sh)	y	y	o	o
(ttA)	(ch)	m	m	(none)	'/h
ĸ	g/k	n	n	(A)	(h)

Phonology

Here, the phonology of the Northern dialect is described, which differs somewhat from that of the Southern dialect, spoken in Kansas.

There are 5 vowel phonemes, 4 diphthongs, and 19 consonant phonemes.

⟨é⟩, which is often written as ⟨e'⟩, represents an open-mid front unrounded vowel, /ɛ/. ⟨e⟩ represents the schwa, /ə/, which has several allophonic variants. Before /n/, it becomes [ɪ]; before /k/, /ɡ/, /ʔ/ and word-finally, it becomes [ʌ].

⟨o⟩ is pronounced /u/ in Michigan and /o/ elsewhere. When it is in a closed syllable, it is pronounced [ʊ]. There are also four diphthongs, /ɛj ɛw əj əw/, spelled ⟨éy éw ey ew⟩. Phonemic /əj əw/ are realized as [ɪj ʌw].

Obstruents, as in many other Algonquian languages, do not have a voicing distinction per se but what is better termed a "strong"/"weak" distinction. "Strong" consonants, written as voiceless (⟨p t k kw⟩), are always voiceless, often aspirated, and longer in duration than the "weak" consonants, which are written as voiced (⟨b d g gw⟩) and are often voiced and are not aspirated. Nasals before another consonant become syllabic, and /t/, /d/, and /n/ are dental: [t̪ d̪ n̪].

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i	o
Mid	ə
Low	ɛ	a

Consonants

	Bilabial		Dental		Palatal		Velar		Labio -velar		Glottal
Occlusive	pː	p	tː	t	tʃː	tʃ	kː	k	kːʷ	kʷ	ʔ
Fricative			sː	s	ʃː	ʃ					h
Sonorant	m		n		j				w

Lenis type consonants can frequently be voiced in various surroundings as [b d dʒ ɡ ɡʷ] for plosives and affricates, and [z ʒ] for fricatives.[6]

Morphology

Potawatomi has six parts of speech: noun, verb, pronoun, prenoun, preverb, and particle.[7]

Pronouns

There are two main types of pronoun: personal pronouns and demonstrative pronouns. As nouns and verbs use inflection to describe anaphoric reference, the main use of the free pronouns is for emphasis.

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns, because of vowel syncope, resemble those of Odaawaa but structurally resemble more to those in the Swampy Cree language:

Swampy Cree	Ojibwe	Odaawaa	Potawatomi	Gloss
nîn	niin	nii	nin	I
gîn	giin	gii	gin	you (singular)
wîn	wiin	wii	win	he, she
nînanân	niinawind	niinwi	ninan	we (exclusive)
gînanân	giinawind	giinwi	ginan	we (inclusive)
gînawâ	giinawaa	giinwaa	ginwa	you (plural)
wînawâ	wiinawaa	wiinwaa	winwa	they

Correspondences to Ojibwe

The relatively-recent split from Ojibwe makes Potawatomi still exhibit strong correspondences, especifically with the Odaawaa (Ottawa) dialect.

Fiero Double Vowel System	Rhodes Double Vowel System	Potawatomi WNALP System	Potawatomi BWAKA System	IPA Value
a (unstressed)	(none)	(none)	(none)/u	∅
a (stressed)	a (stressed)	e (ë)	e/u	ə
aa	aa	a	a/o	a~ʌ
b	b	b	b/p	b
ch	ch	ch	c	tʃ
d	d	d	d/t	d
e (unstressed)	e (unstressed)	e (ė)	e	ə
e (stressed)	e (stressed)	é/e'	e'	ɛ
g	g	g	g/k	ɡ
gi (unstressed)	g	j	j/ch	dʒ
g	g	j (from gy*)	j/c (from gy*)	dʒ
-g	-g	-k	-k	k
h	h	h	h	h
'	h	'	'	ʔ
i (unstressed)	(none)	(none)	(none)/I	∅
i (stressed)	i (stressed)	e	e/I	ə
ii	ii	i	i	ɪ
j	j	j	j/ch	dʒ
k	k	k	k	k
ki (unstressed)	k	ch	c	tʃ
k	k	ch (from ky*)	c (from ky*)	tʃ
m	m	m	m	m
mb	mb	mb	mb	mb
(not from PA *n) n/(none)	n/(none)	n/y	n/y	n~j
(from PA *n) n	n	n	n	n
nd	nd	nd/d	nd/d	nd~d
ng	ng	ng/g	ng/g	ŋɡ~ɡ
nj	nj	nj/j	nj/j	ndʒ~dʒ
ns	ns	s	s	s
nz	nz	z	z	z
ny/-nh	ny/-nh	(none)	(none)	∅
nzh	nzh	zh	zh	ʒ
o (unstressed)	(none)/w/o (unstressed)	(none)/w/o/e	(none)/w/o/e	∅~w~o~ʊ~ə
o (stressed)	o (stressed)	o (ê)	o	o~ʊ
oo	oo	o	o	o
p	p	p	p	p
s	s	s	s	s
sh	sh	sh	sh	ʃ
shk	shk	shk	shk	ʃk
shp	shp	shp	shp	ʃp
sht	sht	sht	sht	ʃt
sk	sk	sk	sk	sk
t	t	t	t	t
w	w/(none)	w/(none)	w/(none)	w~∅
wa (unstressed)	wa (unstressed)/o	w/o	w/o	w~o~ʊ
waa (unstressed)	waa (unstressed)/oo	wa/o	wa/o	wa~o~ʊ
wi (unstressed)	wi (unstressed)/o	w/o	w/o	w~o~ʊ
y	y	y (initial glide)	y (initial glide)	j
(none)	(none)	y (medial glide)	y (medial glide)	j
z	z	z	z/s	z
zh	zh	zh	zh/sh	ʒ

Notes

Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Potawatomi". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
"Tribal elder dies at 88: Woman was dedicated to Potawatomi language preservation". 31 May 2011.
"Potawatomi Language". Pokégnek Bodéwadmik Pokagon Band of Potawatomi. 2012. Archived from the original on 2011-11-25. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
"Potawatomi Language". Hannahville Culture Language and History Website. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
Native Languages of the Americas: Potawatomi Pronunciation and Spelling Guide
Hockett, 1948
Buszard-Welcher, L. (2003) "Constructional Polysemy and Mental Spaces in Potawatomi Discourse". PhD Thesis, U.C. Berkeley

External links

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[Glottolog-1] Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Potawatomi". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

[2] "Tribal elder dies at 88: Woman was dedicated to Potawatomi language preservation". 31 May 2011.

[pokagonband-3] "Potawatomi Language". Pokégnek Bodéwadmik Pokagon Band of Potawatomi. 2012. Archived from the original on 2011-11-25. Retrieved 2012-12-12.

[4] "Potawatomi Language". Hannahville Culture Language and History Website. Retrieved 2012-12-12.

[5] Native Languages of the Americas: Potawatomi Pronunciation and Spelling Guide

[6] Hockett, 1948

[7] Buszard-Welcher, L. (2003) "Constructional Polysemy and Mental Spaces in Potawatomi Discourse". PhD Thesis, U.C. Berkeley

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