Atikamekw language

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Atikamekw
Atikamekw
Spoken in Canada
Region Quebec.
Total speakers 5,545 [1]
Language family Algic
Language codes
ISO 639-1 None
ISO 639-2 atj
ISO 639-3 atj
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Atikamekw language (also known as Attikamek, Tête de Boule, Attimewk, Atihkamekw, Atikamek) is an Algonquian language, and is a dialect of the Cree language complex. It is spoken in southwestern Quebec by nearly all the Atikamekw. It is notable for being the only modern Cree dialect to still retain the /r/ sound which has become /n/, /y/, /l/ or /ð/ in all other Cree-Montagnais dialects. The dialect is also notable for having numerous borrowings from the Anishinaabe language.

Contents

[edit] Classification

Atikamekw is an Algonquian language, of the Algic family of languages, and is descended from Proto-Algonquian. It is part of the Cree dialect continuum, along with Montaignais and Naskapi.

[edit] Phonology

[edit] Consonants

The consonants of Atikamekw in the standard orthography are listed below (with IPA notation in brackets):

  Bilabial Alveolar Post-
alveolar		 Velar Glottal
Nasal   m  /m/   n  /n/      
Stop   p  /p/   t  /t/   tc  /tʃ/   k  /k/  
Fricative     s  /s/   c  /ʃ/     h  /h/
Tap     r  /r/      
Approximant         w  /w/  

[edit] Vowels

Front Back
long short long short
Close î /iː/ i /i/
Mid ê /eː/ ô /oː/ o /o/
Open â /aː/ a /a/
  • Vowel length (shown above with a circumflex accent) is typically not indicated in the written language.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Statistics Canada 2006

[edit] References

Béland, Jean-Pierre. 1978. Atikamekw Morphology & Lexicon. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.

[edit] External links

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