Mi'kmaq language

Mi'kmaq
Míkmawísimk
Spoken in	Canada, United States
Region	Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Gaspe Peninsula (Quebec), Newfoundland, northern Maine, Boston (Massachusetts)
Ethnicity	Mi'kmaq people
Native speakers	10,850 (8,750 in Canada, 2,100 in the United States)  (2006)
Language family	Algic Algonquian Eastern Algonquian Mi'kmaq
Language codes
ISO 639-2	mic
ISO 639-3	mic

The Mi'kmaq language (spelled Micmac in English, and Míkmaq, Míkmaw or Mìgmao in Mi'kmaq) is an Eastern Algonquian language spoken by nearly 11,000 Mi'kmaq in Canada and the United States out of a total ethnic Mi'kmaq population of roughly 20,000. The word Mi'kmaq is a plural word meaning 'my friends' (singular Míkm); the adjectival form is Míkmaw. The language's native name is Lnuismk, Míkmawísimk or Míkmwei (in some dialects).

Phonology

The phonemic inventory of Mi'kmaq is shown below.

Vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i	iː			u	uː
Mid	e	eː	ə		o	oː
Open			a	aː

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
				plain	lab.
Plosive	p	t		k	kʷ
Affricate			t͡ʃ
Fricative		s		x	xʷ
Nasal	m	n
Approximant	w	l	j

The obstruents (/p, t, k, kʷ, t͡ʃ, s, x, xʷ/) are voiceless initially or next to another obstruent, but allophonically voiced [b], [d], [ɡ], [ɡʷ], [d͡ʒ], [z], [ɣ], [ɣʷ] between sonorants (vowels or the voiced consonants /m, n, w, l, j/). Thus ⟨Mi'kmaq⟩, phonemically /miːkmax/, is pronounced [miːɡmax].

Mi'kmaq distinguishes not only between long and short, but between long and short consonants, symbolized orthographically in Listuguj by doubling the consonant. Beyond expanding in length, long consonants add a schwa when preceding other consonants. For instance, compare /en.mitk/, written in Listuguj as enmitg ("flow away") with /en.nə.mit/, written in Listuguj as ennmit ("stick into"); or, /tox.tʃu.pi.la.wek/, written in Listuguj as toqju'pilaweg ("hoist"), with /ge.si.gaw.wek/, written in Listuguj as gesigawweg ("loud").

Listuguj orthography occasionally begins words with consonant clusters, such as with gta'n ("ocean") or mgumi ("ice"). However, such clusters are pronounced over separate syllables, with a schwa preceding the cluster: for instance, gta'n is pronounced /ək.ta:n/ while mgumi is pronounced /əm.ku.mi/. On the other hand, word-final clusters, such as in asigetg ("investigate") are pronounced over a single syllable: compare the pronunciation of asigetg, /a.si.getk/, with mest'g ("taste"), /mes.tək/.

Writing system

Mi'kmaq-language stop sign in Elsipogtog First Nation

Mi'kmaq is written using a number of Latin alphabets based on ones devised by missionaries in the 19th century. Previously, the language was written in Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing, a script of partially native origin. The Francis-Smith orthography used here was developed in 1974, and adopted as the official orthography of the Míkmaq Nation in 1980. It is the most widely used orthography, used by Nova Scotian Mikmaq and by the Míkmaq Grand Council. It is quite similar to the "Lexicon" orthography, differing from it only in its use of the straight apostrophe ⟨'⟩ or acute accent ⟨´⟩ instead of the colon ⟨:⟩ to mark vowel length. When the Francis-Smith orthography was first developed, the straight apostrophe (often called a "tick") was the designated symbol for vowel length, however due to software applications incorrectly auto-correcting the tick to a curly apostrophe, a secondary means of indicating vowel length was formally accepted: the acute accent. The barred-i ⟨ɨ⟩ is sometimes replaced by the more common circumflex-i ⟨î⟩. In Listuguj orthography, an apostrophe marks long vowels, and the letter ⟨g⟩ is used instead of the letter ⟨k⟩. The 19th-century Pacifique orthography omits ⟨w⟩ and ⟨y⟩, using ⟨o⟩ and ⟨i⟩ for these. It also ignores vowel length. The 19th-century orthography of Silas Tertius Rand is also given in the table below; this orthography is more complex than the table suggests, particularly as far as vowel quantity and quality is concerned.

Mi'kmaq orthographies

IPA	a	aː	e	eː	i	iː	ə	tʃ	k	l	m	n	o	oː	p	x	s	t	u	uː	w	j
Francis-Smith	a	a'/á	e	e'/é	i	i'/í	ɨ	j	k	l	m	n	o	o'/ó	p	q	s	t	u	u'/ú	w	y
Listuguj	a	a'	e	e'	i	i'	'	j	g	l	m	n	o	o'	p	q	s	t	u	u'	w	y
Lexicon	a	a:	e	e:	i	i:	ɨ	j	k	l	m	n	o	o:	p	q	s	t	u	u:	w	y
Pacifique	a		e		i			tj	g	l	m	n	ô		p		s	t	o
Rand	ă	a â	ĕ	ā	ĭ	e	ŭ	ch	c k	l	m	n	ŏ	o ō	b	h	s	d t	ŏŏ	oo u	w	y

References

• Maillard, M. l'abbé, redigée et mise en ordre par Joseph M.Bellenger, ptre. 1864. Grammaire de la langue mikmaque. Nouvelle-York, Presse Cramoisy de J.M. Shea. Reprinted 2007: Toronto: Global Language Press, ISBN 1-897367-14-7
• Delisle, Gilles L.; Metallic, Emmanuel L. 1976. Micmac Teaching Grammar. Preliminary version. La Macaza, Quebec: Manitou Community College.
• Pacifique, Père. 1939. Leçons grammaticales théoriques et pratiques de la langue micmaque. Sainte-Anne de Restigouche, P.Q. Reprinted 2007: Toronto: Global Language Press, ISBN 1-897367-15-5
• Rand, Silas Tertius. 1875. First reading book in the Micmac language. Halifax: Nova Scotia Printing Company. Reprinted 2006: Vancouver: Global Language Press, ISBN 0-9738924-8-X
• Rand, Silas Tertius. 1888. Dictionary of the language of the Micmac Indians, who reside in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton and Newfoundland. Halifax: Nova Scotia Printing Company. Reprinted 1994: New Delhi & Madras: Asian Educational Services, ISBN 81-206-0954-9

External links

• Mi'kmaq Online Talking Dictionary
• Internet Archive of "Míkmaq Language"
• Native Languages page on Míkmaq
• Ethnologue report
• Chris Harvey's page on Míkmawísimk (Languagegeek)
• How to count in Mi’kmaq