Western Abnaki language

Western Abnaki
Wôbanakiôdwawôgan
Spoken in	Canada
Region	on the St. Lawrence River in Quebec
Native speakers	9  (date missing)
Language family	Algic Algonquian Eastern Algonquian Abnaki Western Abnaki
Language codes
ISO 639-3	abe

Western Abnaki (also known as Abenaki or St. Francis Abenaki) is one of the World's most endangered languages. In 1991 it was spoken by 20 individuals along the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City, who lived mostly at Odanak, the site of the former mission village of St. Francis and about 50 individuals living throughout New York state and Connecticut. It is now considered nearly extinct. However, a new generation of speakers are actively preserving and revitalizing the language. Fluent speakers Joseph Elie Joubert from the Odanak reservation and fluent speaker Jesse Bowman Bruchac lead partial immersion classes in the language across the northeast. They have also created several new books in and about the language as well as audio, video and web-based media to help others learn the language.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Near-Close	[ɪ]		[ʊ]
Mid		[ə]
Open mid nasal			[ɔ̃]
Open		[a]

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	[p]  [b]	[t]  [d]		[k]  [ɡ]
Affricate		[ts]  [dz]
Fricative		[s]  [z]			[h]
Nasal	[m]	[n]
Lateral approximant		[l]
Semivowel	[w]		[j]

Writing systems

Several different writing systems have been developed by various authors for writing the sounds of Abenaki: Pial Pol Wzokihlain, Sozap Lolô, Henry Lorne Masta, and Gordon Day (author of the Western Abenaki Dictionary) each use a slightly different system. Common to all four are the characters A, B, D, E, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, S, T, U, W, and Z. Wzokihlain, Lolô, and Masta all have an additional digraph CH, which corresponds to Day's C. Lolô writes I for /j/ and /i/; where confusion could result, he writes Ï for /i/.

Lolô and Masta use both W and U for the semivowel /w/. Day consistently writes lax stops using voiced symbols: B, D, G, J, Z; the other three write lax consonants using P, T, K, Ch, S word-initially and word-finally. Day also consistently writes the schwa /ə/ with E, while the others leave it unwritten when not stressed. Lolô and Day write the nasal vowel /ɔ̃/ as Ô, while Wzokihlain writes O and Masta writes ȣ.

IPA	Wzokihlain	Lolô	Masta	Day
[p]	p	p	p	p
[b]	b/p	b/p	b/p	b
[t]	t	t	t	t
[d]	d/t	d/t	d/t	d
[k]	k	k	k	k
[ɡ]	g/k	g/k	g/k	g
[ts]	ch	ch	ch	c
[dz]	j/ch	j/ch	j/ch	j
[s]	s	s	s	s
[z]	z/s	z/s	z/s	z
[h]	h	h	h	h
[m]	m	m	m	m
[n]	n	n	n	n
[l]	l	l	l	l
[w]	w	w/u	w/u	w
[j]	y	i	y	y
[ɪ]	i	i/ï	i	i
[ʊ]	o	o	o	o
[ə]	e/∅	e/∅	e/∅	e
[ɔ̃]	o	ô	ȣ	ô
[a]	a	a	a	a

See also

• Abenaki (tribe)
• Abenaki language

External links

• Western Abenaki Online Dictionary and Radio
• Abenaki orthography and phonology
• Native Languages page for Abenaki
• Western Abnaki language at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)

References

• Ethnologue entry for Western Abnaki

• Day, Gordon M. 1994a. Western Abenaki Dictionary. Volume 1: Abenaki to English. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, Mercury Series, Canadian Ethnology Service Paper 128.

• Day, Gordon M. 1994b. Western Abenaki Dictionary. Volume 2: English to Abenaki. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, Mercury Series, Canadian Ethnology Service Paper 128.

• Harvey, Chris. "Abenaki". Language Geek. http://www.languagegeek.com/algon/abenaki/abenaki.html. Retrieved 2007-03-12. 

• Laurent, Joseph. 1884. New Familiar Abenakis and English Dialogues. Quebec: Joseph Laurent. Reprinted 2006: Vancouver: Global Language Press, ISBN 0-9738924-7-1

• Masta, Henry Lorne. 1932. Abenaki Legends, Grammar and Place Names. Victoriaville, PQ: La Voix Des Bois-Franes. Reprinted 2008: Toronto: Global Language Press, ISBN 978-1-89736-718-6