American Indian Studies In the Extinct Languages of Southeastern New England

Description

Publication date: 2005 Number of pages: 324This monograph contains 13 self-contained brief treatises that comprise material on linguistic, historical and cultural studies of the extinct American Indian languages of southeastern New England. These Indian languages, and their dialects, were once spoken principally in the States of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. They are called "Massachusett" and "Narragansett." These Indian tongues are a subset of a larger group of about three dozen Indian languages called the Algonquian language family. The manuscript summarizes work over the past decade relating to the documentation, analysis and reconstruction of these lost and sleeping American Indian languages. The primary focus is comparative Algonquian vocabulary and elementary grammatical structures, derived from the scholarly linguistic and anthropological literature, oral tradition, and the authors own (hypothetical) reconstructive contributions. The objective of the manuscript is to reach a diverse audience interested in these old Indian languages. As such, its approach is quasi-historical, linguistic and phenomenological. Each chapter contains vocabularies and extensive grammatical notes relating to individual topical areas. The following chapters are included: (1) The Word "Squaw" in Historical and Modern Sources; (2) Spirits & Family Relations; (3) Animals and Insects; (4) Birds and Fowl; (5) Muhhog: The Human Body; (6) Fish and Aquatic Animals; (7) Corn, Fruit, Berries & Trees; (8) The Heavens, Weather, Winds, Time; (9) Algonquian Prayers and Miscellaneous Algonquian Indian Texts; (10) Prolegomena to Nukkone Manittowock in that Part of America Called New-England; (11) Guide to Historical Spellings & Sounds in the Extinct New England American Indian Languages Narragansett-Massachusett; (12) Bringing Back Our Lost Language: Geistod in That Part of America Called New-England; and (13) At the Powwow. (Individual chapters contain footnotes, references, figures, photographs, and acknowledgments.)