r Nine Eung-DoCook Darin Flynn Aboriginal languages · Languages of Manitoba (especially Carol...

C~~+~r'-:J ~r~L~~~~ -- ~ J..-."'v~:k~

6K ~ r 'T;)"",,-to: Pe~rjJ"" k.s~'

Nine Eung-Do CookDarin Flynn

Aboriginal languageso(CanadaHe who studies only one Indian language andlearns its manifold curious grammatical devices,its wealth ofwords, its capacity ofexpression, is

speedily convinced ofits superiority to all otherIndian tongues, and not infrequently to alllanguages by whomsoever spoken.

l.W. POWELL, INDIAN LINGUISTIC FAMILIES OF AMERICA NORTH OF MEXICO (1891)

The study of languages spoken by the descendants of the original inhabitants of NorthAmerica has made a number of significant contributions to the development of linguistics.

In practically every book that the student of linguistics reads, the impact of work in this area isevident. It would be no exaggeration to say that the lasting and profound influence of sucheminent pioneers of linguistics as Franz Boas, Edward Sapir, and Leonard Bloomfield is due inlarge part to the seminal work they did on structurally diverse Aboriginal languages in NorthAmerica, especially in Canada.

The value of current research on North American Aboriginal languages stems primarilyfrom the light that it can shed on the nature of human linguistic competence. Besides refutingthe popular misconception that these languages are somehow primitive, this work has alsouncovered certain structural and semantic phenomena that are not found in more widelystudied languages such as English, French, Mandarin, and so on. Another compelling reasonfor the study of Aboriginal languages is that it can yield clues (sometimes the only onesavailable) to help resolve problems in archaeology and anthropology (especially ethnohistory)relating to the origin and migration of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is alsoimportant to recognize that Aboriginal languages in North America are in a grave state ofdecline, so that an urgency underlies their study, whether theoretical or historical.

PJ:I Ethnolinguistic overviewHow many Aboriginal languages are there? How are they related genetically? How arethey distributed? Although definitive answers cannot yet be given to any of thesequestions, the current tentative consensus is briefly outlined in the next two sectionsprior to a comment on the decline of Aboriginal languages in Canada. A discussion of thestructural characteristics of Canadian aboriginal languages then follows.

318

Aboriginal languages ofCanada 319

9.1.1 Genetic classificationJohn Wesley Powell's work of 1891, which represents the first attempt at a comprehensivegenetic classification of the indigenous languages of North America, recognizes fifty-eightfamilies. Although this classification was preceded by and indebted to many other classifications, it is considered one of the most valuable works in Native American linguistics. Powell'sclassification of hundreds of different languages into fewer than sixty families was aremarkable achievement, but really only a first step toward a final genetic classification.

In the years folloWing Powell's work, many linguists came to assume that all of theindigenous languages of North America ultimately originated from a small number ofmother languages. Consequently, they began trying to place the known language familiesinto larger stocks and still larger phyla. The best-known classification from this perspectivewas proposed by Edward Sapir in 1929. In this far-reaching analysis, which owes a great dealto earlier work by Alfred Kroeber and Ronald Dixon, among others, all language families ofAboriginal America were grouped into stocks that, in turn, were organized into sixsuperstocks or phyla. Although not adequately substantiated in all details, this proposalstimulated a great deal of research aimed at the further classification of Aboriginal languages.

A more realistic classification was proposed in 1964. FolloWing Sapir's scheme, 221languages were grouped into 42 families and 31 isolates, which were then classified into9 phyla. A great deal more has been learned since this proposal was made, and some aspectsof this work are now out of date. Certain languages that were earlier treated as isolates havesince been proven to be related. For example, Yurok and Wiyot of California, originallyconsidered isolates, have not only been found to be related to each other, but have beenplaced in the Algonquian family (as claimed by Sapir as early as 1913). Similarly, studies ofTlingit prove it to be not an isolate but distantly related to Athabaskan languages and Eyak.

On the other hand, there is also strong evidence that what were formerly considereddialects of one language should be treated as separate languages. For example, the Klallamlanguage has recently been recognized as distinct from Straits Salish. Similarly, DOgrib, BearLake, and Hare of the Athabaskan family were once believed to be dialects of the same language,but their status has since been reconsidered. The identity of Dogrib as a separate language isnow well established and the possibility that Bear Lake and Hare are separate languages is underconsideration. Several of the proposed phyla also remain in question; in fact, many linguistshave chosen to retreat from such large-scale classification until the histories of the individualfamilies are better understood. (A more up-to-date "Consensus Classification" appeared in thelatest Vol. 17 of the Smithsonian's Handbook of North American Indians; see Recommendedreading at the end of this chapter.)

Language Matters The Amerind Hypothesis

Anew and daring classification has been widely enterta.ined in popular media and in interdisciplinaryresearch. Highly controversial, this classification recognizes the Eskimo-Aleut family 'and Na-Dene-astock consisting of the Athabaskan family, llingit. Eyak, and perhaps Haida-but places all other~

indigenous languages·of the Americas into ~·.single ia~ grOup; labelled Amerlnd. 80th the:~methOdology and the dataundertying this propo$af hiWe been subjected to severe criticism, and thejAmerind hypothesis Is not currentlyaecepted by most specialists in the field. .

320 Chapter Nine

9.1.2 Canada's languagesCanada's Aboriginal peoples fall into three distinct political groupings: First Nations, Inuit,and Metis. Although there is no agreement on the details of genetic classification, there issome consensus that Canada's First Nations represent no less than nine language familiesand isolates, that the Inuit represent a separate language family, and that the Metis representa unique mixed language.

The map in figure 9.1 shows the geographic distribution of the widely acceptedAboriginal language families and isolates of Canada discussed in this chapter. Of course, thepolitical border between Canada and the United States is not a linguistic boundary; thetraditional homeland of many Aboriginal groups includes portions of both countries.

...

~

",*fI!c

~ **~,f *

0.< ...

~t. *",\~* f1' '" ......", ***- *.\'

W$. *'" *1CI- :1llt ~***J'"~ "'Illc" ,,; ~ ... Iff

~ "':E ~ ~*k. ;1 Ie x

/'" -' "x'f,/f ~JrXXX xXi! x Ie X....... Iex~.lJlx, XX x~* ••,.x ·)x .:x II X

............ llL ..:. x II-...:it' It t X ~, Xx '\c

X Algonquian • -., Ie lCtc x~-~~.....JiQi~** Athabaskan • Siouan

Z Haida 0 Tlingit

• lroquoian * Tsimshian• Kutenai _ Wakashan

A Salish .. Eskimo-Aleut

Figure 9.1 ,Distribution of.

Aboriginallanguage 'families in Canada

Languages and affiliations are introduced in descending order of size (in Canada) asfollows. Slashes (/) indicate alternative names for languages or dialects. Although some of thenames provided may appear exotic, they are in fact the ones preferred by First Nations toidentify themselves. Note, too, that there are no exact figures on speaker populations. Figuressuggested here are informed current estimates but only approximate, based loosely on Foster(1982), Kinkade (1991), Krauss (1997), Cook (1998), Grime (2000), Mithun (2001), Statistics


Canada's 2001 Census, our own surveys, and personal inquiries to specialists of individuallanguages or language families and to organizations such as the Saskatchewan IndianCultural Centre, the Yinka Dene Language Institute (especially Bill Poser), and AboriginalLanguages of Manitoba (especially Carol Beaulieu). The symbol < means 'fewer than'.

AlgonquianCanada's most Widely spoken Aboriginal languages, Cree and Ojibwe, belong to theAlgonqUian family (see table 9.1). Dialects of both languages are spoken in British Columbia,Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. Cree is also represented in Labradorby the Innu dialects. Malecite-Passamaquoddy and Mi'kmaq are spoken further east, in theMaritime Provinces. (Here and elsewhere, speaker populations outside Canada are proVidedto give an idea of the overall size of the various Aboriginal linguistic communities. Of theAlgonquian languages, only Ojibwe is Widely spoken outside Canada.)

Table 9.1

Language

The Algonquian languages of Canada

Estimated numberof speakers inCanada

Estimated number ofspeakers in theUnited States

Cree(Dialects: Plains, Swampy,Woods, Moose, At(t)ikamek(w),Montagnais and Naskapi Innu)

OJibwe/Anishinaabemowin(Dialects: Odawa, Saulteau(x),Ojibwa/Chippewa, AlgonqUin,Severn/Oji-Cree)

Mi'kmaq/MicmacBlackfootMalecite-PassamaquoddyPotawatomi/NeshnabemwenMunsee DelawareWestern Abenaki

Eskimo-Aleut

80000

45 000

7 0003 000

750< 50<8<5

1000

5000

1200500850100

The Inuktitut language (of the Eskimo-Aleut family) is spoken by about two-thirds of the 44 ()()()Inuit who largely populate Canada's Arctic, from the northwestern part of the NorthwestTerritories (lnuvialuit) to northern Labrador (see table 9.2). Of those with Inuktitut as mothertongue, almost a third live in northern Quebec (Nunavik) and almost two-thirds live inNunavut, Canada's newest and largest territory. A syllabary for writing Inuktitut is now in wideuse, especially in Nunavut (it is adapted from the Cree syllabary; see chapter 15, section 15.4.4).

322 Chapter Nine

Table 9.2

Inuktitut

The Eskimo-Aleut family in Canada


Estimated numberof speakers outsideCanada

Eastern Canadian dialects

Western Canadian dialects

Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit

24000

4 000

Greenland/Denmark(Kalaallisut): 46 000

Alaska (Inupiaq): 3 000

This family exhibits the greatest internal diversity, with seventeen distinct languages in thiscountry alone (see table 9.3). They are spoken in British Columbia, the Yukon, the NorthwestTerritories, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. All except Tlingit belong to theAthabaskan subfamily, which is more closely related to Eyak. The last remaining speaker ofEyak died in 2008.

Table 9.3

Language

The Tlingit and Athabaskan languages of Canada


Estimated numberof speakers in theUnited States

TIingit

Athabaskan:

Dene SiVimYChipewyanSlave(y), including HareDogrib

TSinlhqot'in/ChilcotinDakelh/CarrierTutchone (Northern, Southern)KaskaGwich'in/KutchinBeaverWitsuwit'en-Babine/Nedut'enSekaniTsuut'ina/SarceeTahltanUpper TananaHanTagish

Siouan-Catawban

< 100

15 00038501900

12001250

450400350200185

SO<40<40

10<S

2

<400

300

10512

The Siouan-Catawban language family is represented by three Dakotan languages in Canada:(1) Stoney or Nakoda, spoken exclusively in Alberta; (2) 'Sioux', a now-disfavoured cover term


for three dialects spoken in Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba: Yankton-Nakota/Dakotaor Ihal1ktol1wal1 Damta, Santee-Dakota or Isal1ti Damta, and Teton Lakota or tit0l1wal1 Lamta;and (3) Assiniboine-Nakoda (Hohe Namda), spoken in Saskatchewan (see table 9.4). (Separatefigures are not available for Yankton and Santee; these are commonly grouped togetheras 'Dakota'.)

Dakota/Sioux

Table 9.4 The Siouan-Catawban family in Canada


Estimated number ofspeakers in theUnited States

Stoney (Nakoda)'Sioux': - Yankton and Santee (Dakota)

- Teton (Lakota)Assiniboine (Nakota)

Salish

1500< 400<10

34

150006000

Assiniboin: 75

The Salish family has ten languages centred in British Columbia, but its total speakerpopulation is estimated at fewer than 2000 (see table 9.S).

Table 9.5

Language

The Salish languages of Canada



Okanagan/NsilxcinNlaka'pmx/ThompsonComox-SliammonSecwepemctsin/ShuswapLillooet/St'at'imcetsHalkomelem (Halq'emeylem,Hul'q'umin'um', h;m'q'Jmin'Jm')Nuxalk/Bella CoolaNorthern Straits: Saanich/SENCO:rENSquamish/Skw~.wu7meshSechelt/Shashishalhem

Tsimshianic

500400400300200125

20201510

200

Tsimshianic languages are located in northwestern British Columbia (see table 9.6). Thisfamily is believed to be distantly related to a dozen other language families of the AmericanPacific Coast, under a proposed phylum called Penutian.

Language

324 Chapter Nine

Table 9.6 The Tsimshianic languages of Canada



Nass-Gitksan

Tsimshian

Gitksan/Gitsenimx: 900Nisga'a: 500

Sm'algyf!x/Coast Tsimshian: 430Klemtu/South Tsimshian: 1

20070

IroquoianAnother major group of Aboriginal languages represented in Canada is the Iroquoian family,which is found in southwestern Quebec and southern Ontario, as well as in adjoining partsof the United States (see table 9.7).

Table 9.7 The Iroquoian languages of Canada

Language

MohawkOneidaCayugaOnondagaSenecaTuscarora

Wakashan


< 2000150

SO<SO<25<7


2000< 15

10< 1510030

The Wakashan family, which is spoken principally on Vancouver Island and the adjacentBritish Columbia coast, consists of five languages in Canada (see table 9.8). (A sixth Wakashanlanguage, Makah, has about 20 speakers in Washington State, opposite Vancouver Island.)

Table 9.8 The Wakashan languages of Canada

Language Estimated number of speakers

Nuu-chah-nulth/NootkaKwakw'ala/KwaldutlHaisla-HenaksialaHeiltsuk-Oowekyala

Ditidaht/Nitinat

200200200

Heiltsuk: 200Oowekyala: 2

<10

Aboriginal languages o(Canada 325

IsolatesTwo language isolates are spoken in Canada: Haida, spoken in the Queen Charlotte Islandsoff the northern coast of British Columbia, and Ktunaxa, spoken in the Canadian Rockies insoutheastern British Columbia (see table 9.9).

Tabfe9.9

Language

Language isolates of Canada



HaidaKtunaxa/Kootenay-Kinbasket

Contact languages

356

15<6

Contact languages resist genetic classification in terms of language families or isolates,because they do not descend from a single parent language. Michif is a fascinating exampleof a contact language unique to Canada's Metis, who are (mostly) descendants from Cree orOjibwe women and French-Canadian fur trappers. This language uses Plains Cree words andgrammar for its verbs, and French words and grammar for its nouns. Still, Michif is notmutually intelligible with either Cree or French. There are five hundred or so speakers ofMichif in the Canadian Prairies, and another couple of hundred in North Dakota andMontana in the United States. Crucially, many of these speakers do not know Cree or French.Here is an example of a Michif sentence (words in italics derive from Cree; the others derivefrom French).

(1) e:gwanI-gi li: sava:z ki:pa:famwak la vjMthey the Natives dried the meat

Historically, Canada also had its share of trade jargons or pidgins, characterized byrudimentary grammars and limited vocabularies (see chapter 14). For example, at one timeor another Inuktitut was mixed with Basque, French, and Montagnais in Labrador-EskimoPidgin; with Cree and Montagnais in Hudson Strait Pidgin Inuktitut; with English inInuktitut-English Pidgin (which was used until the mid-twentieth century); and withAthabaskan languages in Loucheux Jargon.

Chinook Jargon, which originated as a lingua franca in the Pacific Northwest, drewmany basic words from Canada's Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) and from Canadian French. Itsuse peaked in the nineteenth century with an estimated 100 000 speakers representing morethan 100 mother tongues. There are now probably no more than a dozen speakers ofChinook Jargon in Canada, mostly in British Columbia.

A form of communication using the hands, Plains Sign Talk, was more commonlyused as a lingua franca in the Plains area; its use also appears to have peaked in thenineteenth century in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. It is still known by a fewCree, Blackfoot, and Dakota-some deaf, and others hearing, who use it to accompanytheir oral narratives.

326 Chapter Nine

Language Matters Confusing Signs

The Plains sign for 'big belly' involves moving the right hand outward and down, fingers pointingleft. The sign for 'waterfall' i.s similar but with fingers pointing forward. Eighteenth-century Cree and

, French apparently mixed these signs and began referring to the 'Falls Indians', Whom they, encountered ali, the Canadian Prairies, as 'Big-bellied Indians'. The Algonquian~speakingGros

Ventres-'Big BellieS' in French-,- now l'eside in Montana. "'.,' , "

9.1.3 Decline of Aboriginal languagesEpidemics (especially smallpox), famines, and innumerable wars reduced the Aboriginalpopulation of North America from over five million at the time of Columbus (the latefifteenth century) to fewer than half a million at the beginning of the twentieth century.Fortunately, Aboriginal peoples are now recovering rapidly from these historical disasters;Canada's Aboriginal population grew from 120000 in 1925 to a million today.

Nonetheless, many Canadian Aboriginal languages became extinct when their lastspeakers died, including Laurentian (Iroquoian, Quebec) in the late 1500s; Beothuk(isolate, Newfoundland) in 1829; Nicola (Athabaskan, British Columbia) in the late 1800s;Huron-Wendat (Iroquoian, Quebec) and Tsetsaut/Ts'ets'aut (Athabaskan, British Columbia)in the early 1900s; and Pentlatch (Salish, British Columbia) around 1940. Note thatBeothuk appears to have been an isolate; as such, it represents an eleventh languagelineage in Canada.

Of the languages that remain, many face imminent extinction. For instance, less thana dozen (elderly) speakers remain for Munsee Delaware (AlgonqUian), Western Abenaki(Algonquian), min (Athabaskan), Tagish (Athabaskan), Squamish (Salish), Sechelt (Salish),Tuscarora (Iroquoian), Ditidaht (Wakashan), Ktunaxa (isolate), and Chinook Jargon.Dialects, too, are disappearing, such as the Ts'ooke and Songish dialects of NorthernStraits Salish. Klallam, a closely related Salish language, has no more Canadian speakers;only three remain in Washington State. This state of affairs resulted in part fromdeliberate action: Aboriginal language use was generally forbidden in church andgovernment-run residential schools to which Aboriginal children were sent from the1880s to the 1970s.

Other Aboriginal languages with more speakers are nonetheless rapidly becomingobsolete under the influence of English and French, which have become the languages ofthe nursery and the liVing-room in most of Canada due in part to the influence of massmedia. Recently, however, many Aboriginal communities have sought to counteract theloss of their ancestral languages. With the help of government agenCies, museums, anduniversities, they have launched programs to retain and promote their languages andcultures. As a result of this Renaissance movement, some languages (such as Tsilhqot'in,Ktunaxa, and Secwepemctsin) have seen the establishment of an orthography for the firsttime, and others have become part of school curricula or even a medium of instruction inlower grades. The long-term effect of this effort on the survival of Aboriginal languagesremains to be seen. In the meantime, linguists can assist Aboriginal communities who wish


to preserve their languages by becoming involved in the development of sociolinguisticsurveys, of curriculum material, and of resource materials such as dictionaries, grammars,and texts.

To end on a positive note: it is remarkable that in spite of the difficulties confrontingthem, several of Canada's Aboriginal languages-notably Cree, Ojibwe, Inuktitut,and Dene SuJ'ine-remain relatively healthy. For instance, over 90 percent of Quebec's5000 Attikamekw speak their dialect of Cree as mother tongue. Two-thirds of the 15000Innu in Quebec and Labrador speak their own dialect of Cree as mother tongue, andabout a third of them are monolingual in it. Dene SuJ'ine continues to be acquired bychildren as their first language in many northern Saskatchewan communities, includingFond du Lac, Black Lake, and La Loche. The number of Aboriginal youth learning theirheritage tongue as a second language also continues to grow, which may significantly improve the long-term viability of languages otherwise considered endangered ornear-extinct.

m Structural featuresSince there are so many apparently unrelated languages in Canada, it is not surprising to finda great deal of typological variation. Although it is impossible to present even a synopsis ofthe structural characteristics of these languages, a small selection of what the reader mightconsider strikingly different and interesting will be given.

9.2.1 PhonologyThe Algonquian languages (such as Cree and Blackfoot) and the Athabaskan languages (suchas Tsuut'ina and Dene SuJ'ine) have long been in contact in the Prairie provinces of Canada.However, the phonological differences between these two language families are strikingbecause Algonquian has one of the simplest phonemic inventories in the world, whileAthabaskan has one of the most complex.

Cree vowels may be either short or long, except for le:/, which is always long. The Creeconsonantal system is also simple and straightforward, with no aspiration or glottalization.Consonant clusters are rare, and the most common syllable types are CV; CVC, and V. Thevocalic and consonant systems of Cree are given in table 9.10.

Table 9.10 Vowel and consonant phonemes in Cree

Vowel phonemes Consonant phonemes

Bilabial Alveolar Velar Glottali, i: 0,0: Obstruents p t k

tse: a, a: s h

Sonorants m nw

328 Chapter Nine

In Dene Sutine, on the other hand, there are five tense vowels, each of which may beeither oral or nasal, as well as a lax vowel, which has no nasal counterpart. The Dene St¥ineconsonant system has four times more phonemes than does Cree. It is characterized by alarge and symmetrical class of obstruents, particularly affricates, as shown in table 9.11.Another characteristic of Dene Sutine phonology is the presence of tone, which, along withnasality, makes for many more syllable types in Dene Sutine than in Cree.

Table 9.11 Vowel and consonant phonemes in Dene Sqline

Vowel phonemes

Oral Nasal

i u f t1

e a 0 e 6

a aConsonant phonemes

Labial Interdental Alveolar Alveolar

Plain p te t tsAspirated teh th tsh

Glottalized te' t' ts'I) ze s

m n r

Lateral Alveopalatal Velar Labiovelar Glottal

Plain ti tI k (kW)Aspirated tih tIh kh (kWh)

Glottalized ti' tf k' (kW') ?I j Y wi I x (xW) h

Note: i is a voiceless, alveolar lateral fricative.

Putting aside the elements in parentheses (whose phonemic status is questionable), there arethirty-five consonantal phonemes in Dene St¥ine, most of which are obstruents. Several setsof stops, affricates, and fricatives constitute the core system. There are two very conspiCUOUSphonological characteristics: a three-way contrast (plain versus aspirated versus glottalized)involving six sets of stops and affricates, and a large inventory of affricates in four series(interdental, alveolar, lateral, and alveopalatal). Particularly worthy of note here are theinterdental and lateral affricates, which are seldom found in other language families, as wellas the paucity of bilabial stops. The syllable structure is either CV or CVe.


The examples in table 9.12 illustrate CV and CVC syllable types as well as a contrastbetween oral and nasal vowels and between high tone (marked by the diacritic ') andlow tone.

Table 9.12 Vowel and tone contrasts in Dene St.¥ine

Low tone/high tone iu 'fish' ill 'white fish'khue 'house' khue 'town'teskh08 'I cough' teskh68 'I am wide'

Oral/nasal ti 'prairie chicken' ti(yi) 'four'tsha 'beaver' tsh~ 'excrement'si 'I' si (emphatic

particle)

In Dene SuJ'ine, consonant clusters are avoided in syllable margins, and every syllablehas a vowel; as already noted, syllables are maximally CVe. Some consonant clusters areallowed in Cree syllables, e.g., amisk 'beaver', ospwa:kan 'pipe'. Much more complex clustersare tolerated in other Canadian Aboriginal languages. In particular, Blackfoot (Algonquian)allows words like niltssksksfnitaksini 'one minute', and Oowekyala (Wakashan) and Nuxalk(Salish) are notorious for allowing all-obstruent utterances, as in (2) and (3).

(2) thxspstikts (Oowekyala)'This (here with me, not visible) will be a nice thwart:

(3) ts'ktskWts' (Nuxalk)'He arrived.'

9.2.2 MorphologyEqually interesting characteristics of North American Aboriginal languages are seen in theirmorphology, whose complexity has fascinated linguists for a long time. We can illustratesome of these intricacies with the help of several Aboriginal languages spoken in Canada.

PolysynthesisThe term polysynthetic (see chapter 8, section 8.2.2) is often used to underscore the morphological compleXities that are easily observable in many Aboriginal languages. Polysyntheticlanguages are characterized by morphologically complex words whose component morphemes often express meanings that would be expressed by separate words in such languagesas English and Mandarin. In the Inuktitut language, for instance, a typical word consisting ofa root followed by one or more suffixes can be the equivalent of an entire sentence in English.The following utterances are each considered to consist of a single word. (There is allomorphicvariation involVing the morpheme gik/rik meaning 'good'.)

(4) a. Iglu-gik-tuq.house-good-he-has.3sG'He has a good house.'

no Chapter Nine

b. Qayaq-rik-tuq.kayak-good-he-has.3sG'He has a good kayak.'

The following words further illustrate polysynthesis in Slave, an Athabaskan language,and Blackfoot, an Algonquian language.

(5) Ts'e- khu- nT- wa (Slave)preverb them you wake'You woke them.'

(6) Ma:t- ja:k- wa:xkaji- wa:tsiksi (Blackfoot)not will go home he'He is not going home.'

Person and numberMost English speakers are familiar with a three-way contrast involving person (first personspeaker; second person-addressee; third person-other party) and a two-way contrastinvolving number (unmarked singular versus marked plural). In many Canadian Aboriginallanguages, however, a much more elaborate system of contrasts is encountered. As noted in thechapter on morphology, for instance, the Inuit language has three subcategories of numbersingular (one), dual (two), and plural (three or more). The follOWing two sets of examplesillustrate how these subcategories are marked in nouns and verbs. (In the transcriptionemployed here, the symbol y represents a phoneme with the allophones [j) and [3].)

(7) igluiglu-kiglu-t

'an igloo (house)''igloos (twa)''igloos (three or more)'

niriyu-qniriyu-kniriyu-t

'he ate''they (two) ate''they (three or more) ate'

The Algonquian languages have an especially elaborate system of person and numbermarking, as the verb paradigm from Cree in table 9.13 illustrates.

Table 9.13 Person and number marking in Cree

pimisin 'to lie down'

1st singular2nd singular3rd singular (proximate)4th singular (obviative)1st plural (inclusive)1st plural (exclusive)2nd plural3rd plural

ni-pimisin-inki-pimisin-inpimisinpimisin-ijiwaki-pimisin-inawni-pimisin-ina:nki-pimisin-ina:wa:wpimisin-wak

'I lie down''you lie down''he or she lies down''the other lies down''we (you and I) lie down''we (I and other) lie down''you (pI) lie down''they lie down'

These examples exhibit a contrast in the first person plural between the so-called inclusiveand exclusive. This contrast is found not only in AlgonqUian, but also in Iroquoian, Siouan,and Wakashan. The inclusive indicates that the addressee is to be included in the interpretation


of the morpheme corresponding to English we. Thus, ki-pimisin-inaw, the inclusive first personplural form, means either 'you and I lie down' or 'you, I, and someone else lie down'. In contrast,the exclusive form (ni-pimisin-ina.71) indicates that the addressee is to be excluded. In English, thephrase 'we lie down' is potentially ambiguous because the grammatical distinctions observed inCree are not made.

The grammatical distinction between proximate and obviative (sometimes calledthird person and fourth person, respectively) is made in all Algonquian languages, as wellas in the isolate Ktunaxa. It is difficult to describe, but an example may help illustrate itsfunction. Suppose we are talking about two people (two 'third persons') and that thesentence He lay down is used. In English it is unclear which of the two people lay down.Cree speakers avoid this ambiguity by choosing one 'third person' as the focus of theconversation and marking this choice grammatically. One of the ways that this choice canbe signalled is by using the focused person's name as subject of a proximate form of theverb. Subsequent references to that person can then be made by means of a proximate verbform. Thus, when a Cree speaker uses the proximate form pimisin to express the meaning'he lay down', listeners know that he or she is talking about the person chosen as the focusof the conversation. Reference to any other person requires use of the obviative formpimisin-ijiwa.

GenderSeveral lroquoian languages (Mohawk, Oneida, and Onondaga) divide third-personpronominals into masculine, feminine, and neuter, in the manner of English (he, she,

it) and other Indo-European languages.

(8) Walli!.hneki:ra? (Mohawk)'Hf. drank it.'

Wa?~hneki:ra? (Mohawk)'She drank it.' (This can also be used for unspecified sex: 'someone drank it'.)

Wa?kahneki:ra? (Mohawk)'11 drank it.' (This can also be used for some female persons: 'she drank it'.)

In contrast, grammatical gender in Cree and other Algonquian languages distinguishesbetween animate and inanimate. This contrast can be seen in the two different forms ofthe plural suffix: -ak for animate nouns and -a for inanimate ones (see table 9.14).

Table 9.14 Animate and inanimate nouns in Cree

Animate

Inanimate

Singular Plural

si:si:p 'duck' si:si:p-ak 'ducks'na:pe:w 'man' na:pe:w-ak 'men'ospwa:kan 'pipe' ospwa:kan-ak 'pipes'

rni:nis 'berry' rni:nis-a 'berries'astotin 'cap' astotin-a 'caps'a:tsimo:win 'story' a:tsimo:win-a 'stories'

'children killed ducks''children ducks killed''killed children ducks''killed ducks children''ducks killed children''ducks children killed'

JJ2 Chapter Nine

Assignment of Cree words to a noun class sometimes seems to lack any naturalmotivation. The word ospwa:kan 'pipe', for instance, belongs to the animate class eventhough it does not denote a living thing. This practice is somewhat reminiscent of what isfound in the gender classification system of English, which can place a few inanimate words(such as those referring to ships and countries) in the feminine class.

9.2.3 SyntaxCanada's Aboriginal languages show great diversity in word order (see chapter 8). Forexample, Wakashan languages such as Oowekyala have a strict VSO order. Salish languagesand Ktunaxa are also verb-initial. By contrast, Siouan languages such as Dakota are rigidlySOY. Athabaskan languages are also verb-final.

(9) DaduqWla wism-axi w'ats'-iaXi. (Oowekyala)saw man-the/a dog-the/a'The/a man saw the/a dog.'

(10) ThathaI]ka phe3i jutapi (Dakota) K'ot'ini?i mit!adikodi iyala (Tsuut'ina)oxen grass eat man beaver kill'oxen eat grass' 'The man killed a beaver.'

On the other hand, the word order in many other Canadian languages is not fixed. Thisis the case in Eskimo-Aleut Inuktitut, in lroquoian languages such as Mohawk, in AlgonqUianlanguages such as Cree, and in Michif. (All six orderings in each of (11) and (12) are grammatical and the literal meaning does not change.)

(11) 'The children killed the ducks' (Cree)SVO Awa:sisak nipahe:wak si:si:paSOY Awa:sisak si:si:pa nipahe:wakVSO Nipahe:wak awa:sisak si:si:paVOS Nipahe:wak si:si:pa awa:sisakOVS Si:si:pa nipahe:wak awa:sisakOSV Si:si:pa awa:sisak nipahe:wak

(12) 'Sak likes her dress' (Mohawk)SVO Sak ra-nuhwe?-s ako-atya?tawi 'Sak likes her-dress'SOY Sak ako-atya?tawi ra-nuhwe?-s 'Sak her-dress likes'VSO Ra-nuhwe?-s Sak ako-atya?tawi 'likes Sak her-dress'VOS Ra-nuhwe?-s ako-atya?tawi ne Sak 'likes her-dress Sak'OVS Ako-atya?tawi ra-nuhwe?-s ne Sak 'her-dress likes Sak'OSV Ako-atya?tawi Sak ra-nuhwe?-s 'her-dress Sak likes'

Also of interest is the oft-repeated claim that many of Canada's Aboriginal languagesSalishan, Wakashan, lroquoian, and Inuktitut-lack a distinction between 'noun' and 'verb'.This claim is controversial, but most linguists agree that the noun/verb distinction is weak inthe syntax of these languages. For example, in Nuu-chah-nulth (Tseshaht dialect) qu:2as

'man' not only has the noun-like use in (13a), but also the verb-like use in (l3b). (Verbs comeat the beginning of the sentence in Nuu-chah-nulth.)

a

(13) a. Noun-like use of qu:?asMamu:k-ma qu:?as-?iwork-3sG man-the'The man is working.'


b. Verb-like use of qu:?asQu:?as-ma mamu:k-?iman-3sG work-the'The working one is a man.'

Sumrning UpThis chapter outlines genetic classifications, geographic distributions, and speakerpopulations of Canada's Aboriginal languages, and presents a selection of phonological andgrammatical characteristics of these languages. Even this brief discussion should illustratejust how much languages can differ from each other. Although it has sometimes beenclaimed that languages may differ in unpredictable ways, it should be remembered that thereare striking similarities that underlie surface differences and that these differences can bedescribed in terms of universal categories and processes (phonemes, morphemes, inflection,derivation, phrase structure, and so on). For this reason, the structural diversity of CanadianAboriginal languages offers the linguist opportunities to reaffirm familiar principles, as wellas to discover new insights into the nature of human language.

Recommended readingCampbell, Lyle. 1997. American [ndian Languages: The Historical Linguistics ofNative America.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.Foster, Michael K. 1982. "Canada's Indigenous Languages: Past and Present." Language and

Society 7:3-16. Ottawa: Commissioner of Official Languages.Goddard, Ives, ed. 1996. Languages, Vol. 17 of the Handbook of North American Indians.

Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.Mithun, Marianne. 2001. The Languages ofNative North America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge

University Press.Voegelin, eE, and EM. Voegelin. 1965. "Classification of American Indian Languages."

Languages of the World, Native America Fascicle 2, section 1.6, Anthropological Linguistics7:121-50.

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