Algonquians

Algonquian is a linguistic term that describes the language family belonging specifically to a large number of North American Native nations. The Algonquian linguistic family is believed to have originated from a Proto-Algonquian parent language spoken as far back as 2,500 to 3,000 years ago. The area in which it originated is thought to have been located between Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario. The Proto-language has since then developed into many variations as a [Page 47]consequence of migration patterns, historical relationships,European contact, and environmental changes.

Algonquian languages were spoken throughout North America, across the Great Plains to the eastern seaboard and north from the Canadian Subarctic to North Carolina in the south. We categorize Algonquian languages into three geographic areas that include

• the Plains Algonquian languages spoken in centraland northern Great Plains
• the Central Algonquian languages spoken around the Great Lakes, north from eastern Quebec through Manitoba and from Labrador west to Hudson Bay and Alberta, and
• the Eastern Algonquian languages spoken from the Gulf of St. Lawrence south to coastal North Carolina.

The distribution of the Algonquian languages rests as one of the largest language expansions over North America. Due to their wide geographic distribution and location along a broad swath of the eastern North American coast, the Algonquian nations were the first with which Europeans had contact. Approximately half of the Algonquian languages were spoken in the Eastern Algonquian regions, while the others were concentrated within the eastern woodlands and northern plains. The Iroquoian nations neighbored the Algonquian nations in the eastern and southern areas, as the Siouan nations bordered on the south. The Algonquian nations were surrounded on the southwest and west by the Muskhogean and Siouan nations, on the northwest by the Kitunahan and the great Athapascan language families, and on the north, the coast of Labrador, and east of Hudson Bay by the Inuit. Although we recognize early relationships among Algonquian languages, these are difficult to confirm because some Algonquian languages vanished or disappeared before they could be studied. Some suggest that, when explorers first came in contact with Native American people in North America, there might have been as many as 300 Native American languages being spoken. By 1960,only around 80 of these languages were still being spoken but mainly by older generations, individuals over 50 years of age. Historically many Algonquian speakers could converse in more than one language and often, in several. Beginning in the 17th century, Christian missionaries and travelers formulated much of the histories of the Algonquian languages. Because the accumulation of research from the earliest ages is sparse, we see gaps within the chronological picture of the Algonquian history. As a consequence, the history includes bias and misunderstanding. By the19th century, a number of scholars began research in Algonquian comparative studies.

Micmac (Mi'kmaq) is spoken in parts of Nova Scotia; Prince Edward Island; eastern New Brunswick; Gaspé, Québec; Labrador; and Boston. Maliseet-Passamaquoddy is spoken in western New Brunswick by the Maliseet and in eastern Maine by the Passamaquoddy. Etchemin was spoken between Kennebec and St. John Rivers. Some suggest that Etchemin originated from Maliseet-Passamaquoddy and Eastern Abenaki. Eastern Abenaki was primarily spoken in central and western Maine. Different from Eastern Abenaki, Western Abenaki was spoken in St. Francis,Québec; Massachusetts; Vermont; and Sokoki, New Hampshire. The English translation of the French word loup is wolf. Given this name by the French, it is speculated that Loup A was spoken in areas of central Massachusetts and the Connecticut Valley. Loup B has similar dialects to Western Abenaki and Mahican. Massachusett was spoken in southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod, the Elizabeth Islands, Martha's Vineyard. and Nantucket. Narragansett was spoken in Rhode Island. Mohegan-Pequot-Montauk was spoken in eastern Connecticut and the eastern portion of Long Island. There is not sufficient information on Quiripi and Naugatuck-Unquachog-Shinnecock, but some suggest that these were also spoken in western Connecticut and Long Island. Mahican lived in areas from Lake Champlain along the southern Hudson River to eastern New York, western Massachusetts, and northwestern Connecticut. One of the Delaware languages, Munsee, was spoken on western Long Island, southern New York, and in northern New Jersey. The Munsee was later found in areas within Ontario, such as Moraviantown, Munceytown, and Six Nations. Another Delaware language,Unami, was spoken in southern New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Oklahoma. Nanticoke was spoken in Maryland and, more specifically,Piscataway to the west of the Chesapeake. Powhatan was spoken in Virginia, from the Potomac south to the James River. Pamlico was spoken in northeastern North Carolina.

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