Quiripi language

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Quiripi
Native toUnited States
Native speakers
extinct
Language codes
ISO 639-3qyp

Quiripi (pronounced /ˈkwɪrɪˌpiː/,[1] also known as Quiripi-Unquachog, Quiripi-Naugatuck, and Wampano) was an Algonquian language formerly spoken by the indigenous people of southwestern Connecticut and central Long Island,[2][3] including the Quinnipiac, Naugatuck, Unquachog, Mattabesic, Potatuck, Weantinock, and Paugussett. It has been effectively extinct since the end of the 18th century,[4] although Frank T. Siebert, Jr., was able to record a few Unquachog words from an elderly woman in 1932.[5]

Affiliation and dialects

Quiripi belonged to the Eastern Algonquian branch of the Algonquian language family.[6][7] It shared a number of linguistic features with the other Algonquian languages of southern New England, such as Massachusett and Mohegan-Pequot, including the shifting of Proto-Eastern Algonquian */aː/ and */eː/ to /ãː/ and /aː/, respectively, and the palatalization of earlier */k/ before certain front vowels.[8][9] There appear to have been two major dialects of Quiripi: an "insular" dialect spoken on Long Island by the Unquachog and a "mainland" dialect spoken by the other groups in Connecticut, principally the Quinnipiac.[10][11]

Attestation

Quiripi is very poorly attested,[12] though some sources do exist. One of the earliest Quiripi vocabularies was a 67-page bilingual catechism compiled in 1658 by Rev. Abraham Pierson, during his ministry at Branford, Connecticut,[13][2] which remains the chief source of modern conclusions about Quiripi.[3] Unfortunately, the catechism was "poorly translated" by Pierson,[3] containing an "unidiomatic, non-Algonquian sentence structure."[14] It also displays signs of dialect mixture.[15] Other sources of information on the language include a vocabulary collected by Rev. Ezra Stiles in the late 1700s[16] and a 202-word Unquachog vocabulary recorded by Thomas Jefferson in 1791,[5] though the Jefferson vocabulary also shows clear signs of dialect mixture and "external influences."[17] Additionally, three early hymns written circa 1740 at the Moravian Shekomeko mission near Kent, Connecticut, have been translated by Carl Masthay.[18]

Phonology

Linguist Blair Rudes attempted to reconstitute the phonology of Quiripi, using the extant documentation, comparison with related Algonquian languages, as "reconstructing forward" from Proto-Algonquian.[19] In Rudes' analysis, Quiripi contained the following consonant phonemes:[20]

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive p t tʃ k
Fricative s (ʃ)* h
Nasal m n
Rhotic r
Semivowel w j
^ /ʃ/ was a distinct phoneme only in the mainland dialect; in Unquachog it had merged with /s/

Quiripi's vowel system as reconstituted by Rudes was similar to that of the other Southern New England Algonquian languages. It consisted of two short vowels /a/ and /ə/, and four long vowels /aː/, /iː/, /uː/, and /ʌ̃/.[20]

Notes

  1. ^ Salwen (1978:175)
  2. ^ a b Rudes (1997:1)
  3. ^ a b c Goddard (1978:72)
  4. ^ Goddard (1978:71)
  5. ^ a b Rudes (1997:5)
  6. ^ Goddard (1978)
  7. ^ Mithun (1999:327)
  8. ^ Goddard (1978:75)
  9. ^ Rudes (1997:27)
  10. ^ Rudes (1997:6-7)
  11. ^ Costa (2007:116, 119)
  12. ^ Costa (2007:116, 118)
  13. ^ Mithun (1999:331)
  14. ^ Costa (2007:118)
  15. ^ Costa (2007:116)
  16. ^ Rudes (1997:4)
  17. ^ Costa (2007:120)
  18. ^ Rudes (1997:2)
  19. ^ Rudes (1997:6)
  20. ^ a b Rudes (2007:18)

External links

References

  • Costa, David J. (2007). "The Dialectology of Southern New England Algonquian." In Papers of the 38th Algonquian Conference, ed. H. C. Wolfart. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba, pp. 81-127
  • Goddard, Ives (1978). "Eastern Algonquian Languages." In Northeast, ed. Bruce G. Trigger. Vol. 15 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, pp. 70-77
  • Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  • Rudes, Blair A. (1997). "Resurrecting Wampano (Quiripi) from the Dead: Phonological Preliminaries." Anthropological Linguistics (39)1:1-59
  • Salwen, Bert (1978). "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island: Early Period." In Northeast, ed. Bruce G. Trigger. Vol. 15 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, pp. 160-176
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