Blackfoot (language)
The Blackfoot language or Ni'tsiitapipo'ahsin ("language of the true, balanced people"), also Nitsipussin ("true, real language") is spoken by the four tribes / First Nations of the Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) and belongs to the language family of the Algonquin . The closest relationship is to the Plains Cree .
distribution
Ni'tsiitapipo'ahsin ( Nitsipussin ) is divided into four dialects, three of which are spoken in Alberta, Canada, and one in Montana, USA (Frantz 2009, Frantz & Russell 1995):
- Siksiká (Blackfoot) near Gleichen, southeast of Calgary the Siksika
- Kainai (Blood) between Cardston and Lethbridge the Kainai
- Aapátohsipikani (Northern Piegan or Piikani) at Brocket, west of Fort MacLeod the Northern Piegan (Peigan)
- Aamsskáápipikani (Southern Piegan or Montana Blackfeet) in the northwest of Montana the Southern Piegan (Blackfeet) .
Since the Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) were already divided into larger regional tribal groups before the reservation period, they had already developed dialects that differed slightly from one another, but which were understood without any problems. However, these small dialect variants were so large that today (as in the past) speakers of a reserve can easily identify the dialect of a tribal member of another reserve. There are also two sub-dialects of Siksiká (Blackfoot) (Sikiska A / B) and three of Kainai (Blood) (Kainai A / B / C), sometimes three sub-dialects of Aapátohsipikani (Northern Piegan or Piikani) (Piikani A / B / C) accepted.
In addition to these four regional dialects, there is now a significant difference between Old Blackfoot (also known as High Blackfoot ), the dialect mostly spoken by 70 to 80-year-old tribal members, and New Blackfoot (also called Modern Blackfoot ), the dialect of today Speakers who are mostly between 40 and 60 years of age.
However, today only 3250 Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) in Canada and 100 Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) in the USA speak their mother tongue, most now speak English as their first language. Some of the younger Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) in Canada also speak Cree.
classification
Like other Algonquian languages, Blackfoot is a polysynthetic language.
Of all the Algonquian languages, Blackfoot has strayed the most from the original Algonquian language, both in phonological and grammatical terms.
Phonemes
Consonants
| labial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | pː | t | tː | k | kː | ʔ |
| Fricative | s | sː | x | ||||
| nasal | m | mː | n | nː | |||
| Half vowel | w | j | |||||
Also has two Blackfoot affricate , / TS / , / ts / . The Velare will palatals [ ç ] and [ c ] if they are preceded by front vowels.
Vowels
| Front tongue vowel | Central vowel | Back vowel | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| closed | i | iː | ||||
| half closed | O | O | ||||
| half open | ɔ | ɔː | ||||
| open | æ | æː | a | aː | ||
The following allophones occur in the vowels: / a / is of long consonants [A] , / i / is [ ɪ ] in closed syllables, / æ / is [e] before / ʔ / and [ ɛ ] in closed syllables, and / o / is [ ʊ ] before long consonants. Blackfoot is a tonal language in which every word has at least one high vowel sound, while non-high vowels are weakly spoken at the end of the word.
orthography
John William Tims developed his own Blackfoot syllabary at the end of the 19th century . This had some external similarities with the Cree script , but the characters were pronounced differently.
Web links
- Ethnologue: Blackfoot
- Blackfoot - English Dictionary - Rosetta Edition.
- Don Frantz's page on the Blackfoot language (English)
- University of Montana - Blackfoot Language Group
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Blackfoot Language ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Ethnologue - Languages of the World - Blackfoot
