Fox (language)
| Fox (Meskwaki or Meshkwahkihaki) | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
USA , Mexico | |
| speaker | 200-1000 | |
| Linguistic classification |
||
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -2 |
alg |
|
| ISO 639-3 |
sac and kic |
|
Fox (known by several names: Mesquakie, Meskwaki, Mesquakie-Sauk, Mesquakie-Sauk-Kickapoo, Sauk-Fox , Sac and Fox and others) is an indigenous North American language of the Algonquin language family , used by approximately 1,000 people in the American Midwest as well as in northern Mexico by the tribes of the Fox ( Meskwaki , "people of the red earth"), Sac ( Sauk , incorrectly "people of the yellow earth") and Kickapoo ( Kikapú , "those who are here and there") is spoken.
Accordingly, there are also three different dialects:
- Fox or Meskwakiatoweni ("Language of the Meskwaki")
- Sac / Sauk or Thâkiwâtowêweni ("language of the Thâkîwaki"), and
- Kickapoo.
However, Kickapoo is often viewed as a separate language that is closely related to Fox (ISO3 = kic).
The language is highly endangered. Most of the speakers are older. The school in the Meskwaki Settlement, Iowa, offers bilingual classes. Research on Meskwaki is ongoing at the Smithsonian Institute and the University of Chicago.
classification
Like other Algonquian languages, Fox is a polysynthetic language, with e.g. T. fusional trains.
Dialect comparison: Meskwaki - Sauk - Kickapoo
The following table shows how similar the dialects are.
| German | Meskwaki | Sauk | Kickapoo |
|---|---|---|---|
| one | Nekoti | Nekoti | Nekoti |
| Two | Ni · šwi | Nishwi | Niiswi |
| Three | Neswi | Nethwi | Neθwi |
| woman | Ihkwe · wa | Ihkwêwa | Ihkweea |
| man | Neniwa | Neniwa | Inenia |
| Sun | Kišeswa | Kîshethwa | Kiiseθwa |
| red | Meškwi | Meshkw | Meskwaa |
possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns are expressed as prefixes. The possessive prefixes are ne-, ke-, or o- before nouns that start with consonants, and net-, ket-, or ot- before nouns that start with vowels. There are also rare irregularities.
| chimāni (a boat) | nechimāni (my boat) | kechimāni (your boat) | ochimāni (his or her boat) |
| onākani (a bowl) | netonākani (my bowl) | ketonākani (your bowl) | otonākani (his or her bowl) |
literature
- Paul H. Voorhis: Introduction to the Kickapoo Language. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1974.
- Leonard Bloomfield: Notes on the Fox Language. In: International Journal of American Linguistics 1925, 3, pp. 219-232.
Web links
- Native Languages of the Americas: Mesquakie-Sauk
- Mesquakie Language Report on Ethnologue
- Kickapoo Language Report on Ethnologue
Individual evidence
- ↑ according to Ethnologue
- ↑ Meskwaki Settlement School - Meskwakiatoweni (Meskwaki Language)
- ↑ Meskwaki Settlement School Mission and Vision ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2016 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.
- ↑ native-languages.org sauk words
- ↑ meskwaki-sauk possession
