Potawatomi language

Potawatomi
Neshnabémwen
Native to	United States, Canada
Region	Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, and southern Ontario
Native speakers	9 (2012)
Language family	Algic Algonquian Ojibwe–Potawatomi Potawatomi
Writing system	Latin (various alphabets), Great Lakes Algonquian syllabics
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pot
Glottolog	pota1247
Linguasphere	62-ADA-dc (Potawatomi)

Potawatomi (also spelled Pottawatomie; in Potawatomi Bodéwadmimwen or Bodéwadmi Zheshmowen or Neshnabémwen) is a Central Algonquian language and was spoken around the Great Lakes in Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as in Kansas in the United States, and in southern Ontario in Canada, by 9 Potawatomi people, all elderly. There is currently an effort underway to revive the language.

Language revitalization

One of the final surviving elderly speakers of Potawatomi, Cecilia Miksekwe Jackson, died in May 2011, at the age of 88.

A master-apprentice program in which a "language student (the language apprentice) will be paired with fluent Potawatomi speakers (the language masters)" was scheduled to begin in January 2013. Classes in the Potowatomi language are available, including those at the Hannahville summer immersion camp, with webcast instruction and videoconferencing.

Classification

Potawatomi is a member of the Algonquian language family (itself a member of the larger Algic stock). It is usually classified as a Central Algonquian language, with languages such as Ojibwe, Cree, Menominee, Miami-Illinois, Shawnee and Fox. The label "Central Algonquian" signifies a geographic grouping rather than the group of languages descended from a common ancestor language within the Algonquian family. Of the Central languages, Potawatomi is most similar to Ojibwe, but it also has borrowed a considerable amount of vocabulary from the Sauk.

Generally, Potawatomi is divided into Northern Potawatomi, spoken in Ontario, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and Southern Potawatomi, spoken in Kansas and Oklahoma.

Writing systems

Current writing system

Though no standard orthography has been agreed upon by the Potawatomi communities, the system most commonly used is the "Pedagogical System" developed by the Wisconsin Native American Languages Program (WNALP). As the name suggests, it was designed to be used in language teaching. The system is based on the Roman alphabet and is phonemic, with each letter or digraph representing a contrastive sound. The letters used are a b ch d e é g ' h i j k m n o p s sh t w y z zh.

In Kansas, a different system called BWAKA is used. It too is both based on the Roman alphabet and phonemic, with each letter or digraph representing a contrastive sound. The letters used are ' a b c d e e' g h i I j k m n o p s sh t u w y z zh.

Traditional system

The traditional system used in writing Potawatomi is a form of syllabic writing. Potawatomi, Ottawa, Sac, Fox and Winnebago communities all used it. Derived from the Roman alphabet, it thus resembles handwritten Roman text. However, unlike the Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics or the Cherokee alphabet, it has not yet been incorporated into the Unicode standards.

Each Potawatomi syllabic block in the system has at least 2 of the 17 alphabetic letters: 13 consonants and 4 vowels. Of the 13 phonemic consonantal letters, the /h/, written ⟨⟩, is optional.

Consonants		Consonants		Consonants		Vowels
Traditional System	a	a
(lA)	(p)	s	z/s	(qA)	(kw)	e	e
t	d/t	(sA)	s	g	g of "-ng"	e	é
(tA)	(t)	sH	zh/sh	w	w	i	i
tt	j/ch	(sHA)	(sh)	y	y	o	o
(ttA)	(ch)	m	m	(none)	'/h
ĸ	g/k	n	n	(A)	(h)

Sounds

Here, the phonology of the Northern dialect is described, which differs somewhat from that of the Southern dialect, spoken in Kansas.

There are 5 vowel phonemes, 4 diphthongs, and 19 consonant phonemes.

⟨é⟩, which is often written as ⟨e'⟩, represents an open-mid front unrounded vowel, /ɛ/. ⟨e⟩ represents the schwa, /ə/, which has several allophonic variants. Before /n/, it becomes [ɪ]; before /k/, it becomes /ɡ/ or /ʔ/; and word-finally, it becomes [ʌ].

⟨o⟩ is pronounced /u/ in Michigan and /o/ elsewhere. When it is in a closed syllable, it is pronounced [ʊ]. There are also four diphthongs, /ɛj ɛw əj əw/, spelled ⟨éy éw ey ew⟩. Phonemic /əj əw/ are realized as [ɪj ʌw].

Obstruents, as in many other Algonquian languages, do not have a voicing distinction per se but what is better termed a "strong"/"weak" distinction. "Strong" consonants, written as voiceless (⟨p t k kw⟩), are always voiceless, often aspirated, and longer in duration than the "weak" consonants, which are written as voiced (⟨b d g gw⟩) and are often voiced and are not aspirated. Nasals before another consonant become syllabic, and /t/, /d/, and /n/ are dental: [t̪ d̪ n̪].

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i	o
Mid	e
Low	é	a

Consonants

	Bilabial		Dental		Palatal		Velar		Labio -velar		Glottal
Occlusive	p	b	t	d	ch	j	k	g	kw	gw	’
Fricative			s	z	sh	zh					h
Sonorant	m		n		y				w

Grammar

Potawatomi has six parts of speech: noun, verb, pronoun, prenoun, preverb, and particle.

Pronouns

There are two main types of pronoun: personal pronouns and demonstrative pronouns. As nouns and verbs use inflection to describe anaphoric reference, the main use of the free pronouns is for emphasis.

Personal pronouns

Potawatomi	Gloss
nin	I
gin	you
win	he, she
ninan	we (exclusive)
ginan	we (inclusive)
ginwa	you (plural)
winwa	they

Correspondences to Ojibwe

The relatively recent split from Ojibwe makes Potawatomi still exhibit strong correspondences, more specifically with the Odaawaa (Ottawa) dialect.

Fiero Double Vowel System	Rhodes Double Vowel System	Potawatomi WNALP System	Potawatomi BWAKA System	IPA Value
a (unstressed)	(none)	(none)	(none)/u	∅
a (stressed)	a (stressed)	e	e/u	ə
aa	aa	a	a/o	a~ʌ
b	b	b	b/p	b
ch	ch	ch	c	tʃ
d	d	d	d/t	d
e (unstressed)	e (unstressed)	e	e	ə
e (stressed)	e (stressed)	é/e'	e'	ɛ
g	g	g	g/k	ɡ
gi (unstressed)	g	j	j/ch	dʒ
g	g	j (from gy*)	j/c (from gy*)	dʒ
-g	-g	-k	-k	k
h	h	h	h	h
'	h	'	'	ʔ
i (unstressed)	(none)	(none)	(none)/I	∅
i (stressed)	i (stressed)	e	e/I	ə
ii	ii	i	i	ɪ
j	j	j	j/ch	dʒ
k	k	k	k	k
ki (unstressed)	k	ch	c	tʃ
k	k	ch (from ky*)	c (from ky*)	tʃ
m	m	m	m	m
mb	mb	mb	mb	mb
(not from PA *n) n/(none)	n/(none)	n/y	n/y	n~j
(from PA *n) n	n	n	n	n
nd	nd	nd/d	nd/d	nd~d
ng	ng	ng/g	ng/g	ŋɡ~ɡ
nj	nj	nj/j	nj/j	ndʒ~dʒ
ns	ns	s	s	s
nz	nz	z	z	z
ny/-nh	ny/-nh	(none)	(none)	∅
nzh	nzh	zh	zh	ʒ
o (unstressed)	(none)/w/o (unstressed)	(none)/w/o/e	(none)/w/o/e	∅~w~o~ʊ~ə
o (stressed)	o (stressed)	o	o	o~ʊ
oo	oo	o	o	o
p	p	p	p	p
s	s	s	s	s
sh	sh	sh	sh	ʃ
shk	shk	shk	shk	ʃk
shp	shp	shp	shp	ʃp
sht	sht	sht	sht	ʃt
sk	sk	sk	sk	sk
t	t	t	t	t
w	w/(none)	w/(none)	w/(none)	w~∅
wa (unstressed)	wa (unstressed)/o	w/o	w/o	w~o~ʊ
waa (unstressed)	waa (unstressed)/oo	wa/o	wa/o	wa~o~ʊ
wi (unstressed)	wi (unstressed)/o	w/o	w/o	w~o~ʊ
y	y	y (initial glide)	y (initial glide)	j
(none)	(none)	y (medial glide)	y (medial glide)	j
z	z	z	z/s	z
zh	zh	zh	zh/sh	ʒ

Further reading

• Gailland, Maurice. (1840). English-Potawatomi Dictionary.
• Hockett, Charles Francis.(1987). The Potawatomi Language: A Descriptive Grammar. Ann Arbor, Mich: University Microfilms International.
• Hockett, Charles Francis. (1939). Potawatomi Syntax. Language, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 235–248
• Hockett, Charles Francis. (1948a). Potawatomi I: Phonemics, Morphophonemics, and Morphological Survey. International Journal of American Linguistics. Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 1–10
• Hockett, Charles Francis. (1948b). Potawatomi II: Derivations. International Journal of American Linguistics. Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 63–73
• Hockett, Charles Francis. (1948c). Potawatomi III: The Verb Complex. International Journal of American Linguistics. Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 139–149
• Hockett, Charles Francis. (1948d). Potawatomi IV: Particles and Sample Texts. International Journal of American Linguistics. Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 213–225
• Hockett, Charles Francis. (1950). The Conjunct Modes in Ojibwa and Potawatomi. Language, Vol. 26, No. 2,pp. 278–282
• Quimby, George Irving. (1940). Some Notes on Kinship and Kinship Terminology Among the Potawatomi of the Huron. S.l: s.n.
• Wisconsin Native American Languages Project and John Nichols. (1975). Potawatomi Traditional Writing. Milwaukee WI: Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council.

External links

• Potawatomi Language Vocabulary, Audio and Video, Interactive Language Games, Online Courses
• Potawatomi Pronunciation and Spelling Guide
• The Neshnabe Institute for Cultural Studies - Dedicated to Potawatomi Language Revitalization
• Prairie Band Potawatomi Language Project Smokey McKinney, 1997
• Prairie Band Potawatomi Language Department
• Citizen Potawatomi Department of Language
• Hannahville Indian Community Department of Culture, Language and History
• Forest County Potawatomi Cultural Center, Library and Museum
• Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Department of Language
• Pokégnek Bodéwadmik Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Department of Language and Culture
• Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Potawatomi Department of Language and Culture
• OLAC resources in and about the Potawatomi language