Linguistic Diversity Challenge - Mi’kmaq
Picture source: http://listuguj.ca/powwow/
What is the language called in English and the language itself? -The spelling of the language has varied and includes Mi’kmaq and Mi’gmaq in English, and Lnuismk, Miꞌkmawiꞌsimk, and Miꞌkmwei in the language itself. Where is the language spoken? -It was and is spoken in what’s now Maine, in the US, and Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, and parts of Quebec and Newfoundland in Canada. How many people speak the language? -It’s spoken by around an estimated 11,000 people. Which language family does it belong to? What are some of its relative languages? -Mi’kmaq is an Eastern Algonquian language, related to Abenaki and Malecite–Passamaquoddy. What writing system does the language use? -Currently it’s written in the Latin alphabet. Previously, it was written using Mi’kmaq hieroglyphic writing, which looks like this:
What kind of grammatical features does the language have? -Mi’kmaq is a polysynthetic language that determines word order by emphasis rather than a strict order for subjects, objects, and verbs. Things like subject and object are attached to the verb as affixes. There are three types of words: nouns, verbs, and particles. The language has two noun classes: animate and inanimate, and verbs can also be marked for animacy. Miꞌkmaq also uses a decimal numeral system.
What does the language sound like?
-Mi’kmaq is not tonal. -Obstruents are devoiced when they appear word-initally or adjacent to another obstruent, and are consistently voiced when they appear between sonorants. -Stops and affricates that appear word-finally may be aspirated. -Phoneme length is distinguished for both vowels and consonants; a schwa is epenthesized between long consonants and other consonants. What do you personally find interesting about the language? -I find the animacy system really cool. Although many animate nouns seem “predictable” (such as people, animals, and spirits), it’s not always easy to guess. For example, “the calf of the leg is an animate noun while the thigh is inanimate, and a raspberry is animate while a strawberry is inanimate.” (WikiLang) Resources used to compile this post: http://listuguj.ca/directorates/listuguj-education-directorate/migmaq-language/ https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Mi%27kmaq_language/Grammar https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiLang/Mi%27kmaq_Grammar https://www.omniglot.com/writing/mikmaq.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miꞌkmaq_language I used the same format as @languagesandshootingstars, who’s been creating some great content for this challenge.
