Mohegan-Pequot language

Not to be confused with the Mohican language, a different Native American language.

Mohegan-Pequot (also known as Mohegan-Pequot-Montauk, Secatogue, and Shinnecock-Poosepatuck; dialects in New England included Mohegan, Pequot, and Niantic; and on Long Island, Montaukett and Shinnecock) is an Algonquian language formerly spoken by indigenous peoples in southern present-day New England and eastern Long Island.^[2]

Mohegan-Pequot
Mohiks-Piqut Uyôtowáwôk
Native to	United States
Region	southern New England
Ethnicity	Mohegan, Montauk, Niantic, Pequot, and Shinnecock
Extinct	1908, with the death of Fidelia Fielding^[1]
Language family	Algic Algonquian Eastern Mohegan-Pequot
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xpq
Glottolog	pequ1242
The location of the Mohegan, Pequot, Montaukett, Niantic, and Shinnecock, and their neighbors, c. 1600

Language endangerment and revitalization efforts

As of 2014, there are between 1,400 and 1,700 recorded tribal members (these figures vary by source). The Mohegan language has been dormant for approximately 100 years; the last native speaker, Fidelia Fielding, died in 1908. Fielding, a descendant of Chief Uncas, is deemed the preserver of the language. She left four diaries that are being used in the 21st-century process of restoring the language. She also took part in preserving the traditional culture. She practiced a traditional Mohegan way of life and was the last person to live in the traditional log dwelling.

Another important tribal member was Gladys Tantaquidgeon, who was the tribe's medicine woman from 1916 until her death in 2005. She too assisted greatly in maintaining the Mohegan culture, as she collected thousands of tribal documents and artifacts. These documents were of critical importance to supporting the tribe's documentation for its case for federal recognition, which was approved in 1994.

As of 2010, the Shinnecock and Unkechaug nations of Long Island, New York, had begun work with the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Southampton Campus, to revive their languages, or dialects of the above.^[3]

As of 2012, the Mohegan Language Project had created lessons, a dictionary, and other online learning materials to revive their language.^[4] The project also has a complete grammar in the works, which has been put together by Stephanie Fielding. The primary goal of the project is for the next generation of Mohegan people to be fluent.

Many of the dictionaries circulating are based on Prince and Speck's interpretation of testimony by the Mohegan woman, Dji's Butnaca (Flying Bird), also known as Fidelia Fielding.^[5]

The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center collection includes a 1992 menu "which attempts to translate such words as hamburger and hot dog into Mohegan-Pequot."^[6]

The language was documented as early as the 17th century.

"In 1690, a Pequot vocabulary list was compiled by Rev. James Noyes in Groton. In 1717, Experience Mayhew, a Congregational Minister translated the Lord's Prayer into Mohegan-Pequot. Ezra Stiles, president of Yale University collected Pequot linguistic data in Groton in 1762."^[6]

Prayers from the Baháʼí Faith have been translated into the Mohegan-Pequot language.^[7]

"It is a sacred obligation," says the Golden Hill Paugussett Chief, Big Eagle. "Indian people must keep their languages alive. If the language is not spoken, it must be made to live again."^[6]

Orthography

Historically, Mohegan-Pequot has not had a writing system, and its speakers relied on oral transfer of knowledge, as opposed to writing. The only significant historic writings have been produced by European colonizers who interacted with the speakers of Mohegan-Pequot.

The dictionaries, grammar books, and other material that is being developed in recent decades as part of the effort to revitalize Mohegan-Pequot Language, have adopted and used a standardized Latin orthography consisting of twelve consonants and six vowels.^[8]

Consonants

Sound	Phonetic	Mohegan-Pequot examples	Gloss	English equivalent
c	[dʒ] ~ [tʃ]	nutcôhtam	'I want'	beach
h	[h]	mohiks	'Mohegan, Mohegan Indian'	hi
k	[g] ~ [k]	ôkatuq	'cloud'	geese, ski
m	[m]	pôcum	'cranberry'	man
n	[n]	nupáw	'five'	name
p	[b] ~ [p]	páyaq	'ten'	spit
q	[k^w] ~ [kw]	sôyôqat piyámáq	'It is cold' 'fish'	queen
s	[s] ~ [z] [z] beginning of a word [z] between two vowels [s] ~ [ʃ] in clusters sk, sp, sq	nis pahsukôsq	'two' 'board, floorboard'	miss
sh	[ʃ]	nihsh ôtshohkôk	'eel' 'legend, myth'	shoreline
t	[d] ~ [t]	manto	'God'	do, stop
w	[w]	wacuw	'hill, mountain'	weasel
y	[j]	nut'huyô	'I call him'	mayor

Vowels

Sound	Phonetic	Mohegan-Pequot examples	Gloss	English equivalent
a	[ə] ~ [a]	ahki	'land, Earth'	handle
á	[aː]	yáw	'four'	father
i	[ɪ] ~ [i]	maci	'bad, wicked'	pin
o	[uː] ~ [o]	nupotawá	'I make a fire'	obey, book
ô	[ɔ̃:] ~ [ɔː]	kôq	'porcupine'	bonbon
u	[ʌ]	shwut	'third'	cut

Phonology

Consonant Sounds^[9][10]

	Labial	Alveolar	Alveolo palatal	Velar		Glottal
				plain	lab.
Nasal	m (m)	n (n)
Stop	p (p)	t (t)		k (k)	kʷ (q)
Affricate			tʃ (c)
Fricative		s (s)	ʃ (sh)			h (h)
Approximant			j (y)		w (w)

/n/ is realized as [ŋ] only before [k].

Vowel sounds

Simple vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	iː (i)		uː~oː (o)
Mid		ə (u)	ɔ̃ː~ɔː (ô)
Open		a (a)

The nasal /ɔ̃/ sound can range to being an oral /ɔ/ sound. ⟨a⟩ written with an acute accent (⟨á⟩) represents a long aː sound.

Diphthongs

	Central	Back
Close		au
Mid		ɔ̃i
Open	ai

Morphology

Nouns^[8]

Nouns in Mohegan have two forms: animate and inanimate. They are further distinguished by number. Animate nouns include people, animals, heavenly bodies (sun, moon, stars, but not clouds), and spirits. There are other items that call fall into the category of animate such as certain cultural items and plants, but it is not known why these items are considered animate. It is something that is simply learned and memorized. One way to help identify if a noun is animate or inanimate is to look at its plural form. Plural animate nouns typically end in -k while plural inanimate nouns end in -sh.

Animate nouns have four forms: singular, plural, obviative and locative. The obviate form is used when there are two or more animate third person nouns in a sentence to mark the noun which is less salient (less relevant to the discourse). The unmarked noun is called the proximate, which is more salient/relevant to the discourse. The obviative is also used to mark a third-person possessed noun, with the possessor considered as the proximate, even if the possessed noun is more salient than its possessor. The locative is used to show where something is spatially. Note that there is no obviative form for inanimate nouns, and neither the obviative nor the locative have plural forms (plurality is known through context).

Animate Nouns (with regular stems)
	Mohegan Form	English Translation
Singular	winay	old woman
Plural	winayak	old women
Obviative	winayah	old woman/women (obviative)
Locative	winayuk	at the old woman

Inanimate Nouns (with regular stems)
	Mohegan Form	English Translation
Singular	wacuw	hill
Plural	wacuwash	hills
Locative	wacuwuk	at the hill/on the hill

Verbs^[8]

Verbs in Mohegan come in several forms. Independent verbs exist in four forms: inanimate intransitive, animate intransitive, transitive inanimate and transitive animate. There is also the conjunct form which does not carry the affixes (used to clarify person) that the aforementioned hold.

Person, number and gender

Person^[8]

Mohegan animate intransitive verbs show who the subject is by utilizing affixes. Singular forms have prefixes, but third person (singular and plural) only have suffixes. In the plural forms there are inclusive and exclusive suffixes; the inclusive we includes the person who is speaking as well as the person he/she is talking to whereas the exclusive we does not include the person the speaker is talking to. When an animate intransitive verb stem ends in a long vowel (á, i, o or ô) the third person singular does not take a final -w, and in the third person plural these same verbs take -k as an ending in lieu of - wak.

Independent Verbs (animate intransitive)

Person	Mohegan	English Translation
1st person singular	nukumotu	I steal
2nd person singular	kukumotu	you steal
3rd person singular	kumotuw	he/she steals
3rd person obviative	kumotuh	he/she (obviative) steals
1st person plural exclusive	nukumotumun	we (I and he/she) steal
1st person plural inclusive	kukumotumun	we (I and you) steal
2nd person plural	kukumotumô	you (more than one) steal
3rd person plural	kumotuwak	they steal

*affixes indicated in bold type

Independent Verbs (animate intransitive w/long vowel ending)

Person	Mohegan	English Translation
1st person singular	nuyáhshá	I breathe
2nd person singular	kuyáhshá	you breathe
3rd person singular	yáhshá	he/she breathes
3rd person obviative	yásháh	he/she (obviative) breathes
1st person plural exclusive	nuyáhshámun	we (I and he/she) breathe
1st person plural inclusive	kuyáhshámun	we (I and you) breathe
2nd person plural	kuyáhshámô	you (more than one) breathe
3rd person plural	yáhshák	they breathe

*affixes indicated in bold type

Numbers^[8]

Cardinal		Ordinal
nuqut	one	nikôni	first
nis	two	nahahtôwi	second
shwi	three	shwut	third
yáw	four	yáwut	fourth
nupáw	five	nupáwut	fifth
qutôsk	six	qutôskut	sixth
nisôsk	seven	nisôskut	seventh
shwôsk	eight	shwôskut	eighth
pásukokun	nine	pásukokunut	ninth
páyaq	ten	páyaqut	tenth

Space

Locative case

The locative case is used to show where something is. Mohegan utilizes the suffix -uk to indicate spatial relationships, which can be compared to the English prepositions on, at, and in. In Mohegan there is no plural form to go with the obviative and the locative: the same form is used for singular and plural with the difference being distinguished by context.

Example of the Locative Case

Mohegan	English Translation
cáhqin	house
cáhqinash	houses
cáhqinuk	in the house/houses

Absentative case

The absentative case is used to when referencing a person who has died (this includes any property that they left behind). This is accomplished by adding a suffix to either his/her name, title or the property.

Absentative

	Mohegan	English Translation
singular	nokunsi	my late grandfather
plural	nokunsuk	my late grandfathers
obviative singular	wokunsah	his late grandfather
obviative plural	wokunsukah	his late grandfathers
departed's possession singular	mushoyi	my late father's boat
departed's possessions plural	mushoyuk	my late father's boats

*suffix indicated by bold type

The following example shows the absentative case in use:

Niswi nusihsuk wikôtamak áposuhutut.

'Both of my late uncles enjoyed cooking.'

Syntax

Possession

In Mohegan, there are two types of possession, alienable possession and inalienable possession. Nouns receive different marking depending on the relationship between the possessor and the possessed noun. If the possessed noun is connected (physically or sometimes metaphorically) to the possessed noun it is considered inalienable possession. For example in the phrase "the man's hand", the hand is possessed inalienably because it is inseparable from the man. Inalienable possession can also be metaphorical; for example, in the phrase "the man's mother", the mother is possessed inalienably because of a cultural perception of kinship as a "strong" connection. Inalienable nouns must always receive marking. If the possessor owns the possessed noun, but is not physically attached to it, it is considered alienable possession. In the phrase "the man's house", the house is possessed alienably because the house is not attached to the man.

Nouns pertaining to kinship and body parts are always classified as inalienable, but there are some terms that do not fall under either of these umbrellas that must be classified as inalienable, such as the noun home. Various affixes are used to denote inalienability and different affixes are used to differentiate animate/inanimate and singular/plural. Additionally, when a term requires possession but the possessor is unclear or unknown it is marked with a prefix that indicates an indefinite possessor.

Inalienable Possession - Animate Singular

Person	Mohegan	English Translation
1st person singular	nutônihs	my daughter
2nd person singular	kutônihs	your daughter
3rd person singular	wutônihsah	his/her daughter
1st person plural exclusive	nutônihsun	our (exclusive) daughter
1st person plural inclusive	kutônihsun	our (inclusive) daughter
2nd person plural	kutônihsuw	your (plural) daughter
3rd person plural	wutônihsuwôwah	their daughter
indefinite possessor	mutônihs	an unknown person's daughter

Inalienable Possession - Inanimate Singular

Person	Mohegan	English Translation
1st person singular	nusit	my foot
2nd person singular	kusit	your foot
3rd person singular	wusit	his/her foot
1st person plural exclusive	nusitun	our (exclusive) foot
1st person plural inclusive	kusitun	our (inclusive) foot
2nd person plural	kusituw	your (plural) foot
3rd person plural	wusituw	their foot
indefinite possessor	musit	an unknown person's foot

The locative (-uk) and obviate (-ah) suffixes are added to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular forms. Whether the word is singular or plural should be suggested in the content of the sentence. The obviate affixes only go on animate nouns.

When a possessed noun is plural it must be shown. With an animate noun then suffix -ak is combined with the possessive ending (with the exception of third person singular and third person plural, where the plural is the same as the singular).

Inalienable Possession - Animate Plural

Person	Mohegan	English Translation
1st person singular	nutônihsak	my daughters
2nd person singular	kutônihsak	your daughters
3rd person singular	wutônihsah	his/her daughters
1st person plural exclusive	nutônihsunônak	our (exclusive) daughters
1st person plural inclusive	kutônihsunônak	our (inclusive) daughters
2nd person plural	kutônihsuwôwak	your (plural) daughters
3rd person plural	wetônihsuwôwah	their daughters

Inalienable Possession - Inanimate Plural

Person	Mohegan	English Translation
1st person singular	nusitash	my feet
2nd person singular	kusitash	your feet
3rd person singular	wusitash	his/her feet
1st person plural exclusive	nusitunônash	our (exclusive) feet
1st person plural inclusive	kusitunônash	our (inclusive) feet
2nd person plural	kusituwôwash	your (plural) feet
3rd person plural	wusituwôwash	their feet
indefinite possessor	musitash	an unknown person's feet

*affixes on all charts are marked by bold type

Clause combining

In Mohegan grammar verbs that are in a dependent clause are said to be in the conjunct order. Conjunct verbs have the same numbers of persons for each verb, but they do not have prefixes, only suffixes. In turn, all of the person information is at the end of the word.

Conjunct Verbs: Animate Intransitives

Person	Mohegan	English Translation
1st person singular	yáhsháyôn	that I breathe
2nd person singular	yáhsháyan	that you breathe
3rd person singluar	yáhshát	that he/she breathes
1st person plural (incl & excl)	yáhsháyak	that we breathe
2nd person plural	yáhsháyáq	that you (more than one) breathe
3rd person plural	yáhsháhutut	that they breathe
3rd person plural participle	yáhshácik	those who breathe
indefinite subject	yáhshámuk	that someone breathes

*suffixes on chart marked by bold type

Example: Mô yáyuw maci ákacuyǒn.

Translation: 'It was so bad that I am ashamed.'

When in the conjunct form if the first vowel of the word is a short vowel, that is /a/ or /u/, it changes to a long /á/.

Transitive verbs with inanimate objects take only a suffix as well. The suffix varies based on the ending of the stem.

For stems that end in -m- or -n- the suffixes are as follows:

1st person singular: -ôn

2nd person singular: -an

3rd person singular: -k

1st person plural: -ak

2nd person plural: -áq

3rd person plural: -hutut

3rd person plural participle: -kik

Indefinite subject (passive): -uk

For stems that end in -o- the suffixes are as follows:

1st person singular: -yôn

2nd person singular: -yan

3rd person singular: -ôk

1st person plural: -yak

2nd person plural: -yáq

3rd person plural: -w'hutut

3rd person plural participle: -ôkik

Indefinite subject (passive): -muk

For stems that end in -u- the suffixes are as follows:

1st person singular: -wôn

2nd person singular: -wan

3rd person singular: -k

1st person plural: -wak

2nd person plural: -wáq

3rd person plural: -'hutut

3rd person plural participle: -kik

Indefinite subject (passive): -muk

See also

• Mohegan people
• Pequot
• Montaukett
• Niantic people
• Shinnecock Indian Nation

Notes

1. . Archived from the original on 2014-05-02. Retrieved 2014-12-23.
2. Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 16th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics
3. Patricia Cohen, "Indian Tribes Go in Search of Their Lost Languages", New York Times, 6 Apr 2010, C1, C5
4. . Archived from the original on 2010-04-24. Retrieved 2012-11-12.
5. J. Dyneley Prince and Frank G. Speck (March 1904). "Glossary of the Mohegan-Pequot Language" (PDF). American Anthropologist. New Series. 6 (1): 18–45. doi:10.1525/aa.1904.6.1.02a00030.
6. Libby, Sam (18 October 1998). "Tribes to Revive Language". The New York Times. p. 6.
7. "Ôkosuwôkak wuci Mohiks-Piqut Uyôtowáwôk - Bahá'í Prayers in the Mohegan-Pequot Language". Retrieved 2012-11-12.
8. Fielding, Stephanie (2006), A Modern Mohegan Dictionary 2006 Ed.
9. Granberry, Julian (2003). A Lexicon of Modern Mohegan. Lincom Europa.
10. Fielding, Stephanie (2006). A Modern Mohegan Dictionary.

References

Articles

• Cowan, William. Pequot from Stiles to Speck. International Journal of American Linguistics. The University of Chicago Press. Vol. 39, No. 3 (Jul., 1973), pp. 164–172
• De Forest, John W. "The Lord's Prayer in the Pequot Tongue." In History of the Indians of Connecticut. 1852. Reprint, Brighton, MI: Native American Book Publishers, 1994.
• Michelson, Truman. "The Linguistic Classification of Pequot-Mohegan." American Anthropologist 26 (1924): 295. doi:10.1525/aa.1924.26.2.02a00240
• Pickering, John, ed. "Doctor Edwards' Observations on the Mohegan Languages." Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Series 2 Volume 10 (1823): 81-160.
• Prince, J. Dyneley and Frank G. Speck. "Glossary of the Mohegan-Pequot Language." American Anthropologist 6 (1904): 18-45. doi:10.1525/aa.1904.6.1.02a00030
• Prince, J. Dyneley and Frank G. Speck. "The Modern Pequots and Their Language." American Anthropologist 5 (1903): 193-212. doi:10.1525/aa.1903.5.2.02a00010
• Speck, Frank. "A Modern Mohegan-Pequot Text." American Anthropologist 6 (1904): 469-76. doi:10.1525/aa.1904.6.4.02a00070
• Speck, Frank and Fidelia Fielding. "A Pequot Mohegan Witchcraft Tale." Journal of American Folklore 16 (1903): 104-6.
• Speck, Frank. "Native Tribes and Dialects of Connecticut: A Mohegan-Pequot Diary." Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology Annual Report 43 (1903): 199-287.
• Speck, Frank. Speck Papers and Photograph Collection. (17 microfilm reels)
• Speck, Frank. "Text of the Pequot Sermon." American Anthropologist 5 (1903): 199-212.

External links

 

Mohegan-Pequot language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

• , website with assorted Mohegan Language resources
• A Modern Mohegan Dictionary (2006 Edition)—contains Guide to Using the Dictionary, Mohegan Grammar Paradigms, Mohegan to English Dictionary, and English to Mohegan Word Finder
• — update of the Mohegan to English Dictionary section of above
• Mahican vs. Mohegan
• OLAC resources in and about the Mohegan-Pequot language