Mikasuki language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mikasuki | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | United States | |
| Region: | Southern Florida | |
| Total speakers: | 500 | |
| Language family: | Muskogean Eastern Muskogean Mikasuki |
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | nai | |
| ISO 639-3: | mik | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
The Mikasuki language (also Miccosukee or Hitchiti-Mikasuki) is a Muskogean language spoken by around 500 people in southern Florida. It is spoken by the Miccosukee tribe as well as many Seminoles. The now-extinct Hitchiti language was mutually intelligible with Mikasuki.
Contents |
[edit] Sounds
The phonology is apparently:
| Front | Central | Back | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | iː | ĩ | ||||||
| Mid | o | oː | õ | ||||||
| Open | a | aː | ã | ||||||
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | Voiceless | p | t | k | ||
| Voiced | b | |||||
| Affricate | ʧ | |||||
| Fricative | Central | f | ʃ | h | ||
| Lateral | ɬ | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Semivowel | w | j | ||||
There are three tones, high, low and falling. Vowel length is distinctive, for example eche "mouth" vs eeche "deer", ete "eye" vs eete "fire".
[edit] Grammar
Nouns are marked with suffixes for various functions, some examples:
| Suffix | Function | Example | Meaning |
| embaache | battery | ||
| ot | subject marker | embaachot hampeepom | the battery has gone bad |
| on | object marker | embaachon aklomle | I need a battery |
| ee | question marker | embachee cheméèło? | do you have a battery? |
Free pronouns exist (aane "I", chehne "you", pohne "we") but are rarely used. Verb suffixes are the usual way of marking person.
[edit] Writing System
Mikasuki is written using the Latin alphabet. The vowels are pronounced as follows:
| Letter | Sound |
| a, aa | a, aː |
| a, aa | ã, ãː |
| e, ee | i, iː |
| e, ee | ĩː, ĩː |
| o, oo | o, oː |
| o, oo | õ; õː |
| ay | ai |
| ao | ao |
The consonants are:
| Letter | Sound |
| b | b |
| ch | ʧ |
| f | f |
| h | h |
| k | k |
| l | l |
| ł | ɬ |
| m | m |
| n | n |
| ng | ŋ |
| p | p |
| sh | ʃ |
| t | t |
| w | w |
| y | j |
High tone is indicated with an acute, low tone with a grave and falling tone with an acute (on a long vowel this is typographically split over both vowels, otherwise the grave is placed over the next consonant):
| High Tone | Low Tone | Falling Tone |
| á, áa | à, àa | áǹ, áà |
An epenthetic [ə] vowel appears in kl, kw and kn clusters in careful speech.
[edit] Examples
[edit] Verbs
| bochonkom | he/she/it touches |
| chaolom | he/she/it writes |
| chayahlom | he/she/it walks |
| eelom | he/she/it arrives |
| empom | he/she/it eats |
| eshkom | he/she/it drinks |
| faayom | he/she/it hunts |
| ommom | he/she/it makes |
[edit] Numerals
| 1 | łáàmen |
| 2 | toklan |
| 3 | tocheenan |
| 4 | shéetaaken |
| 5 | chahkeepan |
| 6 | eepaaken |
| 7 | kolapaaken |
| 8 | toshnapaaken |
| 9 | oshtapaaken |
| 10 | pokoolen |
[edit] Kinship Terms
| nakne | man, male |
| ooche | son |
| ooshtayke | daughter |
| táàte | father |
| tayke | woman, female |
| wáàche | mother |
| yaate | person |
| yaatooche | infant |
[edit] External links
- A Global Linguistic Database: Mikasuki
- Ethnologue report for Mikasuki
- Rosetta Project Archive page on Mikasuki
[edit] References
- West, J. & Smith, N. A Guide to the Miccosukee Language, Miami: Miccosukee Corporation 1978.
- West, J. The Phonology of Mikasuki in Studies in Linguistics 1962, 16:77-91.
