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Introduction to the Cultures of North American Aboriginal Peoples

Introduction to the Cultures of North American Aboriginal Peoples. Languages of North America. Languages of North America. Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century: 1,000 – 2,000 languages and dialects in North America (Driver) Generalizations Very difficult

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Introduction to the Cultures of North American Aboriginal Peoples

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  1. Introduction to the Cultures ofNorth American Aboriginal Peoples Languages of North America

  2. Languages of North America • Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century: • 1,000 – 2,000 languages and dialects in North America (Driver) • Generalizations • Very difficult • At least 7 different language families • All oral (no written forms prior to the 18th century) • Modern written forms • Most use the Latin alphabet • Cherokee • Inuit/Cree/Ojibwa syllabic systems

  3. Sequoyah’s (c. 1760-1843)Cherokee syllabic system

  4. Cree syllabic system developed by James Evans, missionary in the 1840s. Modified in the 1870s by James Peck for Inuktitut

  5. Language Families of North America • The number varies according to the expert • Driver: Seven plus numerous isolates and thus far unidentified languages • The geographic distribution of language families reveals something about the historic movement of peoples

  6. Language Families (1) • Eskimo-Aleut • Restricted to the Arctic Region • Inuktitut • Spoken from western Alaska to Greenland • Continuum of dialects • Yupik (Western Eskimo) • Spoken in southwestern Alaska • Four languages, including Siberia • Grammatically quite similar but significant differences in vocabulary and phonetics • Aleut • Spoken on the Aleutian Islands • 2 dialects (eastern and western)

  7. Language Families (2) • Athapaskan / Athabascan • Primarily found from the interior Alaska to the Yukon and Northwest Territories, along the Northwest Coast. • Important outliers • California • Northwestern corner of the region including the Tolowa, Hupa and a group of southern Athabascan languages) • Southwest • Navajo/Navaho • Apache • Both groups probably arrived sometime in the 15th century • This is based both on linguistic similarity and archaeological evidence.

  8. Language Families (3) • Algonquian • Widely distributed language family • Eastern Sub-arctic • Cree, Ojibwa • Northeastern Woodlands • Huron, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Delaware • Great Lakes • Fox-Sauk, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Pottawatomi • Southeastern Woodlands • Muskogee (Creek), Natchez, Tunica

  9. Language Families (4) • Siouan • Also widely distributed • Northeastern Woodlands • Seneca, Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida and Onondaga (Iroquois) • Huron • Northern Great Plains • Crow, Dakota, Hidatsa, Mandan, Omaha, Osage • Southeastern Woodlands/Southern Great Plains • Caddo, Wichita, Pawnee, Arikara, Yuchi

  10. Language Families (5) • Hokan • Much more restricted in its distribution • California, Baja California, Mexico • Yuman, Pomo, Chumash, Washo • Penutian • California, Northwest Coast, Great Basin, Southwest, Central America • Yokuts, Miwok, Chinook, Tsimshian, Nez Perce, Klamath, Zuñi, Maya

  11. Language Families (6 ) • Uto-Aztecan • Great Basin • Ute, Paiute, Mono • California • Mission Groups (Lusieño, Cupeño) • Southwest • Hopi, Pima-Papago, Tiwa/Tewa/Towa • Mexico • Nahuatl (Aztec) • Important Language Isolates • Yuki (California) • Yuki, Wappo • Keres (Southwest) • Eastern and Western (Laguna, Acoma) • Salish (Northwest Coast)

  12. Features (1) • Highly variable grammars • Singular/dual/plural • Male/Female forms of speech • Sioux • Agglutinating • Word phrases • Noun/Verb classification • Hopi • Verbs indicate short duration • Nouns indicate long duration • Nootka • No distinction between nouns and verbs

  13. Features (2) • Tenses • Hopi has no tenses • Aspect • Validity • Speaker reporting on a completed or ongoing action or event • Speaker expects that an action or event will take place • Action or event is predictable or regular • Clause linkage • Characteristics of two or more verbs • Earlier/later/simultaneous • Physical distance = chronological distance • "After long and careful study and analysis, the Hopi language is seen to contain no words, grammatical forms, constructions or expressions that refer directly to what we call "time." or to past, present, or future, or to enduring or lasting, or to motion as kinematic rather than dynamic (i.e. as a continuous translation in space and time rather than as an exhibition of dynamic effort in a certain process), or that even refer to space in such a way as to exclude that element of extension or existence that we call "time," and so by implication leave a residue that could be referred to as "time." Hence, the Hopi language contains no reference to "time," either explicit or implicit." (Whorf BL (1956) Language, Thought & Reality. MIT Press: Cambridge p. 57-8) • Gender/Plural • Navajo makes no distinction between he/she/it/theirs • No plural forms for nouns

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