Muskogean languages

Pre-contact distribution of Muskogean languages

Muskogean (also Muskhogean, Muskogee) is a language family of the U.S. Southeast. The Muskogean languages are generally divided into two rough branches, Eastern and Western, though these distinctions are the subject of some debate. They are agglutinative languages.

Family division

The Muskogean family has been subdivided into two competing genetic trees. The traditional classification is from Mary Haas and her students. A more recent and controversial classification has been proposed by Pamela Munro.

A vocabulary of the Houma may be another under-documented Western Muskogean language or a version of Mobilian Jargon. Mobilian Jargon is a pidgin based on Western Muskogean.

Haas

I. Western Muskogean

1. Chickasaw

2. Choctaw (a.k.a. Chahta, Chacato)

II. Eastern Muskogean

A. Central Muskogean

i. Apalachee-Alabama-Koasati group

a. Alabama-Koasati

3. Alabama

4. Koasati

b. Apalachee

5. Apalachee

ii. Hitchiti-Mikasuki

6. Hitchiti-Mikasuki

B. Creek

7. Creek

Munro

I. Northern Muskogean

1. Creek/Seminole

II. Southern Muskogean

A. Southwestern Muskogean group

i. Apalachee

2. Apalachee

ii. Alabama-Koasati

3. Alabama

4. Koasati

iii. Western Muskogean

5. Chickasaw

6. Choctaw

B. Hitchiti-Mikasuki group

7. Hitchiti/Mikasuki

Genetic relationships

Muskogean languages have been tenatively linked to the Natchez language of Lousiana. The languages are also linked to Native Americans in the South Carolina area, specifically the Yemassee of the Low Country.

Family features

Phonology

Muskogean languages have relatively simple phonologies compared to other Native American languages. Proto-Musgokean likely contained the phonemes /p t tS k g K s h m n l w y/ (given in X-Sampa notation). Western Muskogean languages contrast /s/ and /S/. Many of the languages contrast voiceless /p/ with voiced /b/; voiced labials are rare in the wider Native American schema. Muskogean languages use pitch accent.

Probable sounds of Proto-Muskogean:

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stops	p	t		k    g
Fricatives		s			h
Affricates			tʃ
Approximants	w	ɬ  l	j
Nasals	m	n

Nouns

Most family languages display lexical accent on nouns, as well as grammatical case which distinguishes the nominative from the oblique. Nouns do not obligatorially inflect for gender or number.

Verbs

Muskogean verbs have a complex ablaut system wherein the verbal stem changes depending on aspect (almost always), and less commonly depending on tense or modality. In Muskogean linguistics, the different forms are known as "grades".

Verbs mark for first and second person, as well as agent and patient (Choctaw also marks for dative). Third-persons (he, she, it) have a null-marker.

Plurality of a noun agent is marked by either 1) affixation on the verb or 2) an innately plural verbal stem. The latter is a trait very distinctive to the Muskogean language family.

Example (pluralization via affixation, Choctaw)

    ishimpa
    ish-impa
    2SG.NOM-eat
    "you [sg.] eat"
    
    hashimpa
    hash-impa
    2PL.NOM-eat
    "you [pl.] eat"

Example (innately-numbered verbal stems, Mikasuki)

    łiniik
    run.SG
    "to run (singular)"
    
    palaak
    run.PAUCAL
    "to run (several)"

    mataak
    run.PL
    "to run (many)"

External links

• Paper on Roots of Muskogean languages (discusses classifications)
• Ethnologue: Muskogean

Bibliography

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Goddard, Ives (Ed.). (1996). Languages. Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 17). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-1604-8774-9.
• Haas, Mary. (1973). The southeast. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), Linguistics in North America (part 2, pp. 1210-1249). The Hauge: Mouton.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Sebeok, Thomas A. (Ed.). (1973). Linguistics in North America (parts 1 & 2). Current trends in linguistics (Vol. 10). The Hauge: Mouton. (Reprinted as Sebeok 1976).
• Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). (1978-present). Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 1-20). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. (Vols. 1-3, 16, 18-20 not yet published).