Unami (also known as Delaware, Lenni-Lenape, Lenape) is an extinct Algonquian language formerly spoken in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but later in Oklahoma. Speakers have shifted to English. [1]
Lenape is from /lənaːpːe/, a word in the Unami dialect whose most literal translation into English would be “the real people”.[2][3] (The common schoolbook term, Lenni-Lenape is not correct, but translates as, “the original real-people”). The Lenape names for the area they inhabited were Scheyichbi, which means, “the place bordering the ocean”, and Lenapehoking, meaning “place where the people live”, although the latter is not universally accepted as historical. [4]
The Order of the Arrow, an affililate of the Boy Scouts of America, attempts to preserve some legends and language elements of Lenape tribe. However, numerous local lodges of the Order of the Arrow do not emulate the customs of the Lenape alone, but mingle the Lenape customs with those of completely dissimilar tribes (e.g., the Cherokee).
A modern version of the Southern Unami dialect called Western Delaware is being taught by the Delaware Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma. It is called Western because it was spoken by the Delaware Indians in the Western part of Oklahoma. The tribe has created tapes of native speakers and written lessons available for sale, in an attempt to preserve the language.
Sounds / Phonology
Unami has been analysed as having contrastive long and short stop and fricative consonants.[5] The raised dot /·/ is used to indicate length of a preceding consonant or vowel. A full analysis of the status of the long consonants is not available, and more than one analysis of Delaware consonants has been proposed. The contrastive long consonants are described as having low functional yield, that is they differentiate relatively few pairs of words, but nonetheless do occur in contrasting environments. Delaware consonantal phonology is complex, and there are also rules that lengthen consonants in certain environments.[6]
Consonants and vowels
Consonants
|
Bilabial |
Dental |
Postalveolar |
Velar |
Glottal |
| Stop |
p |
t |
č |
k |
|
| Long Stop |
p· |
t· |
č· |
k· |
|
| Fricative |
|
s |
š |
x |
h |
| Long Fricative |
|
s· |
š· |
x· |
|
| Nasal |
m |
n |
|
| Lateral |
|
l |
|
|
|
| Glides |
y |
|
y |
|
|
Unami vowels are presented as organized into contrasting long-short pairs.[7] One asymmetry is that high short /u/ is paired with long /o·/, and the pairing of long and short /ə/ is noteworthy.
Vowels
|
Front |
Central |
Back |
| High |
i |
|
u |
| High Long |
i· |
|
o· |
| Mid |
e |
ə |
ɔ |
| Mid Long |
e· |
ə· |
ɔ· |
| Low |
|
a |
|
| Low Long |
|
a· |
|
Notes
- ^ Raymond G. Gordon, Jr, ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
- ^ Composed of /lən/-, "original, real, ordinary" + /-aːpːe/, "person"
- ^ Bright, William (2004). Native American Place Names in the United States. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, pg. 251
- ^ Lenapehoking Map, showing approximate locations of Lenape Indian Bands, Lenape Lifeways website (accessed December 16, 2007)
- ^ Goddard, Ives, 1979, p. vi; for a consonant chart see also Ives Goddard, 1997, “Pidgin Delaware,” Contact Languages: A Wider Perspective, Sarah G. Thomason, ed., Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 43-98.
- ^ Goddard, Ives, 1979, pp. 22, xii (rule U-6); p. 26 (rule U-27)
- ^ Goddard, Ives, 1997: 45
References
Links
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