Nanticoke Language Lessons - Family (Part 2)
Channel: Keith Cunningham
Date: 2020-07-25

This lesson teaches pluralization of Nanticoke kinship terms. Grammatical patterns for singular possession of plural animate nouns is discussed. Also discussed are basic ways to introduce yourself and family members. 

Author: Keith Cunningham

The copyright to this lesson belongs to the Nanticoke Indian Association, but it is free to distribute for non-commercial education purposes. The copyright to the works cited herein belong to their respective authors. If you use any material in this video in a derivative work, please cite as follows:

Cunningham, Keith A. (2020, July 25) Nanticoke Language Lessons - Family (Part 2) [video] YouTube. https://youtu.be/t3hrMNOzF78

Acknowledgements:

This video is dedicated to the departed speakers of Nanticoke, as well as their descendants for whom I hope these lessons will be of benefit. I would like to thank the following individuals for their guidance throughout the course of my research:

Nanticoke Contributors
Karelle Hall - Anthropological Linguist, Nanticoke Indian Tribe
Brett Jackson - Assistant Chief, Nanticoke Indian Tribe
Mr. Sterling Street - Nanticoke Indian Museum Coordinator

Academic Contributors
Dr. David Costa - Miami University
Dr. Ives Goddard - Smithsonian Institution
Dr. Craig Kopris
Dr. Monica MacAuley - University of Wisconsin - Madison
Dr. Lourdes Ortega - Georgetown University
Dr. Joe Salmons - University of Wisconsin - Madison

The etymologies for brother, younger sibling, elder sister (the version pronounced "nìms"), daughter, and child are based upon Dr. David Pentland's 1979 dissertation:

Pentland, David H. (1979). Algonquian Historical Phonology. PhD Thesis, University of Toronto.

The word for "boy" (specifically, the "wàhàkày" portion) is partially based upon Dr. Pentland's work on nominal inflection in Nipmuck. I also based my reconstruction of the obviative plural on his work:

Pentland, D. H. (2009). Nominal Inflection in Nipmuck. Algonquian Papers-Archive, 41, 230-267.

The reconstitution of "son", "girl", "young/unmarried woman", and "young/unmarried man" are my own, based upon cognates in other Algonquian languages. I reconstructed the verb "to be named" based upon Unami Delaware (www.talk-lenape.org) and Passamaquoddy (www.pmportal.org), shaping it according to what is known about Nanticoke phonology. The demonstrative "wa" is borrowed from Unami, while the demonstrative "yok" is borrowed from Munsee (www.munseedelaware.com). The conjunction "koc" is borrowed from Piscataway, as was done by the late Dr. Blair Rudes in his work on Virginia Algonquian.

Blair Rudes Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

I opted to use English names in the examples in this video instead of creating  Nanticoke names to avoid the possibility of accidentally using someone's Nanticoke name without permission.

Image Credits: 

"Native American Youth at the 45th Annual American Indians Reaching for Opportunities (AIRO) Pow Wow at UWSP’s Berg Gym 4/28/2018 7:38PM" by Craig Walkowicz is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

"Her Know, Dakota Sioux, by Heyn Photo, 1899" by trialsanderrors is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Two_Girls_1868.jpg
Antonio(n) Zeno Shindler, collected by National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Museum Support Center / Public domain

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Portrait_of_two_Yuma_men_in_western_clothing%2C_from_Robert_N._Dennis_collection_of_stereoscopic_views.png

New York Public Library / Public domain