Blackfoot language
Encyclopedia
Blackfoot, also known as Siksika (so called in ISO 639-3
), Pikanii, and Blackfeet, is the Algonquian
language spoken by the Blackfoot
tribes of Native Americans
, who currently live in the northwestern plains of North America
. There are four dialects of Blackfoot, three of which are spoken in Alberta, Canada and one of which is spoken in the United States: Siksiká (Blackfoot), to the southeast of Calgary, AB; Kainai (Blood), spoken in Alberta between Cardston and Lethbridge; Aapátohsipikani (Northern Peigan), to the west of Fort MacLeod; and Aamsskáápipikani (Southern Peigan), in northwestern Montana
.
There is a distinct difference between Old Blackfoot (also called High Blackfoot), the dialect spoken by many older speakers; and New Blackfoot (also called Modern Blackfoot), the dialect spoken by younger speakers. Among fellow members of the Algonquian languages
, it is relatively divergent in phonology and lexicon.
Like the other Algonquian languages, Blackfoot is typologically
polysynthetic.
long:
The velar consonants become palatals [ç] and [c] when preceded by front vowels.
s, /i o a/. Length
is distinctive (áakokaawa, "s/he will rope" vs. áakookaawa, "s/he will sponsor a sundance"):
There are three additional vowels, called "diphthong
s" in Frantz (1997). The first is pronounced [ɛ] before a long consonant, [ei] (or [ai], in the dialect of the Blackfoot Reserve) before /i/ or /ʔ/, and [æ] elsewhere (in the Blood Reserve dialect; [ei] in the Blackfoot Reserve dialect). The second is pronounced [au] before /ʔ/ and [ɔ] elsewhere. The third is /oi/. The short monophthong
s exhibit allophonic
changes as well. /a/ and /o/ are raised to [ʌ] and [ʊ] respectively when followed by a long consonant, /i/ becomes [ɪ] in closed syllables.
Blackfoot has a pitch accent
system, meaning that every word has at least one high-pitched vowel, and high pitch is contrastive with non-high pitch (e.g., ápssiwa, "it's an arrow" vs. apssíwa, "it's a fig"). At the end of a word, non-high pitched vowels are devoiced.
script, ᑯᖾᖹ ᖿᐟᖻ ᓱᖽᐧᖿ pikoni kayna siksika, was created by Anglican missionary John William Tims around 1888. Although conceptually nearly identical to Western Cree syllabics
, the letter forms are innovative. Two series (s, y) were taken from Cree but given different vowel values; three more (p, t, m) were changed in consonant values as well, according to the Latin letter they resembled; and the others (k, n, w) were created from asymmetrical parts of Latin and Greek letters; or in the case of the zero consonant
, possibly from the musical notation for quarter note
.
The direction for each vowel is different than in Cree, reflecting Latin alphabetic order. The e orientation is used for the diphthong /ai/. Symbols for consonants are taken from the consonant symbol minus the stem, except for diphthongs (Ca plus ᐠ for /Cau/, and Ca plus ᐟ for /Coi/, though there are also cases of writing subphonemic [ai, ei, eu] with these finals).
There are additional finals: allophones ᑊ [h] and ᐦ [x], and three medials: ᖿᐧ /ksa/, ᒣᐧ /tsa/, ᖿᑉ /kya/, ᖿ= /kwa/.
᙮ is used for a period.
ISO 639-3
ISO 639-3:2007, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages, is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages. It extends the ISO 639-2...
), Pikanii, and Blackfeet, is the Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
language spoken by the Blackfoot
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....
tribes of Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, who currently live in the northwestern plains of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. There are four dialects of Blackfoot, three of which are spoken in Alberta, Canada and one of which is spoken in the United States: Siksiká (Blackfoot), to the southeast of Calgary, AB; Kainai (Blood), spoken in Alberta between Cardston and Lethbridge; Aapátohsipikani (Northern Peigan), to the west of Fort MacLeod; and Aamsskáápipikani (Southern Peigan), in northwestern Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
.
There is a distinct difference between Old Blackfoot (also called High Blackfoot), the dialect spoken by many older speakers; and New Blackfoot (also called Modern Blackfoot), the dialect spoken by younger speakers. Among fellow members of the Algonquian languages
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
, it is relatively divergent in phonology and lexicon.
Like the other Algonquian languages, Blackfoot is typologically
Linguistic typology
Linguistic typology is a subfield of linguistics that studies and classifies languages according to their structural features. Its aim is to describe and explain the common properties and the structural diversity of the world's languages...
polysynthetic.
Consonants
Blackfoot has ten consonants, of which all but /ʔ/ and /x/ can be phonemicallyPhoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
long:
| Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals... |
Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &... |
p | pː | t | tː | k | kː | ʔ |
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
s | sː | x | ||||
| Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... |
t͡s | t͡sː | |||||
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | mː | n | nː | |||
| Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
w | j | |||||
The velar consonants become palatals [ç] and [c] when preceded by front vowels.
Vowels
Blackfoot has a vowel system with three monophthongMonophthong
A monophthong is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation....
s, /i o a/. Length
Vowel length
In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
is distinctive (áakokaawa, "s/he will rope" vs. áakookaawa, "s/he will sponsor a sundance"):
| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
i | iː | ||||
| Close-Mid Close-mid vowel A close-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from a close vowel to a mid vowel... |
o | oː | ||||
| Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
a | aː | ||||
There are three additional vowels, called "diphthong
Diphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
s" in Frantz (1997). The first is pronounced [ɛ] before a long consonant, [ei] (or [ai], in the dialect of the Blackfoot Reserve) before /i/ or /ʔ/, and [æ] elsewhere (in the Blood Reserve dialect; [ei] in the Blackfoot Reserve dialect). The second is pronounced [au] before /ʔ/ and [ɔ] elsewhere. The third is /oi/. The short monophthong
Monophthong
A monophthong is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation....
s exhibit allophonic
Allophone
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...
changes as well. /a/ and /o/ are raised to [ʌ] and [ʊ] respectively when followed by a long consonant, /i/ becomes [ɪ] in closed syllables.
Blackfoot has a pitch accent
Pitch accent
Pitch accent is a linguistic term of convenience for a variety of restricted tone systems that use variations in pitch to give prominence to a syllable or mora within a word. The placement of this tone or the way it is realized can give different meanings to otherwise similar words...
system, meaning that every word has at least one high-pitched vowel, and high pitch is contrastive with non-high pitch (e.g., ápssiwa, "it's an arrow" vs. apssíwa, "it's a fig"). At the end of a word, non-high pitched vowels are devoiced.
Writing system
A syllabicsCanadian Aboriginal Syllabics
Canadian Aboriginal syllabic writing, or simply syllabics, is a family of abugidas used to write a number of Aboriginal Canadian languages of the Algonquian, Inuit, and Athabaskan language families....
script, ᑯᖾᖹ ᖿᐟᖻ ᓱᖽᐧᖿ pikoni kayna siksika, was created by Anglican missionary John William Tims around 1888. Although conceptually nearly identical to Western Cree syllabics
Western Cree syllabics
Western Cree syllabics are a variant of Canadian Aboriginal syllabics used to write Plains Cree, Woods Cree and the western dialects of Swampy Cree. It is used for all Cree dialects west of approximately the Manitoba–Ontario border in Canada, as opposed to Eastern Cree syllabics...
, the letter forms are innovative. Two series (s, y) were taken from Cree but given different vowel values; three more (p, t, m) were changed in consonant values as well, according to the Latin letter they resembled; and the others (k, n, w) were created from asymmetrical parts of Latin and Greek letters; or in the case of the zero consonant
Zero consonant
A zero consonant, silent initial, or null-onset letter is a consonant-like letter that is not pronounced, but indicates that a word or syllable starts with a vowel...
, possibly from the musical notation for quarter note
Quarter note
A quarter note or crotchet is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note . Often people will say that a crotchet is one beat, however, this is not always correct, as the beat is indicated by the time signature of the music; a quarter note may or may not be the beat...
.
| Blackfoot | Latin source |
|---|---|
| ᑭ pe | P |
| ᒥ te | T |
| ᖼ ke | K |
| ᒋ me | m |
| ᖸ ne | N |
| ᖴ we | digamma Digamma Digamma is an archaic letter of the Greek alphabet which originally stood for the sound /w/ and later remained in use only as a numeral symbol for the number "6"... Ϝ |
The direction for each vowel is different than in Cree, reflecting Latin alphabetic order. The e orientation is used for the diphthong /ai/. Symbols for consonants are taken from the consonant symbol minus the stem, except for diphthongs (Ca plus ᐠ for /Cau/, and Ca plus ᐟ for /Coi/, though there are also cases of writing subphonemic [ai, ei, eu] with these finals).
| C | -a | -e | -i | -o | final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (none) | ᖳ | ᖰ | ᖱ | ᖲ | |
| p- | ᑫ | ᑭ | ᑯ | ᑲ | ᐤ |
| t- | ᒣ | ᒥ | ᒧ | ᒪ | ᐨ |
| k- | ᖿ | ᖼ | ᖽ | ᖾ | ᘁ |
| m- | ᒉ | ᒋ | ᒍ | ᒐ | ᐢ |
| n- | ᖻ | ᖸ | ᖹ | ᖺ | ᐡ |
| s- | ᓭ | ᓯ | ᓱ | ᓴ | ᔈ |
| y- | ᔦ | ᔨ | ᔪ | ᔭ | ᐟ |
| w- | ᖷ | ᖴ | ᖵ | ᖶ | ᐠ |
There are additional finals: allophones ᑊ [h] and ᐦ [x], and three medials: ᖿᐧ /ksa/, ᒣᐧ /tsa/, ᖿᑉ /kya/, ᖿ= /kwa/.
᙮ is used for a period.
External links
- Ethnologue report for Blackfoot
- Don Frantz's page on the Blackfoot language
- Blackfoot - English Dictionary: from Webster's Online Dictionary - The Rosetta Edition.
- Blackfeet Language at Saokio Heritage
- http://blackfootdigitallibrary.org