Significations et usages de Algic_languages

Algic
Algonquian–Ritwan
Geographic distribution:	northern North America
Linguistic classification:	Algic
Subdivisions:	Wiyot Yurok Algonquian
ISO 639-5:	aql
Pre-contact distribution of Algic languages (in red). Note distribution in northwestern California.

The Algic (also Algonquian–Wiyot–Yurok or Algonquian–Ritwan)^{[citation needed]} languages are an indigenous language family of North America. Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian family, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to Atlantic Canada. The other Algic languages are the Yurok and Wiyot of northwestern California, which despite their geographic proximity are not closely related. All these languages are thought to descend from Proto-Algic, a second-order protolanguage reconstructed using reconstructed Proto-Algonquian and the attested languages Wiyot and Yurok.

  History

The term "Algic" was first coined by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft in his Algic Researches, published in 1839. Schoolcraft defined the term as "derived from the words Alleghany and Atlantic, in reference to the race of Indians anciently located in this geographical area."^[1] Schoolcraft's terminology was not retained. The peoples he called "Algic" were later included among the speakers of Algonquian languages.

When Edward Sapir proposed that the well-established Algonquian family was genetically related to the Wiyot and Yurok languages of northern California, he applied the term Algic to this larger family. The original Algic homeland is thought to have been located in the American Northwest somewhere between the suspected homeland of the Algonquian branch (to the west of Lake Superior according to Goddard^[2]) and the earliest known location of the Wiyot and Yurok (along the middle Columbia River according to Whistler^[3]).

  Classification of Algic

All Algic languages still spoken are endangered. Yurok is thought to have ten or fewer speakers. Extinct Algic languages include Wiyot, Miami-Illinois, Etchemin, Loup A, Loup B, Mahican, Massachusett, Mohegan-Pequot, Nanticoke, Narragansett, Pamlico, the Penobscot dialect of Abnaki, Powhatan, Quiripi-Naugatuck, Unami, Unquachog, and Shinnecock. The last known Wiyot speaker died in 1962.

Within the Algonquian subfamily, there is a smaller genetic grouping of the Eastern Algonquian languages. The other (non-Eastern) Algonquian languages have sometimes been categorized into two smaller subgroups: Central Algonquian and Plains Algonquian. However, these two subgroups are not based on genetic relationship but are rather geographic or areal subgroups. (See Algonquian languages.)

The genetic relation of Wiyot and Yurok to Algonquian was first proposed by Edward Sapir (1913, 1915, 1923), and argued against by Algonquianist Truman S. Michelson (1914, 1914, 1935). The relationship "has subsequently been demonstrated to the satisfaction of all".^[4] This controversy in the early classification of North American languages was called the "Ritwan controversy" because Wiyot and Yurok were assigned to a genetic grouping called "Ritwan". Most specialists now reject the validity of the Ritwan genetic node.^[5] Berman (1982) suggested that Wiyot and Yurok share sound changes not shared by the rest of Algic (which would be explainable by either areal diffusion or genetic relatedness); Berman's conclusion of common sound changes was refuted by Proulx (2004).

  See also

• Algonquian–Wakashan languages

  Notes

  Bibliography

  Tree diagrams

• MultiTree Page for Algic languages
• Ethnologue entry for Algic languages

  Journals and books

AA = American Anthropologist; IJAL = International Journal of American Linguistics

• Berman, Howard. 1982. Two Phonological Innovations in Ritwan. IJAL 48: 412–20.
• Campbell, Lyle. 1997. American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Goddard, Ives. 1994. The West-to-East cline in Algonquian dialectology. Actes du vingt-cinquième congrès des algonquinistes, ed. William Cowan. Ottawa: Carleton University.
• Goddard, Ives (Ed.). 1996. Languages (Vol. 17). Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-048774-9.
• Haas, Mary R. 1958. "Algonkian–Ritwan: The end of a controversy. IJAL, 24:159–173.
• Haas, Mary R. 1966. "Wiyot–Yurok–Algonquian and problems of comparative Algonquian". IJAL. 32:101–107
• Michelson, Truman. 1914. Two alleged Algonquian languages of California. AA, n.s. 16:361–367.
• Michelson, Truman. 1915. Rejoinder. AA, n.s. 17:194–198.
• Michelson, Truman. 1935. Phonetic shifts in Algonquian languages. IJAL, 8:131–171
• Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Moratto, Michael J. 1984. California archaeology. Academic Press.
• Proulx, Paul. 1982. Yurok retroflection and sound symbolism in Proto-Algic. Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, 7:119–123.
• Proulx, Paul. 1984. Proto-Algic I: Phonological sketch. IJAL, 50:165–207.
• Proulx, Paul. 1985. Proto-Algic II: Verbs. IJAL, 51:59–94.
• Proulx, Paul. 1991. Proto-Algic III: Pronouns. Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, 16:129–170.
• Proulx, Paul. 1992. Proto-Algic IV: Nouns. Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, 17:11–57.
• Proulx, Paul. 1994. Proto-Algic V: Doublets and their implications. Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, 19(2):115–182.
• Proulx, Paul. 2004. Proto-Algic VI: Conditioned Yurok reflexes of Proto-Algic vowels. Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, 27:124–138.
• Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). 1978–present. Handbook of North American Indians Vol. 1–20. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution.
• Sapir, Edward. 1913. Wiyot and Yurok, Algonkin languages of California. AA, n.s. 15:617–646.
• Sapir, Edward. 1915. Algonkin languages of California: A reply. AA, n.s. 17:188–194.
• Sapir, Edward. 1923. The Algonkin affinity of Yurok and Wiyot kinship terms. Journal de la Societe des Americanistes de Paris, 15:37–74
• Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe. 1839. Algic researches, comprising inquiries respecting the mental characteristics of the North American Indians. First series. Indian tales and legends, vol. 1. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1839.

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