Blackfoot language

The Blackfoot language or Ni'tsiitapipo'ahsin ( " language of the true, balanced people " ), also Nitsipussin ( "True, true language" ) is spoken by the now four strains / First Nations of Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ) and belongs to the family of languages of the Algonquian. The next relationship is to the Plains Cree.

Dissemination

Ni'tsiitapipo'ahsin ( Nitsipussin ) is divided into four dialects, of which three in Alberta, Canada, and a, is spoken in Montana, USA ( 2009 Frantz, Frantz & Russell, 1995):

  • Siksiká ( Blackfoot ) near peers, southeast of Calgary Siksika
  • Kainai ( Blood) between Cardston and Lethbridge the Kainai
  • Aapátohsipikáni ( Northern Piegan or Piikáni ) at Brocket, west of Fort MacLeod of Northern Piegan ( Peigan )
  • Aamsskáápipikani ( Southern Piegan Blackfeet or Montana ) in northwestern Montana the Southern Piegan ( Blackfeet ).

Since the Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ) were divided before the reserve time in larger regional tribal groupings, they had already developed by that time slightly different to each other dialects, but these were easily understood each other. These small dialectal variants, however, were so great that today ( as before ) a spokesman Reserves can easily identify the dialect of a tribesman of another Reserves. In addition, there are two sub- dialects of Siksiká ( Blackfoot ) ( Sikiska A / B) as well as three of the Kainai ( Blood) ( Kainai A / B / C), sometimes three sub- dialects of Aapátohsipikáni be ( Northern Piegan or Piikáni ) ( Piikáni A / B / C ) is assumed.

(Also called Modern Blackfoot ) In addition to these four regional dialects today is an important distinction between Old Blackfoot (also known as High Blackfoot known), the dialect is mostly spoken of 70 to 80 -year-old tribal members, and New Blackfoot, the dialect of the speakers today which usually include between 40 and 60 years.

However, today only speak 3,250 Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ) in Canada and 100 Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ) in the U.S., their native language, most speak today as a first language English. Some younger Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ) in Canada also speak Cree.

Classification

Like other Algonquian languages, Blackfoot also a polysynthetic language.

Blackfoot has become the most away from all the Algonquian languages ​​of the original Algonquian language, both in phonological as well as grammatical point of view.

Phonemes

Consonants

Blackfoot also has two affricates / ts /, / ts ː /. The velars are if they preceded to palatals [ ç ] and [ c] front vowels.

Vowels

The following allophones occur in the vowels at: / a / is before long consonants [ A], / i / is [ ɪ ] in closed syllables, / æ / is [e ] before / ʔ / and [ ɛ ] in closed syllables, and / o / is [ ʊ ] before long consonants. Blackfoot is a tonal language in which every word has at least one high vowel sound, while not high vowel spoken weak end of the word.

Orthography

John William Tims developed at the end of the 19th century a separate Blackfoot syllabary. This had some superficial similarities with the Cree font, but the characters were very different.

Language family Cree language Siksika Nation Labial consonant Alveolar consonant Velar consonant Glottal consonant Fricative consonant Palatal consonant Cree syllabics
130190
de