Abenaki language

infobox language
name=Abenaki
nativename=Wôbanakiôdwawôgan
states=Canada
region=Odanak, Centre-du-Québec, Quebec
speakers=20 in 1991
familycolor=American
fam1=Algic
fam2=Algonquian
fam3=Eastern Algonquian
lc1=aaq|ld1=Eastern Abenaki (extinct)|ll1=none
lc2=abe|ld2=Western Abenaki|ll2=none

Abenaki (also Abnaki) is the cover term for a complex of dialects of one of the Eastern Algonquian languages, originally spoken in what is now Vermont, New Hampshire,northern massachusetts and Maine. Modern Western Abenaki is currently spoken by a very small handful of Abenaki elders in Odanak, Quebec. Eastern Abenaki was until quite recently spoken by elders of the Penobscot tribe in eastern Maine, although it is now extinct [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=aaq] . Other dialects of Eastern Abenaki, such as Caniba and Aroosagunticook, now extinct, are documented in French-language materials from the colonial period.

Western and Eastern Abenaki share many similarities but are also different in striking ways, not only in vocabulary but also phonology.

References

* Day, Gordon M. 1994a. Western Abenaki Dictionary. Volume 1: Abenaki to English. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, Mercury Series, Canadian Ethnology Service Paper 128.

* Day, Gordon M. 1994b. Western Abenaki Dictionary. Volume 2: English to Abenaki. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization, Mercury Series, Canadian Ethnology Service Paper 128.

*

* Laurent, Joseph. 1884. "New Familiar Abenakis and English Dialogues." Quebec: Joseph Laurent. Reprinted 2006: Vancouver: Global Language Press, ISBN 0-9738924-7-1

*cite web |url=http://www.native-languages.org/abna_guide.htm |title=Penobscot-Abenaki Pronunciation and Spelling Guide |accessdate=2007-03-12 |publisher=Native Languages of the Americas
*http://www.native-languages.org/abenaki.htm