#iroquoian is a family of languages

[nero-neptune]

“I had to, in a scene when I fell out of the tree, I was talking to Captain Hook, right, and all this evil stuff. And he does not know what I am saying ... And it’s really funny because I’m saying all this stuff and it can’t be just ‘no’.”

carsen gray as tiger lily | peter pan (2003) dir. p.j. hogan

[juniperharvest]

context: I am have a bad week, I am very put upon and angry and not white. When I feel this way I listen to music to fix myself. I tried Mountain Goats, I tried the Centaur World soundtrack, I tried many many musicals. I saw that Hozier dropped a new album the day I super needed it, listened to half then got in the car to drive to a state park to go on walks bc that’s the other thing that fixes me. The thing that was getting me specifically as I drove while listening to Hozier was the fact that a “Lake Oswego” exists in OREGON. Further rage inducing context: that’s an Iroquoian word. The Haudenosaunee live (for the most part, historically and contemporarily) on the opposite coast of Turtle Island. White men named the place after a different place without understanding or appreciating the name a land based people gave their land. And then made it a sundown town. They took the Haud name and then did violence to Black ppl about it. People call Lake Oswego “Lake No Negro”. 

Please try to even roughly conceptualize how insane that makes me. I can’t describe the anger. 

And then I listened to Butchered Tongue and it gave me the exact inverted emotion. 

[n30nwrites]

Which of the Lost Boys do you think is the most likely to…

Be mistaken for a celebrity?

Have visited the most states or even countries?

Have a collection of books that they may or may not have read entirely?

Speak a foreign language fluently?

Identify types of flowers?

Have the most body count?

Be a sadist?

Be the best at math?

Give someone the wrong directions (intentionally)?

Be an extra in a zombie movie?

Have read a Harlequin book?

Win at trivia?

Give the best hugs?

Fall from the tree?

Enjoy pineapple on their pizza?

Alright I took a break from my college work to do this.

It's Paul who people confuse for a celebrity. Do you see how he dresses? At one point people thought he was Vince Neil and he just went along with it.

Marko has been places. When he gets the urge for something new, he'll just go. The only thing that stops him is the sun. He has definitely collected patches from different states and countries.

David, I fully believe that David has a collection of books from around the world in different languages. He keeps up with the world through these, always needing to be the smartest in the room. He has read through these, he has the time.

Dwayne speaks all the iroquoian language family, Marko speaks French and Italian, David speaks spanish and Paul is there, he'll do the white persons basic spanish where you just get uncomfortable hearing him.

Again, David wants to be the most informed in the room. Of course he knows the different types of flowers and can identify them, he won't though.

Oooh okay, I need to think. So i should my sibling them and they said Dwayne and Paul 100% and honestly from my view, I could see Paul. Dwayne I think needs a connection, Paul will have sex any change he gets but I think it's David that gets the most. Paul just surprises people because he's very out there but Michael has an allure that people just can't resist.

Sadist, Marko. He's small and scrappy and has had to fight for respect. Now that he's a vampire? He's 10x worse.

Paul surprisingly, my man deals with weed and he is actually fascinated with numbers.

David, again he likes feeling smarter. A tourist comes up to him asking where stuff is, he'll make them think it'll take forever to get there, but totally worth it.

Dwayne, mainly because someone walks up to him and is like "you're perfect" and he'll just do it, unlocking another side quest.

David and Dwayne, 100%. David reads all the books and Dwayne just picked it up one day and he's not a quitter.

David knows things okay, of course he'll win at trivia.

Best hugs? Okay so fully belief that when Dwayne hugs it makes people emotional, David doesn't do touch. Paul is touchy but certainly not hugs and Marko can hug just won't do it often but his hugs are good.

Paul, he'll fly right into them. He definitely falls from trees and acts like nothing happened.

They all do, it's pineapple on pizza okay? and Delicious ngl.

[skiddo-xy]

🇨🇦 Langblr Challenge Day 13: How Many Languages Are Spoken In Your Country? 🇨🇦

In this post: official languages, Indigenous languages, more recent immigrant languages. Touches on language and dialect diversity as well as preservation/revitalization. Statistic bomb so you don't get bored: there are over 200 languages spoken in Canada.

Been waiting a while for a day when I have lots of time so I can medium dive into my country of Canada 🇨🇦

Part I: Official Languages

So officially, we have two official languages: English and French, both directly tied to our country's colonial history. Here is a map of Canada, where 1 represents the area/s where English is predominant, 2 represents the area/s where English and French are roughly equally predominant (bilingual belt) while 3 represents the area where French is predominant. And everywhere else is where the population density is less than 0.4/km, yes we are that sparse

We also have multple varieties of French in Canada, the most known Quebecois French, Acadian French, Chiac etc.

In my experience, French Immersion programs, public school programs in which Anglophone children only are spoken to in French and they learn it naturally--not to say these kids speak it natively, they still learn advanced grammar etc all throughout school--are common in major urban centres from in or close to the bilingual belt in Canada. I myself am in one of these programs (you can drop it after first year of high school, but if you do it all throughout highschool you can get an additional French-language diploma) and though I recognize its problems (especially as someone who has lived in Francophone places as well) I am very grateful for the opportunities it has provided me with.

Bilingualism, especially in Quebec, is a debated political subject in Canada. Here are some recent news articles:

Quebec language watchdog orders café to make Instagram posts in French

23 bilingual Quebec municipalities challenge province's new language law in court

Quebec's tuition hike triggers financial strain for English universities as enrolment drops

Part II: Indigenous Languages

Canada is home to over 70 Indigenous languages from about 12 Indigenous language families: Algonquian, Inuit, Athabaskan, Siouan, Salish, Tsimshian, Wakashan, Iroquoian, Michif, Tlingit, Kutenai & Haida.

Unfortunately, due to Canada's long history of colinization, all of these languages are now endangered. This is mostly attributed to Canada's past residential school system, in which Indigenous children were taken from their homes to attend English or French-language boarding schools and critical to the language situation, abused for speaking their ancestral tongue. More on residential schools.

Not all is lost though! In 2019, the Indigenous Languages Act was enacted which pledged government funding towards the reviatalization and sustainment of Indigenous languages as part of the 94 Calls to Action established by Canada's Truth and Reconciliation commission written to establish reconciliation for Indigenous Canadians and Canada.

Currently, 9 Indigenous languages are recognized as official in the Northwest Territories federal subdivision (Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun, Gwich'in, North Slavey, South Slavey, Tłı̨chǫ, Chipewyan, Cree) alongside English and French, while in the territory of Nunavut, Inuktut (both Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun dialects) are recognized as official alongside English and French.

Recent news: Inuktut became first Indigenous language of Canada to be available on Google Translate as of 2 weeks ago! Try it out using Latin Inuktut or Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Inuktut! Please note that Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics are not actually Indigneous to Canada, they were developed by missionaries to facilitate the spread of Christianity among Indigenous Canadians. Indigneous languages of Canada were traditionally unwritten.

Also: searchable glossary of Indigenous place names in Canada, interactive map

Part III: (More Recent) Immigrant Languages

This section basically encompasses everything else in Canada. Some highlights:

Mandarin is spoken by 679,255 people as of the 2021 census (1.9% of the population

Canadian Ukrainian, a dialect from 1920's western Ukraine with adapted English words for new things such as кеш реґистер/kesh regyster (cash register) (fun fact: Canada is home to the 2nd largest Ukrainian diaspora in the world!)

Canadian Gaelic, pretty similar to Canadian Ukrainian's history but with Scottish Gaelic, most prevalent in rural communities of Canada's Nova Scotia (lit. "New Scotland") province

Plautdietsch, the Mennonite dialect/s of the Low German dialect of German, with Frisian and Flemish aspects, most Canadian speakers are Mennonites who immigrated to Canada from Russian Empire-era South Ukraine (P.S this is totally not self promo or anything but I have a bunch of posts about Plautdietsch on my blog as someone whose great-grandparents were native Plautdietsch speakers under the tag #plautdietsch)

And there's so much more to learn, not just for languages exclusive to/most common in Canada! You can look at the link I just linked or go here for raw data from the 2021 census and then "find in page" your way to the "language"s section

End

This is a subject I think is super neat so I'm glad I got an outlet to write about that. There's so much more I could've talked about, so for futher reading you can check out this Wikipedia article. If you made it this far, THANK YOU

[yerpenachams]

countries most closely correlated with a single language family (roughly ranked)

Japan, Japonic

Georgia, Kartvelian

Central African Republic, Ubangian (controversial classification as Niger-Congo)

Mongolian, Mongolic (point of diversity is in Mongolia, but most of the branches/subbranches are centered in Russia or China)

Australia, Pama-Nyungan (pre-contact; non-Pama-Nyungan was historically only spoken in a small part of the country)

Indonesia, Austronesian (while Taiwan is clearly the point of diversity for Austronesian, and there are several branches not spoken in Indonesia, i.e., Palauan, Chamorro, Polynesian, various Philippine branches... and there are Papuan languages spoken in Indonesia, Indonesia contains most Austronesian speakers and contains many Malayo-Polynesian branches)

India, Dravidian (~20% of the country speaks a Dravidian language, and the only language centered outside India is Brahui)

Thailand, Kra-Dai (~60% of speakers of languages in this family are Thai speakers, and 96% of Thailand speaks it as L1 or L2)

Sudan, Nilo-Saharan (This may be one of the most arbitrary. Assuming settlement of native ethnic groups was similar before Arab settlement, almost everyone in what is now Sudan spoke a language classified as Nilo-Saharan. Of course, Nilo-Saharan is a very controversial language family. Also, there were [controversial?] Niger-Congo speakers in the Kordofan/Nuba Mountains, and Beja on the Red Sea. Several few Nilo-Saharan branches aren't spoken in Sudan at all; Kunama, Nara, Surmic, Songhay and Kuliak. A few are barely spoken in the country, like Nilotic or Maban. There are so many holes to poke in this, but if you assumed the demographics of non-Arabs in the country would be directly extrapolated to 100% pre-contact, I think it would make the top 15 in the world in correlation between language family and political borders)

Korea, Koreanic (if it was a unified country)

Bougainville, Northern Bougainville & Southern Bougainville (It's hard to determine speaker counts for these languages; while the largest language in the hypothetical future country is Austronesian, these two Papuan [non-Austronesian] language families dominate the main island)

Guatemala, Mayan (Mamean, K'iche'an and Q'anjob'alan are centered in the country. Yucatecan, Huastecan and Ch'olan-Tzeltalan are not.)

Nicaragua, Misumalpan

Bolivia, Aymara (there are many language families with members in Bolivia, and isolates in Bolivia, but... about 80% of speakers are in Bolivia, and about 40% of indigenous language speakers in Bolivia speak Aymara)

Paraguay, Tupi-Guarani (While there are many minor Tupi-Guarani languages spoken outside of Paraguay, and several other language families and isolates spoken in Paraguay, the majority of people in Paraguay speak Guarani, there are still monolingual speakers, etc.)

Panama, Chibchan (pre-contact)

Uruguay, Charruan (pre-contact)

Namibia, Khoe-Kwadi (Kwadi was centered in Angola and Kalahari Khoe is centered in Botswana, but the majority of speakers of a Khoe language are Khoekhoe speakers, and 11% of people in Namibia speak Khoekhoe. Certainly not as close a correlation as in many of these countries)

East Timor, Timor-Alor-Pantar

In terms of US states, the following stick out:

Oklahoma, Caddoan (pre-contact; I know nomadic groups can be hard to pin down, apply that disclaimer to some of the items above, too)

New York, Iroquoian (there were also Algonquian languages spoken in New York, and Tuscarora, Nottoway and Cherokee were spoken further south, while Huron-Wyandot was spoken in Canada... please note that Lake Iroquoian was not the point of diversity for the family. This situation is a lot like Mongolia, with other branches being spoken outside of the state, and the sister branch, Huron-Wyandot, being spoken elsewhere, too)

Washington, Salishan (it's bizarre that anywhere on the west coast could be very closely correlated to a single language family, given the west coast is overall the most diverse area in North America, linguistically, by far. There are Chimakuan languages and a Wakashan language, Makah, spoken at the northern end of the Olympic peninsula. There are Chinookan and Sahaptian/Plateau Penutian languages spoken at the southern and eastern edges of the state. Kwalhoquia-Tlatskanai is a subbranch of Northern Athabaskan spoken in the state, too. And of course, Bella Coola and Tillamook are divergent branches of the family spoken outside of Washington, and there are Coast Salish languages in BC; the Interior Salish area also extends into BC, Idaho and Montana. However, probably at least 80% of land in Washington was settled by Salishan peoples at the time of contact)

Florida, Timucua

A lot of this is really hard to quantify, but it's an interesting overlap of figures to consider.

[max1461]

In my impression Iroquoian is "the most North American" language family, kind of like how Sanskrit is the most IE language and Arabic is the most Semitic. Like damn they just want all in on the verbs, no holds barred. I love it.

North East Asian style "head final with lots of participials" just feels so right to me, syntactically. I mean this is a consequence of learning Japanese, but it just sits in my head so well, it feels so natural and elegant. I know that not all languages make me feel this way, but I wonder if there are others that would? I think from what I know about Iroquoian that it might make me feel similarly, like the verb-centric structure would just click and then I would want to think certain thoughts in Iroquoian forever. I don't know, I don't really have cause or context to learn an Iroquoian language, but I'm definitely seriously considering learning Greenlandic. A very different flavor of polysenthesis but maybe it will have the same effect.

[luv4fandoms]

What about a Dwayne or Paul headcanons on their accent like what's the other language they have and do they speak it??

I don't have a headcanon for Paul just yet. But...

As far as Dwayne goes. I read somewhere that Billy Wirth's mom may be part Huron Native American, which are Iroquoian-speaking North American Indians. (Iroquoian is a language family of eastern North America, including the languages of the Five Nations, Tuscarora, Huron, Wyandot, and Cherokee.)

So we are gonna go with that of course as one (or more depending on how many tribes Dwayne may have interacted with in his life/unlife) language that Dwayne speaks.

Now looking more into the Huron Native Americans we see that they were involved in the fur trade.

Samuel de Champlain, founder of New France, developed a close relationship with the Hurons and they became trading partners.

So going off of that I would hint at that Dwayne may or may not also speak French as well, perhaps by coming in contact with the French himself, or by members of his tribe who knew French from their ancestors trading with the French.

I hope this answers your question ☺️ I'll be sure to post something about Paul if I ever figure out a headcanon for him lol

[gloxina111]

†The Goh-Pae Family†

Father/Head of the Goh-Pae Family

Hu is a South Korean man

Born in the Dongmyeong kingdom in 39 B.C.E and turned in 78 B.C.E.

Current age: 2100 y/o

Hu was left to die when he was first turned and was taken in by a young maiden that nursed him to health until she met her demise once Hu's hunger took over.

Due to Hu's past, he is really possessive of all his children that he had turned over the centuries.

Hu doesn't get attached to people quickly and often struggled with turning new members due to his distaste for most people he comes across.

Hu might be cold and cruel to most but his children see another side of him. He showers each and every one of his children with love and kindness no matter the age.

Hu can speak Korean, English, French, Skarò˙rə̨, Omotic and many other languages.

His love language is quality time alongside acts of service. He might not tell his children he loves them often be he shows it through doing things with/for them and spending countless hours in the same room as them even if they're all doing their own things.

Eldest son

Hikaru was born in the Kamakura Period around 1331 and was turned by Hu in 1353 during the Ashikaga Period in Japan

Current age: 1891 y/o

Hikaru's parents died when he was just five leaving him with his abusive aunt

Even though Hikaru doesn't have the best past he still makes the best out of it and almost every situation.

He's outgoing but often just a little shy when people point it out.

Hikaru was often looked down upon by his peers due to having non-segmental vitiligo and as a result of this, he's sickly white for the most part other than the few splotches of pigment on his skin.

Hikaru is weak compared to his other sibling because of the type of vitiligo.

Hikaru loves his family even if he didn't choose them and he often shows it through physical affection and words of affirmation.

Second oldest son

Rowan was born in 1489 during the French Renaissance period and was turned in 1513.

Current age: 533 y/o

Rowan loves old poetry and art.

Rowan was raised by a wealthy family until he was turned and up and disappeared out of now were

Rowan is very smart but unlike the rest of his siblings, he's more relaxed and goes with the flow of life.

You can almost always find him exercising his creative thinking either by playing an interment, painting or writing poetry, Rowan is by far the most creative of all his brothers.

Rowan can speak a total of four languages much to his dismay, said languages include French, English, Korean and Japanese.

He's tried learning other languages but he more often than not ends up zoning out and not retaining a single word.

Rowan's love languages are quality time.

Middle Child

Current age: 333 y/o

Koda is a native American from the Tuscarora tribe

Koda was born on December 23, 1688, and was turned on February 11, 1714, one year before the Tuscarora war ended

Koda wasn't his given name, only Hu knows his real name and calls him by the said name.

Báyaḳ (By-yuhk)

His parents named him after a raven due to his jet-black hair, they were sadly killed in the Tuscarora war.

Koda can speak several languages such as Korean, Iroquoian, Skarò˙rə̨, French and English

Koda is the perfect resemblance of the stone quiet type.

He's down to earth and his love language is gift-giving.

He often gifts crystals, homemade items and bug/reptile taxidermy.

Second youngest

Ahmad was born in 1749, the early years of the British industrial revolution and was turned in 1766 at the age of 18.

current age: 273 y/o

Ahmad's interests include engineering, mechanics and coding.

Ahmad is the nerd of the family, he was always excellent at science and math, overall he's just a genius.

Despite popular belief, Ahmad is quite shy and doesn't often engage with others other than his family members, that is unless he feels strongly about said, person.

Besides his nerdy personality, Ahmad is easy to get along with and mostly can be found with Koda or Hikaru.

Ahmad's love language is physical touch, he might be shy but he can't help but need physical contact more often than his other brothers.

Edur was born in 1950 and was turned in 1960 at the age of ten.

Current age: 72

Edur loves action figures and almost any kind of doll, even at his older age, (He collects them).

Were ever Hu is you can most likely find Edur.

Since Edur was so young when he was turned Hu is almost like the only father/parental figure Edur has ever had.

Edur suffers from Albinism and wears glasses for the most part.

Edur is the sweetest of them all, he can talk beyond hours about the things he collects and the things he is interested in.

He's kinda like a real-life lost boy from wonderland, other than he has much more knowledge than they could ever have.

Edur's love language is physical affection and words of affirmation much like the rest of his family.

(You're welcome to put your request in the replies :))

[dailyhistoryposts]

The Haudenosaunee

The Haudenosaunee, sometimes called the Iroquois Confederacy, were a confederacy of five (now six) Native American nations. From the northeast Woodlands and speaking Iroquoian languages, the Haudenosaunee are an example of a complex and effective democracy that lasted for hundreds of years.

I've already written about the founders of the confederation here, so rather than repeat the political details, this post will focus on family structure and culture.

The Haudenosaunee contains six groups: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. These Nations are internally divided into clans, each clan with an animal name, and sometimes further divided into three sub-clans. These are family connections across nations--a wolf clan member of the Mohawk and a wolf clan member of the Seneca are relatives (and thus forbidden from marriage). Family names and clans are matrilineal.

This system was useful in many ways. It prevented incest (at a time when European monarchs were still actively encouraging it) and provided a large extended family. This was especially useful during travel when someone could find their family members in other nations and be cared for.

The Haudenosaunee languages are currently at different stages of health. Mohawk, the healthiest, has 3,000 fluent speakers while the Tuscarora language, Skarure, has declared extinct in late 2020. However, young members of the tribe are working with speakers of similar languages and Elders to revive it.

Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic, meaning a single word has many morphemes and can carry a very specific meaning. A single Mohawk word, for example, might translate to English as a full sentence.

The Haudenosaunee has 13 ceremonies in a year, following a lunar calendar. Many of them are celebrations of thanksgiving to specific crops, like Strawberry Ceremony (Mid-May) and String Bean Ceremony (Early August). Ceremonies begin and end with a prayer and include dances, songs, and storytelling.

Wampum belts are used to narrate history, traditions, and laws. Wampum beads are made from a clamshell through a long and difficult process. Beads could be white for peace or purple for more serious matters. Wampum served as a signal of authority. They are still in use and still being made, but wampum strings are now more commonly used. See the Hiawatha Belt here. See the Dust Fan Beltt below.

[Image description: a large, wide belt made of small shells. It has a brown border and a repeating triangle pattern on a white background]

The Dust Fan Belt, currently kept by the Onondaga Nation. It represents the Tree of Peace from the life of the Peacemaker and the founding of the confederacy, and "sweeping away the dust" so the council can see the best way forward for their people.

[gwendolynlerman]

Languages of the world

Cherokee (ᏣᎳᎩ)

Basic facts

Number of native speakers: 2,100

Official language: Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (United States)

Script: Cherokee, 85 letters

Grammatical cases: 0

Linguistic typology: polysynthetic, SOV

Language family: Iroquoian, Southern Iroquoian

Number of dialects: 2

History

1809-1824 - development of the Cherokee syllabary

2008 - creation of a 10-year language preservation program

Writing system and pronunciation

These are the letters that make up the syllabary: Ꭰ Ꭱ Ꭲ Ꭳ Ꭴ Ꭵ Ꭶ Ꭷ Ꭸ Ꭹ Ꭺ Ꭻ Ꭼ Ꭽ Ꭾ Ꭿ Ꮀ Ꮁ Ꮂ Ꮃ Ꮄ Ꮅ Ꮆ Ꮇ Ꮈ Ꮉ Ꮊ Ꮋ Ꮌ Ꮍ Ꮎ Ꮏ Ꮐ Ꮑ Ꮒ Ꮓ Ꮔ Ꮕ Ꮖ Ꮗ Ꮘ Ꮙ Ꮚ Ꮛ Ꮝ Ꮜ Ꮟ Ꮠ Ꮡ Ꮢ Ꮣ Ꮤ Ꮥ Ꮦ Ꮧ Ꮨ Ꮩ Ꮪ Ꮫ Ꮬ Ꮭ Ꮮ Ꮯ Ꮰ Ꮱ Ꮲ Ꮳ Ꮴ Ꮵ Ꮶ Ꮷ Ꮸ Ꮹ Ꮺ Ꮻ Ꮼ Ꮽ Ꮾ Ꮿ Ᏸ Ᏹ Ᏺ Ᏻ Ᏼ.

The Oklahoma (Western) dialect has six tones (low, high, rising, falling, lowfall, and superhigh) while the North Carolina (Eastern) dialect usually only has a pitch accent. Orthography displays neither tone nor vowel length, but cases of ambiguity between words are rare.

Grammar

Nouns have two classes (animate and inanimate) and three numbers (singular, dual, and plural). Animacy is distinguished by different forms of modifiers and verbs. Many nouns do not have a plural form.

Personal pronouns are prefixed to nouns and feature an inclusive and an exclusive first person plural form.

Verbs are conjugated for tense, mood (indicative, interrogative, optative, and participial), aspect, person, and number. There are ten persons: first, second, and third which are combined with singular, dual inclusive, dual exclusive, plural inclusive, and plural exclusive numbers.

Dialects

There used to be three dialects: Lower, Eastern Middle, and Western or Overhill. However, the Lower dialect has been extinct since 1900. The Western one is considered the main dialect.

Differences between them are mainly phonological and lexical.

[niedopalek]

MYTHOLOGICAL In populations across North Eurasia, from Indo-European groups in the far west to the Chukchi in the far east, as well as in the Americas, two styles of myth can be found with striking consistency; an "Earth Diver" creation myth, and a myth in which a monstrous dog guards the underworld, where getting past it acts a test for deceased souls.

The "Earth Diver" myth generally follows a plot where some animal/being is sent to dive to the bottom of the primordial ocean to collect a small amount of sand or mud, from which a supreme creator deity constructs the first dry land. This story, with minor variations, is found in the mythos of Northeast Asian, Siberian, and Eastern European populations such as the Samoyedic peoples, Turkic peoples, the Buryats, the Ainu, Chukchi, Yukaghir, Slavs, Lithuanians¹²³⁴, etc, as well as Native American groups; Blackfoot, Arapaho, Athabaskans, Cayuga, Nipmuc, Ojibway, Potawatomi, Mohawk⁵, etc.

The Afterlife-Dog-Guardian myth is found throughout Indo-European cultures; you are most likely familiar with Cerberus from Greek mythology. It's also found among the Chukchi and Tungusic peoples. There's remains of dogs that appear to have been ritualistically slaughtered at Mesolithic sites in Siberia, which may be related to this myth. In North America, the mythos of Siouan, Algonquian, and Iroquoian peoples also generally feature a fierce dog guarding the path to the afterlife; however, in their myths, the path is the Milky Way in the sky, rather than the underworld⁶.

Now, if this consistent continuum of distribution wasn't convincing enough, there's now also archaeogenetic evidence that further implies these two myths have a common origin (which would make them among the oldest reconstructable stories we know of.) Genetic analysis infers the existence of a Paleolithic/Mesolithic grouping of people in North Eurasia aptly known as the Ancient North Eurasians. The thread that defines the ANE is close relation to the 24,000 year old Mal'ta Boy remains from the Lake Baikal region⁷. The Ancient North Eurasians were an extremely prolific and important population; to the East, they've contributed ancestry to modern Siberian populations (and to a lesser extent, East Asians), and a large amount to Native Americans; 40-50% of Native American DNA is ANE in origin⁷. To the west, they mixed with various West Eurasian hunter-gatherers to form Mesolithic lineages such as the Caucasus Hunter Gatherers, Eastern European Hunter Gatherers, West Siberian Hunter Gatherers, and Scandinavian Hunter Gatherers. Proto-Indo-Europeans descended from a mixture of Eastern European Hunter Gatherers (70-75% ANE, 30-25% Western European Hunter Gatherer) and Caucasus Hunter Gatherers⁸ (45-62% Dzudzuana/Archaic Caucasus HG, 55-38% ANE⁹). This shared ancestry lends credence to the idea that this pattern of myths could have a common origin in North Asia predating the migration of people to the Americas.

Furthermore, very recent research (a few months ago) suggests that the domestication of the dog occurred in Siberia around 23,000 years ago, where, from there, they spread throughout Eurasia and into the Americas; the people responsible for the domestication are identified in the initial study as "Ancient North Siberians"¹⁰ , though they were described as being associated with the Mal'ta remains and are thus synonymous with Ancient North Eurasians. Not necessarily strong evidence in its own right that the Afterlife Dog myth comes from them, but I definitely think it's worth mentioning. There's also rituals consistently associating dogs with healing and protection through their perceived ability to absorb illness found in ANE-descended populations such as the Hittites, ancient Greeks, ancient Italics, Turkic peoples, Babylonians (Mesopotamia is adjacent to where Neolithic Iranians lived, who also had a large amount of ANE ancestry), and possibly the ancient Botai culture⁶.

(And just as a fun fact, blonde hair among West Eurasians is believed to have originated with the ANE; the earliest person known to have been genetically predisposed to blonde hair was the ~17,000 year old ANE-descended Afontova Gora 3 girl from central Siberia.)

CULTURAL

Broadly similar religious practices that can be described as shamanism are mostly distributed among East Asians (especially Siberians) and, quite famously, Native Americans¹². Uralic peoples, who ultimately originate from east Siberia¹³, brought it to Europe. The fact that shamanism is found in many different East Asian populations, including ones with little ANE ancestry in southern China, east India, and Southeast Asia, but is/was essentially absent in West Eurasia (as far as we know), suggests that the practice has an ancient East Asian origin, and that Native Americans picked it up from their East Asian ancestral component (40-50% of their DNA from ANE, 60-50% from Ancient East Asian)

Of course, shamanistic practices are also present in cultures from Sub Saharan Africa, and among Australian Aboriginals, so as a whole the concept obviously emerged multiple times, but the particularly strong concentration of it among the deeply related peoples of East Asia, Siberia, and Native America might indicate that theirs does have some sort of common heritage.

LINGUISTIC

In 2010, linguist Edward Vadja published The Dene–Yeniseian Connection, the culmination of years of his research, wherein he proposes that the Yeniseian language family of Central Siberia, and the Na-Dene language family of North America (which includes such languages as Navajo and Apache), are related¹⁴. This paper was actually well received by a number of respected linguists, the first theory connecting Old World and New World languages to receive this treatment. In a 2012 presentation, Vadja bolstered his theory with further comparative linguistic evidence, as well as non-linguistic evidence; the most compelling example of the latter being the fact that haplogroup Q1, which is very common throughout indigenous populations of the Americas , is found at a rate of nearly 90% among the Yeniseian Ket people (and at a rate of 65% in their neighbors, the Samoyedic-speaking Selkup, who have long intermixed with Yeniseians.) The Navajo have this haplogroup at a rate of 92%. The Ket people also have among the highest amount of ANE-derived ancestry out of any modern day population, similar to Native Americans¹⁵.

A possible scenario explaining the proliferation of the family: when the ancestors of most other Native Americans migrated over into the New World, a subset of them remained behind in Beringia for several millennia. Eventually, as Beringia began to flood ~10,000 years ago, the group split, with some going back into Asia to become the Yeniseians while others finally moved into America to become the Na-Dene. While this is certainly much older than the dating for most other established language families, it is not implausible; Proto-Afro-Asiatic, for example, is routinely dated to well over 10,000 years ago. However, Vadja himself postulated that Na-Dene might have arrived in America through a distinct migration which postdated the initial peopling of the continents.¹⁶

Today, Dene-Yeniseian is still not a universally accepted, firmly established language family, but its not widely rejected either; it remains an open, favorable possibility while further research is done. For the sake of fairness, here is an example of a critical review which doubts the theory as Vadja proposed it: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~lylecamp/Campbell%20Yeniseian%20NaDene%20review%2011-2-10.pdf

SOURCES

Sacred narrative, readings in the theory of myth, Alan Dundes, page 168-70

Earth-Diver Myth (А812) in northern Eurasia and North America: twenty years later, Vladimir Napolskikh

A Dictionary of Asian Mythology, David Adams Leeming, page 55

The Motifs of creating the world in the Lithuanian narrative folklore, Nijolė Laurinkienė

http://www.native-languages.org/earthdiver.html

Tracing the Indo-Europeans: New evidence from archaeology and historical linguistics, David W. Anthony & Dorcas R. Brown, page 104-105

Upper Palaeolithic Siberian Genome Reveals Dual Ancestry of Native Americans, Pontus Skoglund & Maanasa Raghavan

Archaeology, Genetics, and Language in the Steppes: A Comment on Bomhard, David Anthony

Paleolithic DNA from the Caucasus reveals  core of West Eurasian ancestry, Josif Lazaridis, Anna Belfer-Cohen, Swapan Mallick, Nick Patterson, Olivia Cheronet,Nadin Rohland Guy Bar-Oz, Ofer Bar-Yosef, Nino Jakeli, Eliso Kvavadze, David Lordkipanidze, Zinovi Matzkevich, Tengiz Meshveliani, Brendan J. Culleton, Douglas J. Kennett, Ron Pinhasi, David Reich

Dog domestication and the dual dispersal of people and dogs into the Americas, Angela R. Perri , Tatiana R. Feuerborn, Laurent A. F. Frantz, Greger Larson , Ripan S. Malhi, David J. Meltzer, Kelsey E. Witt

The genomic history of southeastern Europe, David Reich + many many more names

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Map_of_Shamanism_across_the_world.svg

The Arrival of Siberian Ancestry Connecting the Eastern Baltic to Uralic Speakers Further East, Lehti Saag

Reviewed Work: The Dene–Yeniseian Connection by James Kari and Ben A. Potter

Genomic study of the Ket: a Paleo-Eskimo-related ethnic group with significant ancient North Eurasian ancestry, Pavel Flegontov

DENE-YENISEIAN LANGUAGE FAMILY: EVIDENCE FOR A BACK-MIGRATION TO THE OLD WORLD? German Dziebel

[languageinfo]

3 Languages for Indigenous Peoples Day

Cherokee

Cherokee also called Tsalagi Gawonihisdi is an endangered Iroquoian language and the native language of the Cherokee people. Ethnologue states that there were 1,520 Cherokee speakers out of 376,000 Cherokee in 2018, while a tally by the three Cherokee tribes in 2019 recorded ~2,100 speakers. The number of speakers is in decline. About eight fluent speakers die each month, and only a handful of people under the age of 40 are fluent. The dialect of Cherokee in Oklahoma is "definitely endangered", and the one in North Carolina is "severely endangered" according to UNESCO. The Lower dialect, formerly spoken on the South Carolina–Georgia border, has been extinct since about 1900. The dire situation regarding the future of the two remaining dialects prompted the Tri-Council of Cherokee tribes to declare a state of emergency in June 2019, with a call to enhance revitalization efforts.

Navaho

Navaho also called Navajo, is a Southern Athabaskan language of the Na-Dené family, through which it is related to languages spoken across the western areas of North America. Navajo is spoken primarily in the Southwestern United States, especially in the Navajo Nation. It is one of the most widely spoken Native American languages and is the most widely spoken north of the Mexico–United States border, with almost 170,000 Americans speaking Navajo at home as of 2011. The language has struggled to keep a healthy speaker base, although this problem has been alleviated to some extent by extensive education programs in the Navajo Nation.

Choctaw

The Choctaw language, traditionally spoken by the Native American Choctaw people of the southeastern United States, is a member of the Muskogean family. Chickasaw, Choctaw and Houma form the Western branch of the Muskogean language family. Although Chickasaw is sometimes listed as a dialect of Choctaw, more extensive documentation of Chickasaw has shown that Choctaw and Chickasaw are best treated as separate but closely related languages. Choctaw has 9,500 native speakers according to a 2015 census.

[rabbitcruiser]

High above the Susquehanna River, PA (No. 2)

"Susquehanna" comes from the Len'api (or Delaware Indian) term Sisa'we'hak'hanna, which means "Oyster River." Oyster beds were widespread in the bay near the mouth of the river, which the Lenape farmed. They left oyster shell middens at their villages.

The Len'api were an Algonquian-speaking Native American people who had communities ranging from coastal Connecticut through New York and Long Island, and further south into New Jersey and Delaware in the mid-Atlantic area. Their settlements in Pennsylania included Con'esto'ga ("Roof-place" or "town," modern Washington Boro, Lancaster County), also called Ka'ot'sch'ie'ra ("Place-crawfish," modern Chickisalunga, Lancaster County), or Gasch'guch'sa ("Great-fall-in-river," modern Conewago Falls, Lancaster County). They were called Minquas ("quite different"), or Sisa'we'hak'hanna'lenno'wak ("Oyster-river-people") by others. The Len'api also called the area Sisa'we'hak'hanna'unk ("Oyster-river-place").

Peoples of the mid-Atlantic Coast included coastal peoples who spoke Algonquian languages, such as the Len'api (whose bands spoke three dialects of Lenape), and Iroquoian languages-speaking peoples of the interior, such as the Eroni and the Five Nations of the Iroquois League, or Haudenosaunee. The English of Pennsylvania referred to the Eroni people of Conestoga as "Susquehannocks" or "Susquehannock Indians," a name derived from the Lenape term. In addition, John Smith of Jamestown, Virginia, labeled their settlement as "Sasquesahanough" on his 1612 map when he explored the upper Chesapeake Bay area.

In Virginia and other southern colonies, Siouan-speaking tribes constituted a third major language family, with their peoples occupying much of the middle areas of the interior. Iroquoian speakers, such as the Cherokee and Tuscarora peoples, generally occupied areas to the interior near the Piedmont and foothills.

Source: Wikipedia

[ayearinlanguage]

A Year In Language, Day 365: A Year In Language Here it is, the final post, only 42 days after the actual end of the year in what experts call a "Chanukkah Miracle". I have loved this project and am sorry to see it end. Reviewing my earlier posts have really shown me how far I've come and how much I've learned about writing these. I hope y'all have enjoyed them, and I thank, from the bottom of my heart, everyone who has encouraged me and engaged with me about them. You have made this truly worthwhile. I long wondered what I would do for this final post, and I think I have come to a fitting end. Here I will give a brief tour of our world of languages, and finally a salute to the languages themselves as a list of all of them and their names for themselves. Thanks again, here we go: The start of the written word begins in either Egypt or Sumeria, some 5,000 years ago. In Sumeria this begins with Sumerian, a language isolate with no sisters or daughters. It gifted its Cuneiform writing system to later empires, notably the Akkadians. Akkadians and Ancient Egyptians both belong to the great Afro-Asiatic family which covers the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa. Its largest branch is Semitic, whose unique triliteral root systems include languages living, dead, and revived, like Hebrew, Amharic (Ethiopian) and the expansive Arabic family. Another branch, the Berber languages, are still spoken throughout Northern Africa and the oft forgotten Cushitic languages of Africa's Horn. South, across the Sahara, is home to the Niger-Congo family. A thin band running from west to east compromises most branches of this family, with the vast majority of Africa being dominated by the Bantu languages, notable for their expansive prefixed gender systems. Swahili, Bambara, Zulu, and more compromise this family. In southernmost Africa the Khoisan language area, not a genetic family but a geographic one, make use of the highly distinctive click consonants. If we roam back north, across the Mediterranean, we encounter Indo-European territory. As the name implies this family dominates Europe and extends across the Caucasus into Iran and India. Once Celtic languages, like Gaulish, dominated Western Europe, but the rise of the Roman Empire and their Italic language forced the Celts straight off the continent into Ireland and Britain. In their place, Latin has grown into a whole family of Romance languages. The Germanic languages, once isolated and monolithic in Northern Europe, have expanded to every border of the North Sea, including Britain where they again displaced native Celts, pushing some, like the Bretons, back into France. Slavs as well were once a monolith, but spread at the end of Roman dominion to cover the Eastern edge of Europe. If we cross the Caucasus, a strange hotspot of linguistic diversity, we find the largest family, Indo-Iranian. The sister languages of Avestan and Sanskrit largely founded the Iranian and Indo-Aryan branches respectively. The Indo-Aryan languages have distinctively developed alongside the unrelated Dravidian languages of South India. At the edges of Slavic and Iranian territory we find the enormous and underrepresented Turkic family, which extends from Anatolia, across central Asia, and across Siberia. These languages interact with Indo-European, Mongolic, and Sino-Tibetan languages, a true blend of Eurasian culture. East of the Turkic and Ino-Aryan languages the Sino-Tibetan family rises. Notable for isolating grammar, these languages range from the Tibetan steppe to the eastern edge of the continent, and include the many forms of Chinese. This cultural giant has in turn influenced nearby unrelated families, including the isolates Japanese and Korean, as well as the Southeastern Austroasiatic (Vietnames) and Kra-Dai (Thai, Lao). Moving on to the east and south we encounter Bantu's rival for largest family: Austronesian. These languages originate in Taiwan, and spread across the maritime countries of the Pacific, and even Madagascar. This does not include the enigmatic Pacific giant: Australia. Almost all the languages there belong to one family: Pama-Nyungan, which is quite unlike any other in the world. Here we need to backtrack a bit, into Siberia. As the Turkic languages give out, the Tungusic, Ainu, and other native Siberian languages arise, and eventually themselves give way as Russia reaches across to the New World. Here, we first see the Eskimo-Aleut languages, which cover the norther edge of America much as the Uralic languages cover the north of Eurasia (See, I didn't forget them). As we move southward down the America's the languages are stacked, north to south primarily, a pattern that some linguists attribute to waves of human migrations into the continent from the north. Dominating Western Canada is the Na-Dene family, whose primary branch is Athabaskan. To the East is Algic territory, primarily Algonquian. Iroquoian nestles around the great lakes, and Salishan is the preeminent family of the Pacific Northwest. From the Mid-West and down through Mexico is the Uto-Aztecan family, giving way to Mayan and Oto-Manguean families as it the land reaches to South America. Here, the Amazon is another diverse hotspot, full of many isolates. The Tupi language once dominated and united the region, and the Taino languages edged up from the east to cover the Caribbean. On the western edge of the continent Quechua still thrives, as it has since it was spread by the Inca, overshadowing the still thriving Mapudungan (Mapuche). There are of course, so many other languages, and aspects of these languages I have not touched, but I hope this has served as a brief overview of the linguistic layout of our world. Here, now, is the language salute. I have aspired to give the English name for each language, it's endonym (self given name) and family. The Endonym will be given in the most relevant script (except where unicode fails us) with a Latin transliteration. In cases where the English name and endonym line up, they are condensed. In cases where multiple regional variations apply, I attempted to choose the largest or most prominent name. Some script may have been altered by formating, such as the normally vertical Mongolic script or stacked Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Conlangs do not have branches, and have their creator and publish date. Extinct languages are labelled as such, and I have marked ancestral languages extinct even if their descendants persist (like Old English or Latin). Sumerian - 𒅴𒂠(EME.G̃IR) – Isolate (Extinct) Finnish – Suomi – Uralic (Finnic) Irish Gaelic – Gaeilge – Indo-European (Celtic, Goidelic) Mandarin - 官话/官話 (Guānhuà) – Sino-Tibetan (Sinitic) Cherokee - ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ (Tsalagi Gawonihisdi) - Iroquoian Tamil - தமிழ் (Tamil) - Dravidian Swahili – Kiswahili – Niger-Congo (Bantu) Czech – Čeština – Indo-European (Slavic, West Slavic) Turkish – Türkçe – Turkic (Oghuz) Elvish – Quenya – Conlang (J.R.R. Tolkien, 1954) Hawaiian - ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi – Austronesian (Polynesian) Basque – Euskara - Isolate Mongolian - ᠮᠣᠩᠭᠣᠯ ᠬᠡᠯᠡ/монгол хэл (Mongol Khel) - Mongolic Amharic - አማርኛ (Amarəñña) – Afro-Asiatic (Semitic) AAVE – English – Indo-European (Germanic, West Germanic) Dutch – Nederlands – Indo-European (Germanic, West Germanic) Romansh – Rumantsch – Indo European (Romance) Guugu Yimithirr – Pama Nyungan Nheengatu - Tupian Sindhi - سنڌي‎/सिन्धी (Sindhi) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Aymara – Aymar Aru - Aymaran Kabardian – Къэбэрдейбзэ (Qabardejbza) – Northwest Caucasian Romanian - Limba Română – Indo-European (Romance) Luganda – Niger-Congo (Bantu) Pitjantjatjara – Pama-Nyungan Hindi –हिन्दी (Hindī) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Mozarabic – لتن (Latino) – Indo-European (Romance, Extinct) Hittite – 𒉈𒅆𒇷 (Nešili) – Indo-European (Anatolian, Extinct) Yoruba - Èdè Yorùbá – Niger-Congo (Volta-Niger) Nauruan - Dorerin Naoero – Austronesian (Micronesian) Pali - पालि (Pāli) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Liturgical) Proto-Germanic - *þiudiskaz – Indo-European (Germanic, Reconstructed) Sinhalese - සිංහල (Sinhala) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Kabyle – Taqbaylit – Afro-Asiatic (Berber) Māori - Te Reo Māori – Austronesian (Polynesian) Cree – ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ (Nēhiyawēwin) – Algic (Algonquian) Kashubian - Kaszëbsczi Jãzëk – Indo-European (Slavic, West Slavic) Madurese - Basa Mathura – Austronesian Persian – فارسی (Fārsi) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Iranian) Cajun French (Louisiana French) - Français Louisianais – Indo-European (Romance) Cajun French (Louisiana Creole) – Kréyol – Creole (French-Based) Moksha - Mокшень Kяль (Mokšen̓ Käl̓) – Uralic (Mordvinic) Serbo-Croatian – Cрпскохрватски (srpskohrvatski) – Indo-European (Slavic, South Slavic) Lithuanian - Lietuvių Kalba – Indo-European (Baltic) Wolof – Niger-Congo (Senegambian) Komi - Коми Кыв (Komi Kyv) – Uralic (Permic) Old English – Ænglisc – Germanic (West Germanic, Extinct) Cebuano – Bisaya – Austronesian (Philippine) British Sign Language – N/A - BANZSL Estonian – Eesti Keel – Uralic (Finnic) Sanskrit – संस्कृतम् (Saṃskṛtam) – Indo-European (Indo-Aryan, Liturgical) Marathi - मराठी (Marāṭhī) – Indo-Iranian (Indo-Aryan) Elamite – 𒁹𒄬𒆷𒁶𒋾 (Haltamti, name of the nation) – Isolate (Extinct) Korean –한국어(Hangugeo) - Koreanic Welsh – Cymraeg – Indo-European (Celtic, Brittonic) Bulgarian – Български (Bălgarski) – Indo-European (Slavic, South Slavic) Tlingit – Lingít – Na-Dene Hiligaynon – Ilongo – Austronesian (Philippine) Ewe - Èʋegbe – Niger-Congo (Volta-Congo, Gbe) Warlpiri – Pama-Nyungan Volapük – Conlang (Johann Martin Schleyer, 1879) Shelta – De Gammon – Indo-European (Cant, English-Based) Krio – Creole (English-Based) Santali - ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ(Santali) – Austroasiatic (Munda) Proto-Slavic - *Slověninъ - Indo-European (Balto-Slavic, Reconstructed) Hungarian – Magyar Nyelv – Uralic (Ugric) Tocharian – Unknown – Indo-European (Extinct) Cornish – Kernowek – Indo-European (Celtic, Brittonic, Revived) Papiamento – Creole (Portuguese-Based) Tuareg - ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵌⴰⵆ(Tamajaq) – Afro-Asiatic (Berber) Nez Perce - Niimi'ipuutímt – Plateau Penutian Urdu - اُردُو‬ (Urdū) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Danish – Dansk – Indo-European (Germanic, North Germanic) Greek – Eλληνικά (Elliniká) – Indo-European (Hellenic) Bengali – বাংলা (Bangla) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Palawa Kani – Reconstructed/Conlang Oromo - Afaan Oromoo – Afro-Asiatic (Cushitic) Lezgi - Лезги Чӏал (Lezgi Č'al) – Northeast Caucasian Maltese – Malti – Afro-Asiatic (Semitic) Sami – Sámegiella – Uralic (Sami) Saanich – SENĆOŦEN - Salishan American Sign Language – N/A - Francosign Proto-Indo-European – Unknown – Indo-European (Reconstructed) Mixtec - Dzaha Dzavui (Classical) – Oto-Manguean Dothraki – Lekh Dothraki – Conlang (David J. Peterson, 2011) Gothic – 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌹𐍃𐌺 (Gutisk) - Indo-European (Germanic, East Germanic, Extinct) Odia - ଓଡ଼ିଆ (Oṛiā) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Ojibwe – Anishinaabemowin – Algic (Algonquian) Kam – Gaeml – Kra-Dai Latvian - Latviešu Valoda – Indo-European (Baltic) Chuvash - Чӑвашла (Căvašla) – Turkic (Oghur) Daur - Mongolic Samoan - Gagana Faʻa Sāmoa – Austronesian (Polynesian) Shona – chiShona – Niger-Congo (Bantu) Burushaski - بروشسکی‬ (Burū́šaskī) - Isolate Mazahua – Jñatjo – Oto-Manguean Bugis – ᨅᨔ ᨕᨘᨁᨗ (Basa Ugi) - Austronesian English – Indo-European (Germanic, West Germanic) Italian – Italiano – Indo-European (Romance) Afrikaans – Indo-European (Germanic, West Germanic) Kabiye – Niger-Congo Hunnic – Unknown - Unknown Evenki - Эвэды̄ Турэ̄н (Ēvēdȳ Turēn) - Tungusic Marshallese - Kajin M̧ajeļ – Austronesian (Micronesian) Hebrew - עברית‬ (Ivrit) – Afro-Asiatic (Semitic, Revived) Polish – Polski – Indo-European (Slavic, West Slavic) Hiri Motu - Austronesian Klallam - Nəxʷsƛ̓ay̓əmúcən – Salishan (Extinct as first language) Sandawe – Sandaweeki - Isolate Scots – Indo-European (Germanic, West Germanic) Proto-Austronesian – Unknown – Austronesian (Reconstructed) Punjabi – ਪੰਜਾਬੀ/پنجابی‬ (Pãṉjābī) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Low German – Plattdütsch – Indo-European (Germanic, West Germanic) Guarani - Avañe'ẽ - Tupian Kashmiri – कॉशुर/كأشُر (Kọ̄šur) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Norwegian – Norsk – Indo-European (Germanic, North Germanic) Lingua Franca – Sabir – Pidgin (Romance-Based, Extinct) Pictish – Unknown – Indo-European (Celtic, Brittonic, Extinct) Tetum - Lian Tetun - Austronesian Plains Sign Language – N/A - Isolate Khanty - Xанты Ясаң (Hantĩ Jasaň) – Uralic (Ugric) Tigrinya - ትግርኛ (Tigriññā) – Afro-Asiatic (Semitic) Georgian - ქართული ენა (Kartuli Ena) - Kartvelian Seri - Cmiique Iitom - Isolate Armenian – Հայերեն (Hayeren) – Indo-European (Armenian) Azerbaijani - Azərbaycan Dili – Turkic (Oghuz) Hausa - Harshen Hausa – Afro-Asiatic (Chadic) Chechen - Hохчийн Mотт (Noxçiyn Mott) – Northeast Caucasian Enga – Trans-New Guinea Dzongkha - རྫོང་ཁ་ (Dzongkha) – Sino-Tibetan (Tibetic) Tongan - Lea Faka-Tonga – Austronesian (Polynesian) Nunggubuyu – Macro-Gunwinyguan Swedish – Svenska – Indo-European (Germanic, North Germanic) Manchu - ᠮᠠᠨᠵᡠᡤᡳᠰᡠᠨ(Manju Gisun) - Tungusic Appalachian English – English – Indo-European (Germanic, West Germanic) Portuguese – Português – Indo-European (Romance) Tagalog – Austronesian (Philippine) Russian - Pусский Язык (Russkiy Yazyk) – Indo-European (Slavic, East Slavic) Sango - Yângâ Tî Sängö – Creole (Ngbandi-Based) Sardinian – Sardu – Indo-European (Romance) Icelandic – Íslenska – Indo-European (Germanic, North Germanic) Occitan – Lenga d’Òc – Indo-European (Romance) Dyirbal – Pama-Nyungan Greenlandic – Kalaallisut – Eskimo-Aleut (Inuit) Tariana - Arawakan Oneida - Onʌyotaʔa:ka - Iroquoian Luxembourgish – Lëtzebuergesch – Indo-European (Germanic, West Germanic) Lushootseed - Dxʷləšúcid – Salishan (Extinct as first language) Slovenian - Slovenski Jezik – Indo-European (Slavic, South Slavic) Malagasy - Austronesian West Frisian – Frysk – Indo-European (Germanic, West Germanic) Lingala – Lingála – Niger-Congo (Bantu) Kirundi – Ikirundi – Niger-Congo (Bantu, Rwanda-Rundi) Cantonese - 廣東話(Gwóngdūng Wá) – Sino-Tibetan (Sinitic, Yue) Maldivian - ދިވެހި, (Dhivehi) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Somali - Af-Soomaali – Afro-Asiatic (Cushitic) Belarusian - Беларуская Mова (Biełaruskaja Mova) – Indo-European (Slavic, East Slavic) Manx – Gaelg – Indo-European (Celtic, Goidelic, Extinct as first language) Vai - ꕙꔤ (Vai) – Niger-Congo (Mande) Chichewa – Niger-Congo (Bantu) Palauan - A Tekoi Er A Belau - Austronesian A-Hmao – Hmong-Mien Kiribati - Taetae Ni Kiribati – Austronesian (Micronesian) Ossetian - Ирон Ӕвзаг (Iron Ӕvzag) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Iranian) Sesotho – Niger-Congo (Bantu) Dogri – डोगरी/ڈوگرى (Ḍogrī) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Mon - ဘာသာ မန် (Bhāsā Men) - Austroasiatic Xhosa – isiXhosa – Niger-Congo (Bantu, Nguni) Syriac – ܣܘܪܝܬ (Sūreṯ) – Afro-Asiatic (Semitic) Wu - 吴语 (Wu Nyu) – Sino-Tibetan (Sinitic, Wu) Bactrian – Αριαο (Aryao) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Extinct) Ancient Egyptian – 𓂋𓏤𓈖𓆩𓅓𓏏𓊖 (r n km.t) – Afro-Asiatic (Egyptian) Bai - Baip‧Ngvp‧Zix – Sino-Tibetan Kinyarwanda – Niger-Congo (Bantu, Rwanda-Rundi) Esperanto – Conlang (L.L. Zamenhof, 1887) Quechua – Runa Simi - Quechuan Faroese - Føroyskt Mál – Indo-European (Germanic, North Germanic) Bislama – Creole (English-Based) Naxi – Sino-Tibetan Albanian – Shqip – Indo-European (Albanian) Swiss German – Schwiizerdütsch – Indo-European (Germanic, West Germanic) Nuosu - ꆈꌠꉙ (Nuosuhxop) – Sino-Tibetan (Lolo-Burmese) Kaingang – Kanhgág - Macro-Gê Chiquitano – Besïro - Isolate Lojban - La .lojban. – Conlang (Logical Language Group, 1997) Singlish – Creole (English-Based) Nuu-chah-nulth - Wakashan Tamazight - ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ (Tamazight) – Afro-Asiatic (Berber) Chipewyan – Dënesųłiné – Na-Dene (Athabaskan) Romani - Romani Čhib – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Okinawan -沖縄口/ウチナーグチ (Uchinaaguchi) - Japonic Indonesian – Bahasa Indonesia - Austronesian Rohingya - رُاَ���ينڠَ/Ruáingga - Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Pashto – پښتو (Pax̌tō) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Iranian) Chagatai – جغتای (Jağatāy) – Turkic (Karluk, Extinct) Latin - Lingua Latīna – Indo-European (Italic, Extinct) Phrygian – Unknown – Indo-European Fula – Niger-Congo (Senegambian) !Kung – Kx’a Jeju –제주어(Jejueo) - Koreanic Etruscan – Unknown – Isolate (Extinct) Tatar - Tатар Tеле (Tatar Tele) – Turkic (Kipchak) Khazakh – Qazaq Tili – Turkic (Kipchak) Malay – Bahasa Melayu - Austronesian Mohawk - Kanien’kéha - Iroquoian Vietnamese - Tiếng Việt - Austroasiatic Aramaic – ܐܪܡܝܐ/ארמיא (Arāmāyā) – Afro-Asiatic (Semitic, Extinct) Old Prussian – Unknown – Indo-European (Baltic) Swazi – siSwati – Niger-Congo (Bantu, Nguni) Shilha - ⵜⴰⵛⵍⵃⵉⵢⵜ(Tashelhiyt) – Afro-Asiatic (Berber) Tajik - Tоҷикӣ (Tojikī) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Iranian) Taino – Arawakan (Extinct) Chinook Jargon – Chinuk Wawa (Pidgin, Wakashan-Based, Revived) Silbo Gomero – Indo-European (Romance) Bavarian – Boarisch – Indo-European (Germanic, West Germanic) Nahuatl – Uto-Aztecan Tok Pisin – Creole (English-Based) Catalan – Català – Indo-European (Romance) Nepali – नेपाली (Nēpālī) - Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) French - Le Français – Indo-European (Romance) Bambara – Bamanankan – Niger-Congo (Mande) Arabic - العَرَبِيَّة‎ (Al-ʻArabiyyah) – Afro-Asiatic (Semitic) Domari - Dōmʋārī/دٛومَرِي – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Caddo - Hasí:nay - Caddoan Ladino – איספאנייול (Español) – Indo-European (Romance) Fijian - Na Vosa Vakaviti – Austronesian (Oceanic) Mapudungun - Araucanian Bashkir - Башҡорт Tеле (Başqort Tele) – Turkic (Kipchak) Nobiin – Nòbíín - Nubian Igbo - Ásụ̀sụ̀ Ị̀gbò – Niger-Congo (Volta-Niger) German – Deutsch – Indo-European (Germanic, West Germanic) Kurdish – کوردی (Kurdî) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Iranian) Balinese - Bhāṣa Bali - Austronesian Coptic - ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ (ti.met.rem.ən.khēmi) – Afro-Asiatic (Egyptian, Liturgical) Amis – Pangcah – Austronesian (East Formosan) Tulu - ತುಳು ಭಾಷೆ (Tulu Bāse) - Dravidian Hokkien -闽南话 (Bân-lâm-ōe) – Sino-Tibetan (Sinitic, Min) Spanish – Español – Indo-European (Romance) Avar - Авар Mацӏ (Awar Macʼ) – Northeast Caucasian Ilocano - Pagsasao nga Ilokano – Austronesian (Philippine) Uyghur - ئۇيغۇر تىلى (Uyghur Tili) – Turkic (Karluk) Tarahumara - Ralámuli Ra'ícha – Uto-Aztecan Gujarati - ગુજરાતી (Gujarātī) – Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Chamorro - Finu' Chamoru - Austronesian Old Church Slavonic - ⰔⰎⰑⰂⰡⰐⰠⰔⰍⰟ ⰧⰈⰟⰊⰍⰟ/Cловѣ́ньскъ Ѩꙁꙑ́къ (Slověnĭskŭ Językŭ) – Indo-European (Slavic, Liturgical) Mi'kmaq – Míkmawísimk – Algic (Algonquian) Hopi – Hopílavayi – Uto-Aztecan Toki Pona – Conlang (Sonja Lang, 2001) Telugu – తెలుగు (Telugu) - Dravidian Breton – Brezhoneg – Indo-European (Celtic, Brittonic) Zapotec – Diidxazá – Oto-Manguean Macedonian – Mакедонски (Makedonski) – Indo-European (Slavic, South Slavic) Gaulish – Unknown – Indo-European (Extinct) Beja – Bidhaawyeet – Afro-Asiatic (Cushitic) Nyanga – Kinyanga – Niger-Congo (Bantu) Laotian - ພາສາລາວ (Phasa Lao) – Kra-Dai Phoenician - 𐤌𐤉𐤍𐤏𐤍𐤊 𐤌𐤉𐤓𐤁𐤃‬ (Dabarīm Kanaʿanīm) – Afro-Asiatic (Semitic, Extinct) Kongo – Kikongo – Niger-Congo (Bantu) Yiddish – ייִדיש (Yidish) – Indo-European (Germanic, West Germanic) Quebecois – Indo-European (Romance) Kannada – ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannaḍa) – Dravidian Wampanoag – Wôpanâôtuwâôk – Algic (Algonquian) Rapa Nui - Vananga Rapa Nui – Austronesian (Polynesian) Eskayan – Eskayano – Austronesian (Philippine, Cant, Cebuano-Based) Navajo - Diné Bizaad – Na-Dene (Athabaskan) Tahitian - Reo Tahiti – Austronesian (Polynesian) Ainu - アイヌ・イタㇰ (Aynu=itak) - Isolate Sundanese – Basa Sunda - Austronesian Saraiki - سرائیکی‬ (Sarā'īkī) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Knaanic – Indo-European (Slavic, West Slavic) Nicarauguan Sign Language – N/A - Isolate Balochi - بلۏچی‎ (Balòči) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Iranian) Láadan – Conlang (Suzette Haden Elgin, 1982) Khmer - ភាសាខ្មែរ (Phiəsaa Khmae) - Austroasiatic Lardil & Damin – Leerdil/Demiin - Tangkic Hmong - Lus Hmoob – Hmong-Mien Uilta - Tungusic Malayalam - മലയാളം (Malayāḷam) - Dravidian Pirahã – Xapaitíiso - Mura Sioux – Lakȟótiyapi/Dakhótiyapi - Siouan Old Chinese - 漢語 (*Hnaːns Ŋaʔ) – Sino-Tibetan (Sinitic, Extinct) Scots Gaelic – Gàidhlig – Indo-European (Celtic, Goidelic) Thai - ภาษาไทย (Phasa Thai) – Kra-Dai Rotokas – North Bougainville Klingon - tlhIngan Hol – Conlang (Marc Okrand, 1984) Zuni - Shiwi'ma - Isolate Akkadian - 𒀝𒅗𒁺𒌑 (Akkadû) – Afro-Asiatic (Semitic, Extinct) Pennsylvania Dutch - Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch – Indo-European (Germanic, West Germanic) Udmurt - Удмурт Кыл (Udmurt Kyl) – Uralic (Permic) Tibetan - བོད་སྐད་ (Bod skad) – Sino-Tibetan (Tibetic) Zulu – isiZulu – Niger-Congo (Bantu) Buryat - Буряад Xэлэн (Buryaad Xelen) - Mongolic Inuktitut - ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ (Inuktitut) – Eskimo-Aleut (Inuit) Turkmen – Türkmençe/Түркменче – Turkic (Oghuz) Assamese – অসমীয়া (Ôxômiya) – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan) Avestan – Unknown – Indo-European (Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Liturgical) Uzbek - Oʻzbekcha/Ўзбекча – Turkic (Karluk) Burmese – မြန်မာဘာသာ (Mranmabhasa) – Sino-Tibetan (Lolo-Burmese) Yup'ik – Yugtun – Eskimo-Aleut (Yupik) Ithkuil – Iţkûil – Conlang (John Quijada, 2004) Javanese - ꦧꦱꦗꦮ (Basa Jawa) - Austronesian Nenets - Hенэцяʼ Bада‎

[springtimestudies]

LDC: Cherokee

Starting today, I’ll be doing the Linguistic Diversity Challenge for Indigenous Languages of the Americas! So each day this week, I’ll be posting some facts about a different indigenous language. Thanks so much to @languagessi​ for coming up with this idea and inspiring me to learn more about these fascinating languages!

Disclaimer: I’m far from an expert, so please let me know if I get something wrong and I’ll be happy to post a correction :)

Linguistic Diversity Challenge | Indigenous Languages of the America | 1/7

I decided to start with Cherokee because the Cherokee people were the original inhabitants of much of my home state of Tennessee. In fact, the name Tennessee comes from the name of a Cherokee village Tanasi (ᏔᎾᏏ) that English colonizers encountered when exploring the region in the early 1700s. 

English name: Cherokee

Name in the language: 

Latin letters: Tsalagi Gawonihisdi 

IPA: dʒalaˈɡî ɡawónihisˈdî

Cherokee syllabary: ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ

Where is it spoken? 

Currently: Oklahoma (largest community of speakers), Arkansas, and North Carolina

Prior to the forced removal of indigenous people from Appalachia it was spoken in regions now included in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, and South Carolina

How many people speak it? ~2,100

The Western (Oklahoma) dialect is “definitely endangered” and the Eastern (North Carolina) dialect is “severely endangered” according to UNESCO. Language revitalization programs, including immersion schools, are underway in both Oklahoma and North Carolina to raise a new generation of native speakers. 

Example audio: https://youtu.be/hZ37zqWlQi4

Example text:

Translation: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

⬇️ Keep reading for more information about Cherokee!!  ⬇️

(let me know if you think I should keep all the info together for future posts! I thought this might be a good way to post a lot of material without putting a crazy long post on y’all’s dash, but not sure how many people actually click on these “keep reading” links)

What language family does it belong to?

Cherokee is an Iroquoian language, and the only Southern Iroquoian language still in use. It is related to Mohawk, Onodaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. 

Writing system:

While Cherokee is sometimes written with Latin letters, it also has its own unique syllabary! Sequoyah invented it in the 1810′s after encountering written language from European settlers. Prior to designing the syllabary, Sequoyah was not literate in any other writing system, which I think makes this an even more impressive accomplishment. 

Each of the 85 (originally 86) letters in the syllabary represents a syllable instead of a single sound. This can be easily communicated by representing the syllabary in chart form. 

Printed Cherokee syllabary:

Handwritten Cherokee syllabary: 

Interesting linguistic features:

Basic word order is subject-object-verb, though this changes for negative sentences and some noun or adjective phrases. 

Cherokee is polysynthetic, which means that many morphemes can be linked to form one long word with a more specific meaning. 

75% of the language consists of verbs. 

Some verbs require what are called “shape classifiers.” For example:

I also thought this was a fun tidbit from Wikipedia: 

The polysynthetic nature of the Cherokee language enables the language to develop new descriptive words in Cherokee to reflect or express new concepts. Some good examples are ᏗᏘᏲᎯᎯ (ditiyohihi, "he argues repeatedly and on purpose with a purpose") corresponding to "attorney" and ᏗᏓᏂᏱᏍᎩ (didaniyisgi, "the final catcher" or "he catches them finally and conclusively") for "policeman."

My sources: Wikipedia, Omniglot, Oklahoma Magazine

[yoohyeon]

7 / 13 / 18 / 30 for the not from us ask

7. three words from your native language that you like the most?

I never know what to answer at those one probably:

-Ciel (Sky)

-Trésor (Treasure also use as a affectionate nickname / petname, I call my pet like this 💞)

-Pluie (Rain)

13. does your country (or family) have any specific superstitions or traditions that might seem strange to outsiders?

I checked a list and apparently oppening a umbrella inside bring bad luck (I knew that cause my mom always hate when I played with umbrellas inside when I was a kid, but I didn’t know it was Canadian ????)

But other than that it’s nothing really different that other country jdjdjdj

18. do you speak with a dialect of your native language?

Well being from Quebec I already speak another language than all of my country cjhdkdjdk but also Quebec French is whole dialect on itself it’s really different from France French, like Canadian / American and Bristish English !

30. do you have people of different nationalities in your family?

No 100% Québécois hfkdjdjd, but my Lil cousin are like a quarter Italian, because their dad is Half Italian (my aunt is not with him anymore tho) and one of my grand-grand mother was Iroquoian (Amerindian), but I don’t know enough about that. (One of my last name is also Spanish /Portuguese apparently but I have no idea where it started jcjdkdjdj)

Hi I’m not from the us asks