Muskogean languages

The Muskogean family consists of six languages that are still spoken: Alabama, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek-Seminole, Koasati, and Mikasuki, as well as the now-extinct Apalachee, Houma, and Hitchiti (the last is generally considered a dialect of Mikasuki).[1] "Seminole" is listed as one of the Muskogean languages in Hardy's list, but it is generally considered a dialect of Creek rather than a separate language, as she comments.[2]

The major subdivisions of the family have long been controversial, but the following lower-level groups are universally accepted: Choctaw–Chickasaw, Alabama–Koasati, Hitchiti–Mikasuki, and Creek–Seminole.[3][4][5] Because Apalachee is extinct, its precise relationship to the other languages is uncertain; Mary Haas and Pamela Munro both classify it with the Alabama–Koasati group.[6]

For connections among these groupings, the traditional classification is that of Mary Haas and her students, such as Karen Booker, in which "Western Muskogean" (Choctaw-Chickasaw) is seen as one major branch, and "Eastern Muskogean" (Alabama-Koasati, Hitchiti-Mikasuki, and Creek-Seminole) as another. Within Eastern Muskogean, Alabama-Koasati and Hitchiti-Mikasuki are generally thought to be more closely related to each other than to Creek-Seminole.[7] That classification is reflected in the list below:[8][9]

• Western Muskogean
  • Chickasaw
  • Choctaw (also called Chahta, Chacato)
• Eastern Muskogean
  • Creek-Seminole (also called Muskogee, Maskoke, Seminole)
  • Hitchiti-Mikasuki (also called Miccosukee)
  • Apalachee–Alabama–Koasati
    • Apalachee †
    • Alabama (also called Alibamu)
    • Koasati (also called Coushatta)

A more recent and controversial classification has been proposed by Pamela Munro. In her classification, the languages are divided into a "Southern Muskogean" branch (Choctaw-Chickasaw, Alabama-Koasati, and Hitchiti-Mikasuki) and a "Northern Muskogean" one (Creek-Seminole). Southern Muskogean is the subdivided into Hitchiti-Mikasuki and a "Southwestern Muskogean" branch containing Alabama-Koasati and "Western Muskogean" (Choctaw-Chickasaw).[7] The classification is reflected in the list below:[10]

Northern Muskogean:

• Creek-Seminole

Southern Muskogean:

• Hitchiti-Mikasuki
• Southwestern Muskogean
  • Apalachee (†)
  • Alabama–Koasati
    • Alabama
    • Koasati
  • Western Muskogean
    • Chickasaw
    • Choctaw

A third proposed classification is that of Geoffrey Kimball, who envisions a threeway split among the languages, with "Western Muskogean" (Choctaw-Chickasaw), "Eastern Muskogean" (Creek-Seminole), and "Central Muskogean" (Alabama-Koasati and Hitchiti-Mikasuki).[11] However, Kimball's classification has not received as much support as either Haas's or Munro's.[12]

Several sparsely attested languages have been claimed to be Muskogean languages. George Broadwell suggested that the languages of the Yamasee and Guale were Muskogean.[13][14] However, William Sturtevant argued that the "Yamasee" and "Guale" data were Creek and that the language(s) spoken by the Yamasee and Guale people remain unknown.[15] It is possible that the Yamasee were an amalgamation of several different ethnic groups and did not speak a single language. Chester B. DePratter describes the Yamasee as consisting mainly of speakers of Hitchiti and Guale.[16] The historian Steven Oatis also describes the Yamasee as an ethnically mixed group that included people from Muskogean-speaking regions, such as the early colonial-era native towns of Hitchiti, Coweta, and Cussita.[17]

The Pensacola and Chatot (or Chacato) people are reported to have spoken the same Muskogean language, which may have been closely related to Choctaw.[18][19][20]

Sparse evidence indicates that a Muskogean language was spoken by at least some of the people of the paramount chiefdom of Cofitachequi in northeastern South Carolina. If so, that would be the most eastern outpost of Muskogean. The people of Cofitichequi were probably absorbed by nearby Siouan and Iroquoian speakers in the late 17th century.[21]

A vocabulary of the Houma may be another underdocumented Western Muskogean language or a version of Mobilian Jargon. Mobilian Jargon is a pidgin based on Western Muskogean.

The best-known connection proposed between Muskogean and other languages is Mary Haas' Gulf hypothesis, in which she conceived of a macrofamily comprising Muskogean and a number of language isolates of the southeastern US: Atakapa, Chitimacha, Tunica, and Natchez. While well-known, the Gulf grouping is now generally rejected by historical linguists.[13][22] A number of Muskogean scholars continue to believe that Muskogean is related to Natchez.[23]

Proto-Muskogean is reconstructed as having the consonants (given in IPA transcription):[24]

The phonemes reconstructed by Haas as */x/ and */xʷ/ show up as /h/ and /f/ (or /ɸ/[25]), respectively, in all Muskogean languages;[26] they are therefore reconstructed by some as */h/ and */ɸ/.[10][27] */kʷ/ appears as /b/ in all the daughter languages except Creek for which it is /k/ initially and /p/ medially. The value of the proto-phoneme conventionally written ⟨θ⟩ (or ⟨N⟩) is unknown;[28] it appears as /n/ in Western Muskogean languages and as /ɬ/ in Eastern Muskogean languages. Haas reconstructed it as a voiceless /n/ (that is, */n̥/), based partly on presumed cognates in Natchez.[10][29]

Most family languages display lexical accent on nouns and grammatical case, which distinguishes the nominative from the oblique. Nouns do not obligatorially inflect for gender or number.

Muskogean verbs have a complex ablaut system; the verbal stem almost always changes depending on aspect; less commonly, it is affected by tense or modality. In Muskogean linguistics, the different forms are known as "grades."

Verbs mark for first and second person, as well as agent and patient (Choctaw and Chickasaw also mark for dative). Third-persons (he, she, it) have a null-marker.

Plurality of a noun agent is marked by either affixation on the verb or an innately plural verbal stem:

Pluralization via affixation, Choctaw:

ishimpa

ish-impa

2SG.NOM-eat

"you [sg.] eat"

hashimpa

hash-impa

2PL.NOM-eat

"you [pl.] eat"

Innately-numbered verbal stems, Mikasuki:

łiniik

run. SG

"to run (singular)"

palaak

run. PAUCAL

"to run (several)"

mataak

run. PL

"to run (many)"