Mikasuki language

Mikasuki
Native to	United States
Region	Southern Florida
Native speakers	400 [1]  (2000)
Language family	Muskogean Eastern Muskogean Mikasuki
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mik

The Mikasuki language (also Miccosukee or Hitchiti-Mikasuki) is a Muskogean language spoken by around 500 people in southern Florida. It is spoken by the Miccosukee tribe as well as many Florida Seminoles. The now-extinct Hitchiti language was mutually intelligible with Mikasuki.

As of 2002, the language was taught in the local school, which had "an area devoted to 'Miccosukee Language Arts'".

As of 2011, the University of Florida Department of Anthropology is home to The Elling Eide Endowed Professorship in Miccosukee Language and Culture, for Native American languages of the southeastern United States.

Sounds

	Front			Central			Back
Close	ɪ	ɪː	ɪ̃
Mid							o	oː	õ
Open				ɐ	ɐː	ɐ̃

There are three tones, high, low and falling. Vowel length is distinctive, for example eche ('mouth') vs eeche ('deer'), ete ('eye') vs eete ('fire').

		Labial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p	t	tʃ	k
	voiced	b
Fricative		ɸ	ɬ	ʃ		h
Approximant			l	j	w

Grammar

Nouns are marked with suffixes for various functions, some examples:

Suffix	Function	Example	Meaning
		embaache	battery
ot	subject marker	embaachot hampeepom	the battery has gone bad
on	object marker	embaachon aklomle	I need a battery
ee	question marker	embachee cheméèło?	do you have a battery?

Free pronouns exist (aane "I", chehne "you", pohne "we") but are rarely used. Verb suffixes are the usual way of marking person.

Writing System

Mikasuki is written using the Latin alphabet. The vowels are pronounced as follows:

Letter	Sound
a, aa	a, aː
a, aa	ã, ãː
e, ee	i, iː
e, ee	ĩː, ĩː
o, oo	o, oː
o, oo	õ; õː
ay	ai
ao	ao

The consonants are:

Letter	Sound
b	b
ch	t͡ʃ
f	ɸ
h	h
k	k
l	l
ł	ɬ
m	m
n	n
ng	ŋ
p	p
sh	ʃ
t	t
w	w
y	j

High tone is indicated with an acute, low tone with a grave and falling tone with an acute (on a long vowel this is typographically split over both vowels, otherwise the grave is placed over the next consonant):

High Tone	Low Tone	Falling Tone
á, áa	à, àa	áǹ, áà

An epenthetic [ə] vowel appears in kl, kw and kn clusters in careful speech.

Examples

Verbs

bochonkom	he/she/it touches
chaolom	he/she/it writes
chayahlom	he/she/it walks
eelom	he/she/it arrives
empom	he/she/it eats
eshkom	he/she/it drinks
faayom	he/she/it hunts
ommom	he/she/it makes

Numerals

1	łáàmen
2	toklan
3	tocheenan
4	shéetaaken
5	chahkeepan
6	eepaaken
7	kolapaaken
8	toshnapaaken
9	oshtapaaken
10	pokoolen

Kinship Terms

nakne	man, male
ooche	son
ooshtayke	daughter
táàte	father
tayke	woman, female
wáàche	mother
yaate	person
yaatooche	infant

References

• West, J. & Smith, N. A Guide to the Miccosukee Language, Miami: Miccosukee Corporation 1978.
• West, J. The Phonology of Mikasuki in Studies in Linguistics 1962, 16:77-91.

External links

• A Global Linguistic Database: Mikasuki
• Ethnologue report for Mikasuki
• Miccosukee place names
• Mikasuki, Omniglot
• Miccosukee Indian Language (Mikasuki, Hitchiti)
• OLAC resources in and about the Mikasuki language
• The Common Maskoki Language