Nanticoke is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

Algonquian language spoken in

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The same language was spoken by several neighboring tribes, including the Nanticoke, which constituted the paramount

chiefdom A chiefdom is a political organization of people representation (politics), represented or government, governed by a tribal chief, chief. Chiefdoms have been discussed, depending on their scope, as a stateless society, stateless, state (polity) ...

; the Choptank, the

Assateague Assateague Island is a long barrier island located off the eastern coast of the Delmarva Peninsula facing the Atlantic Ocean. The northern two-thirds of the island are in Maryland, and the southern third is in Virginia. The entire island is ...

, and probably also the

Piscataway Piscataway may refer to: *Maryland (place) **Piscataway, Maryland, an unincorporated community ** Piscataway Creek, Maryland ** Piscataway Park, historical park at the mouth of Piscataway Creek ** Siege of Piscataway, siege of Susquehannock fort sou ...

and the Doeg. The last native speaker died in 1856; in the 21st century, an effort has been made to revive the language.

Phonology

* Allophones of are heard as . * may have an allophone of in word-final positions.

Vocabulary

Nanticoke is sometimes considered a dialect of the

Delaware language The Delaware languages, also known as the Lenape languages (), are Munsee and Unami, two closely related languages of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family. Munsee and Unami were spoken aboriginally by the Lenape pe ...

, but its vocabulary was quite distinct. The other is a list of 300 words obtained in 1792 by

William Vans Murray William Vans Murray (February 9, 1760 – December 11, 1803) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman. He served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1788 to 1790, and in the United States House of Representatives from 1791 to 1797. ...

, then a US Representative (at the behest of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

.) He compiled the list from a Nanticoke speaker in

Dorchester County, Maryland Dorchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. At the 2020 census, the population was 32,531. Its county seat is Cambridge. The county was formed in 1669 and named for the Earl of Dorset, a family friend of the Calvert ...

, part of the historic homeland. This is shown in a few brief glossaries, which are all that survive of the language. One is a 146-word list compiled by Moravian

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

John Heckewelder John Gottlieb Ernestus Heckewelder (March 12, 1743 – January 21, 1823) was an American missionary for the Moravian Church. Early life Heckewelder was born in Bedford, England and came to Pennsylvania in 1754. After finishing his education, he ...

in 1785, from his interview with a Nanticoke chief then living in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The other is a list of 300 words obtained in 1792 by

, then a US Representative (at the behest of

.) He compiled the list from a Nanticoke speaker in

, part of the historic homeland.

Nanticoke vocabulary

These words are some of the listings in Murray's glossary. In the letter that accompanied his glossary, Murray noted that the Nanticoke were "not more than nine in number," and also stated that "they have no word for the personals 'he' and 'she.'" The exclamation point (!) indicates a "peculiar, forcible, explosive, enunciation" of a syllable in this phoneticization.

Modern Nanticoke

With the assistance of a native speaker, Myrelene Ranville née Henderson of the

Sagkeeng First Nation The Sagkeeng First Nation (also known as Sagkeeng Anicinabe) is a Treaty-1 First Nation in the Eastman Region of Manitoba, Canada, that is composed of the Anishinaabe people indigenous to the area at or near the Fort Alexander Indian Reserve #3 ...

in Manitoba, Canada, who speaks a similar language,

Anishinaabemowin Ojibwe ( ), also known as Ojibwa ( ), Ojibway, Otchipwe,R. R. Bishop Baraga, 1878''A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language''/ref> Ojibwemowin, or Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of North America of the Algon ...

, a group of

Nanticoke people The Nanticoke people are a Native American Algonquian-speaking people, whose traditional homelands are in Chesapeake Bay area, including Delaware. Today they continue to live in the Northeastern United States, especially Delaware, and in Okl ...

Millsboro, Delaware Millsboro is a town in Sussex County, Delaware, United States. Millsboro is part of the Salisbury metropolitan area. History Millsboro's earliest European settlers were of English family origin; though most were second generation colonists who ...

, assembled to revive the language in 2007, using the vocabulary list of Thomas Jefferson. It had been "more than 150 years since the last conversation in Nanticoke took place." Similar efforts made by the

Nanticoke Indian Association The Nanticoke Indian Association is a group of Nanticoke who have their headquarters in Millsboro, Delaware. They organized and were recognized by the state as a legal entity in 1881, known as the Independent Body. They were recognized as a N ...

are also being taken through partnership with local linguists. In 2023, a book for the revitalization of the Nanticoke language was published.

Notes

External links

Custom lexicon: The Interactive ALR
– includes all known Nanticoke data

* ttp://www.bigorrin.org/archive26.htm Nanticoke Language rchive">ttp://www.bigorrin.org/archive26.htm Nanticoke Language [archive/nowiki>br>OLAC resources in and about the Nanticoke language
{{Native Americans in Maryland * Nanticoke">* Eastern Algonquian languages Indigenous languages of the North American eastern woodlands">Eastern Algonquian languages">Nanticoke">* Eastern Algonquian languages Indigenous languages of the North American eastern woodlands Native American history of Delaware Native American history of Maryland Native American history of Virginia Native American language revitalization Extinct languages of North America Indigenous languages of Maryland [ ategory:Languages extinct in the 1840s

Phonology

Vocabulary

Nanticoke vocabulary

Modern Nanticoke

See also

Notes

External links