Massachusett language

Position of Massachusett within the Algic languages }} }} }} }} Massachusett is in the Eastern branch of Algonquian languages, which comprises all the known Algonquian languages spoken from the Canadian Maritimes southward to the Carolinas. Within the Eastern divisions, Massachusett clusters with the Southern New England Algonquian (SNEA) languages. If considered a dialect of SNEA, it is an SNEA 'N-dialect'. Other Eastern language divisions include the Abenakian languages spoken to the immediate north and the Delawaran languages to the west and southwest of the SNEA region. South of the Delawaran languages are the Nanticokan languages of the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River watershed, the Powhatan languages of coastal Virginia and the Carolina Algonquian languages of the Carolinas. The Eastern languages are the only genetic grouping to have emerged from Algonquian, as all the languages descend from Proto-Eastern Algonquian (PEA), which differentiated likely due to isolation from other Algonquian speakers due to the presence of large pockets of Iroquoian and Siouan languages and the Appalachian Mountains. The Central and Plains, however, are groupings based on areal features and geographical proximity. Relationship within SNEA The SNEA languages were all mutually intelligible to some extent, existing in a dialect chain or linkage, with the boundaries between quite distinct dialects blurred by a series of transitional varieties. All the SNEA languages, including Massachusett, can be differentiated from other Eastern branch languages by several shared innovations including the merger of PEA *hr and *hx into *hš, palatization of PEA *k to SNEA *ty where it occurs after PEA *ē and some instances of PA *i, palatization of PEA *sk in similar environments to *hč and word-final PEA *r merging into *š. Within SNEA, Massachusett shares the most similarity to Narragansett and Nipmuc, its immediate neighbors, with a handful of lexical items indicating an east-west division. For example, the word 'fish' is () in Massachusett, In Nipmuc and Narragansett , all likely pronounced similarly to from Proto-Algonquian *, contrasting with Mohegan-Pequot and Quiripi which derives from a local stem * and an ancient alternative stem for 'fish', *, likely Proto-Western SNEA * . Although Nipmuc is close to Massachusett, it is conservative in that it retains more noun and verb finals that are truncated in most environments in other SNEA languages. N-dialect The most defining feature of Massachusett in comparison to other SNEA languages is the outcome of in reflexes of PEA *r, itself a merger of Proto-Algonquian *r and *θ. Massachusett and its dialects always have and thus its classification as an SNEA N-dialect. This becomes in the Y-dialects of Narragansett, Eastern and Western Niantic and Mohegan-Pequot, in the R-dialects of Quiripi and in the L-dialect Nipmuc language. Only appears with diminutive as 'puppy', more common word is . Possibly Williams' recording of the Coweset dialect. Lack of syncope 'Abenakian syncope' was an areal feature that had spread from the Abenakian languages to Mahican, a Delawarean language, and was beginning to spread into SNEA during the early colonial period. The feature was obligatory in the Quiripi, Unquachoag, Montauk, Mohegan and Pequot dialects of the Long Island sound, frequent in Nipmuc and mostly absent in Massachusett and Narragansett. For example the 'Fox Sachem' of the Pequot was known to late-stage speakers as whereas the English name 'Uncas' likely preserves an older dialectal and pre-syncopated stage pronunciation of , cf. Massachusett () , indicating that the transition was not complete in New England when the English colonists arrived. When it appears in Massachusett documents, it seems to be indicative of dialectal features or in forced situations, such as sung versions of the Massachusett translations of the Psalms of David in the Massachusee Psalter. In dialects that permitted syncopation, it generally involved the deletion of , and occasionally , usually at the end of a word, after a long vowel, or metrical factors such as the Algonquian stress rules which deleted these vowels in weakly stressed positions. In Massachusett, there are some syncopated forms such as , 'cormorant', and , 'his/her blood', but these are rare instances compared to the more common () and () , respectively, that also appear in Eliot's translations. Although a clear dialectal feature, unfortunately, the majority of documents are of unknown authorship and geographic origin. As Eliot employed the form in his translations, this form spread as the 'standard' in writing. Many instances seem to have been standardized by colonial mapmakers and Indian translators themselves. For instance, the colonists referred to a hill that once existed as Hassunek or Hassunet Hill, but the name survives today as Assonet Street in Worcester. Similarly, Asnacomet Pond, in a formerly Nipmuc-language area, was recorded as 'Asacancomic in the older colonial sources. This 'correction' stops at the Connecticut River, as most place names from areas associated with Mahican, such as Hoosic, Housatonic, Mahkeenak, Quassuck and Mananosick and Pocomtuc examples such as Podatuck, Pocumtuck, Sunsick, Norwottuck and Pachassic noticeably lack this feature. () , 'that which they [can] speak to each other' Dialects or languages that were harder to understand were () , 'difficult language', contrasting with 'foreign' or 'strange language'. When needed to refer to specific people or places, the name of the people or place was followed by to indicate 'its people's language' or 'that which the people speak'. The people and language take their name from the sacred hill, known in English as Great Blue Hill. The name derives from (), 'big', 'sacred', or 'great', () , 'hill' (literally 'small mountain') and the locative suffix (). The syncopation of the diminutive () to was common in dialects and rapid or relaxed speech, thus the colonial form as opposed to careful Massachusett (). The Wampanoag tribes affiliated with the WLRP refer to the language as (), possibly back-rendered into the colonial spelling as , 'Wampanoag language' to refer not only to the varieties used historically by the Wampanoag people, but also to the Massachusett language as a whole. The name derives from (), 'east' or 'dawn', and thus signifies 'language of the easterners' or 'language of the people of the dawn'. Modern speakers of the revived dialect shorten this to () (Wampanoag), even though this technically refers only to the people. Due to the heavy scholarly, cultural and media attention surrounding the revival of the language under the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project of Jessie Little Doe Baird, and also because the Wampanoag far outnumber Massachusett people, the use of 'Wampanoag' or its revived form 'Wôpanâak' to refer to the entire language is increasing. ==Geographic distribution==

Until the end of the 17th century, Massachusett was a locally important language. In its simplified pidgin form, it was adopted as a regional lingua franca of New England and Long Island. As a native language, its dialects were spoken by several peoples inhabiting the coastal and insular regions of Massachusetts, adjacent portions of northern and southeastern Rhode Island, and portions of southeastern and coastal New Hampshire, with transitional dialects historically extending as far north as the southernmost tip of Maine. Due to the waves of epidemics that killed off most of the Native peoples, competition with the large influx of English colonists for land and resources, and the great upheaval in the wake of King Philip's War, by the beginning of the 18th century, the language and its speakers had contracted into a shrinking land base and population, concentrated in the former praying towns of Natick and Ponkapoag and the larger Wampanoag, isolated Wampanoag settlements on the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket and Mashpee on the mainland. After another century of extreme assimilation pressure, intermarriage, and the necessity of learning and using English in daily life, the language disappeared from Massachusett-speaking communities by the 19th century, with the very last speakers dying off at the century's end on Martha's Vineyard. Contemporary speakers are restricted to the area surrounding four communities on Cape Cod and the Islands and nearby regions just a little "off Cape" including Mashpee, Aquinnah, Freetown, and Cedarville, Plymouth which are the home of the federally recognized Mashpee and Aquinnah tribes and Assonet and Herring Pond communities that participate in the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project. == Dialects ==

The Southern New England Algonquian languages existed in a dialect continuum, with boundaries between languages and dialects softened by transitional speech varieties. Small differences existed between neighboring communities, but these increased with distance and isolation, and speakers from opposite ends of the continuum would have slightly more difficulties with inter-comprehension, but all the SNEA languages and dialects were mutually intelligible to some extent. Written records do show some variation, but dialect leveling was brought about with the introduction of a de facto standard written language as used in Eliot's translation of the Bible and several primers and catechisms used to teach literacy, were produced with the aid of Native American translators, editors and interpreters from Natick, and was based on its speech. The employment of numerous literate Native Americans across Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies' Praying towns, many from Natick or had studied there for some time, helped elevate the spoken language as well, as it was recited when Bible passages were read aloud during sermons or any written document. Experience Mayhew, himself bilingual in the language and from a direct line of missionaries to the Native Americans of Martha's Vineyard, where the speech was said to be completely unintelligible to neighboring Wampanoag from the mainland noted that "... most of the little differences betwixt them have been happily Lost, and our Indians Speak, but especially write much as the Natick do." Small differences can be ascertained from the written sources, but most records indicate that the Massachusett-speaking people spoke very similarly to each other. Daniel Gookin, who had accompanied Eliot on his tours of the Praying towns, noted that the Pawtucket, Pokanoket (Mashpee Wampanoag), and Massachusett all spoke essentially the same language. Ives Goddard, in quoting the ethnopolitical boundaries as listed by John R. Swanton or Frederick Webb Hodge lists five dialects, Natick, North Shore, Wampanoag, Nauset and Coweset which correspond to the Massachusett, Pawtucket, Wampanoag, Nauset, and Coweset peoples, although the Nauset may have just been an isolated sub-tribe of the Wampanoag. == Derived languages ==

Massachusett Pidgin Several regional pidgin varieties of major Eastern Algonquian languages are attested in colonial records, including those based on Mahican, Munsee, Powhatan, and in New England, Massachusett. These pidgin varieties all featured reduced vocabulary and grammar simplifications. These pidgin varieties were used as the medium of communication between speakers of dialects or languages with limited mutual intelligibility. Massachusett Pidgin was used as a common language over New England and Long Island and was likely used with the foreign English settlers. For instance, Edward Winslow describes a situation in his 1624 Good News from New England where he and a few other Pilgrims were able to converse and understand the Native Americans well, but the Native Americans would speak to each other at times in a similar but baffling tongue, either as their natural language but also probably to restrict information exchange with the foreign English settlers. The pidgin variety varied from Massachusett in the following ways: Simplification of vocabulary • () instead of Massachusett or syncopated and () Use of non-Massachusett vocabulary • Abenakian (*) instead of Massachusett (), although both forms are derived from Proto-Algonquian . • Abenakian or Unami () instead of Massachusett () , although both forms descend from Proto-Algoquian . Reduction of verbs to the intransitive inanimate • ( literally 'to see it') instead of Massachusett () , transitive animate 'I see (someone or something alive)'. This can be seen in the example of , 'I shall never see Winslow again' but literally 'Never I again see it Winslow.' • 'I see (something or some object)' in Massachusett proper would be () Although the use of Massachusett Pidgin declined in favor of Massachusett Pidgin English, especially once the English settlers established their foothold and saw little use in the language of a people whose lands they were usurping and were dying off from disease. Interest in Massachusett Pidgin and other Algonquian pidgin languages comes from the fact that they were likely the main source of words from the Algonquian languages. For instance, the early Pilgrims and Puritans only make references to wigwams and never s. Similarly, sagamore was in common frequency as in the early English of New England. As the Native Americans were already in a multi-dialectal, multilingual society, English was adopted quite quickly albeit with strong influences of Massachusett lexicon, grammar and likely pronunciation. As the number of English settlers grew and quickly outnumbered the local peoples, Natives grew to use English more often, and the settlers also used it to communicate with the Native Americans. The resulting pidgin was probably the vector of transmission of many of the so-called 'wigwam words', i.e., local Algonquian loan words, that were once prevalent in the English spoken in the Americas. Massachusett Pidgin English was mostly English in vocabulary, but included numerous loan words, grammar features and calques of Massachusett Pidgin. Amongst the Native Americans, it co-existed with the use of the 'standard' Massachusett language, local speech and other dialects or languages, Massachusett Pidin and English. As the Native Americans began a quick process of language shift at the end of the eighteenth century, it is likely that Massachusett Pidgin English lost its native features and merged with the evolution of local speech, one of the varieties of Eastern New England English or even General American of the majority non-Native Americans of the region in a process similar to decreolization. Massachusett Pidgin English had the following characteristics: Massachusett loan words (shared Massachusett Pidgin vocabulary) • from Massachusett /() ('food') via Massachusett Pidgin ('food'). • from Massachusett for 'young man'. • ('good') from Massachusett /() ('it is good'). Generalized pronouns • Use of 'me' for both 'I' and 'me'. SNEA N-dialect interference • English lobster and English surname Winslow with Massachusett Pidgin English and , respectively, substitution of for of English. • English Frenchmen adopted as , substitution of for of English. Calques • all one this, calque of Massachusett Pidgin ('like this'). • big, calque of • ReduplicationE.g. by and by ('soon') Use of Massachusett animate plural suffix for domesticated animals introduced by the English • /(), ('cows'). • /(), ('horses'). • /(), ('pigs'). Examples of Massachusett Pidgin English Source: • ('What an Englishman says is what he thinks'). • (Away be gone coats?) ('Do you have any coats?'). • ('Greetings, friend') , 'friend', from Massachusett /(). • ('[He went] not too far [to] fetch the pigs'). ==History==

Pre-colonial history Although human history in New England probably dates back to 10000 BC, when Paleo-Indians entered the tundra exposed by the retreat of the Wisconsin Glacier at the end of the Pleistocene, glottochronology and some corroborating archaeological evidence traces the history of the language to the Northwest Plateau region, or the areas of the Pacific Northwest separated from the coastal plains by high mountains, around the middle and upper regions surrounding the Columbia River. This area is likely the Urheimat associated with Proto-Algic speakers. Migrations, cultural influences and language shift led to the displacement by speaker of the Kalapuyan (†), Na-Dene, Palaihnihan, Plateau Penutian, Salishan, etc., as well as languages of the coast which may have had a broader distribution. The Algic languages were displaced from this area with coastal areas of northern California home of the distantly-related, only known non-Algonquian Algic languages, Wiyot and Yurok. A descendant of Proto-Algic, Proto-Algonquian, diverged and spread east, likely around 1000 BC, the ancestor of the Algonquian languages which form the bulk of known Algic languages, spoken in the northern and eastern parts of the United States and Canada east of the Rockies all the way to the coast. The exact location where Proto-Algonquian was spoken is likely in the Northwest Plateau region, possibly Idaho where the westernmost Algonquian languages are spoken, but multiple regions between there and just west of the Great Lakes have been posited. Algonquian languages splintered off as they moved eastward, probably facilitated by the spread of the mound-builder cultures that developed in the Adena (1000–200 BC) and Hopewell (200–500 AD) cultural periods. Circa 1000 AD, Proto-Eastern Algonquian emerged in what is now southern Ontario, and east, where the daughter Eastern Algonquian languages later spread from Atlantic Canada south to North Carolina. This period is marked by small-scale migrations into New England, likely introducing the beginnings of Three Sisters agriculture and influences of Iroquoian pottery. Since there is not evidence of large migrations, the spread of Eastern Algonquian seems to be more to the culturally advanced migrants triggering language shift since the last large movement of populations was during the Archaic Period (8000–2000 BC). The development of Eastern Algonquian was likely a consequence of its isolation, separated from other Algonquian languages by speakers of Iroquoian and Siouan-Catawban languages. A few centuries later, Proto-Southern New England Algonquian (PSNEA) diverged into the SNEA languages. This development might coincide with the success of new strains of the tropical maize plant better suited to northern climes and the increased use of coastal resources around 1300 AD, during the Late Woodland Period. The improvement to agriculture supported large populations in the arable lands near the coast or along the larger rivers. Population movements seem to indicate the spread of the language from southeastern New England, spreading it into Connecticut and northward. Competition over resources, more sedentary and permanent habitations and an influx of small migrations from the north and southwest probably fueled territoriality which may be evidenced by newer pottery styles with restricted local production areas. Shortly after this time, the languages, peoples and technologies would have likely been recognizable to the Europeans that began visiting the coasts at the end of the sixteenth century. Early colonial period The first English colonial settlements, the Plymouth Colony by the Pilgrims in 1620, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the Puritans in 1629, both were founded in Massachusett-language speaking territory. The colonists depended on the Native Americans for survival, and some learned how to communicate with them for trade. As the population of English settlers increased with further Puritan migrations, and the Native Americans became outnumbered, moves to assimilate the Native Americans were enacted. With colonial backing and funding from the Society for the Propagation of the Bible, missionaries such as John Eliot, Thomas Mayhew and his descendants amongst the Wampanoag, and Roger Williams began to learn the local languages and convert the natives. Eliot began preaching at Nonantum (now Newton, Massachusetts), and starting 1651, established communities of converts, known as praying towns or Indian plantations, where the Native Americans were encouraged to adopt European customs and language, practice Christianity, and accept colonial jurisdiction. Eliot printed a Bible in 1663, and the Native Americans at the praying towns began to adopt the orthography of the Natick dialect Bible. Translation and literature John Eliot, after beginning his mission to the Indians, quickly saw the need for literacy so that the new converts could experience Biblical inspiration on their own. With the help of local interpreters and Eliot's frequent contacts with the Native Americans, he became fluent in the language and began writing the sounds he heard in Natick in an ad hoc fashion, using the conventions of English spelling. By 1651, Eliot produced a hand-written catechism he used for teaching literacy and religion at Natick, followed by a translation of the Book of Psalms which was hand-copied. A small group of literate Native Americans began teaching it to others, and Eliot established a school to train Native American missionaries who were literate and able to read these materials. As the Native Americans gained literacy and Eliot's notoriety grew, funding was given from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England. The Society, which supported Calvinist and Congregationalist missions banned under the influence of Anglo-Catholic monarchs and leaders of the Church of England. In 1655, the Indian College of Harvard University, its first brick building, was constructed and a printing press and materials were sent. Eliot began right away, printing copies of the Book of Genesis and the Gospel of Matthew that same year. In 1663, Eliot printed the completed translation of the Bible, his monumental achievement. Eliot continued to print translations, until his death in 1690. After his death, the Society commissioned other missionaries, most notably Experience Mayhew, who, as a child in long line of missionaries to the Wampanoag of Martha's Vineyard, was fluent in the language and his works were popular with the Native Americans for its consistent spelling and adherence to more natural spoken style of the Native Americans themselves. Other missionaries commissioned include Samuel Danforth, an assistant to John Eliot; Grindal Rawson, minister to the Praying Indians of Wacentug (Uxbridge, Massachusetts); John Cotton, Jr., preacher to Wôpanâak of Plymouth, Mashpee and Martha's Vineyard and his nephew, Cotton Mather, influential Puritan theologian. When Mayhew was commissioned to provide missionary translations, he was assisted by Printer, Neesnumin and Hiacoomes, the first convert to Christianity on Martha's Vineyard. Some of Eliot's converts became missionaries, who in turn spread Christianity and literacy so that within twenty years of Eliot's first printed translations, literacy went from none to one in three Natives of the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies. At least a handful of Native Americans attended classes to prepare them for assuming the Indian mission at Harvard University prior to the construction of the Indian College, such as James Printer and John Sassamon that would later assist Eliot with his translations, and Jethro, a Nashaway (northern Nipmuc) who later was preacher at Wamesit. Students would later include Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck and Joel Hiacoomes, son of Hiacoomes, two Wampanoag from Martha's Vineyard; Eleazar, a Wampanoag; and John Wampas, a Nipmuc who was later appointed by his people to protect their rights and land with his bilingual talent, but who betrayed his people to curry favor from English settlers. The last student, attending after the building was razed, was Brian Larnell, a Nipmuc. Except for the pre-Indian College students and John Wampas, the others contracted illnesses and perished, possibly from close proximity to English settlers in an urban setting exposing them to the infections against which they lacked immunity. Many of these Native Americans are named in the records, such as the Ahatons of Ponkapoag and the Speens of Natick, Joseph Tuckawillipin of Hassanamessit, Simon Beckom of Wamesit, Samuel Church at Watuppa and Isaac Jeffrey at Manomet and Herring Pond. Extinction The use of the written language declined over the course of the eighteenth century. In Natick, where Native American literacy began, the last town records in the language were written by Thomas Waban (Weegramomenit), son of Waban, in 1720. The last document to survive in the language are the records of the Congregational Church of Gay Head, recording the marriage of John Joel and Mary Tallmon by the minister Zachary Hossueit, in 1771. The last known epigraphic evidence of the written language is its use on the now damaged tombstone of Silas Paul, another Native American minister of Gay Head, in 1787. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some Native Americans were literate up until the middle of the nineteenth century, although no documents from this period survive. The spoken language remained in vibrant use in the 1750s on the mainland and as late as the 1770s in the larger, more isolated Wampanoag communities of the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. By 1798, only one speaker of advanced age was found in Natick. The language survived on Nantucket until the death of the widow Dorcas Honorable in 1855. On Martha's Vineyard, the language survived the longest. In 1808, a church official named Elisha Clap writing about the small congregation of the Baptist minister Zachariah Howwaswee (Hossueit) remarked, "Only a few aged Indians, who do not understand English, attend his meeting, as he preaches in the native language ...." Howwaswee continued preaching until his death sometime in the 1830s. It is not known when the last speakers perished, but Tamsen Weekes, who died in 1890 at the age of 90, was likely one of the last fluent speakers. Studies of the Wampanoag tribe in the 1920s did not find any native speakers, but only those who remembered small bits of the language. War also greatly reduced the population. The ravages of King Philip's War (1675–76) is believed to have reduced the population by 40%, due to executions, retaliatory attacks and displacement. Many of the Praying Indians that remained neutral were rounded up and left on islands in Boston Harbor where many perished from disease, starvation and exposure to the elements. Others were sold into slavery in the West Indies. Many of the indigenous people decided to leave, seeking safety with the Abenaki to the north or the Mahican to the west, where they would eventually assimilate into the host tribe. Many men were called to fight alongside the English colonists against the French and their Native American allies during the French and Indian Wars, a series of conflicts between 1688 and 1763 as well as the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). The gender imbalance led to increased intermarriage between Native American women and black or white men outside the speech community. Loss of land forced language shift in other ways. Only Mashpee and Aquinnah remained in Native American hands by the end of the nineteenth century. The Native Americans were no longer able to support themselves on agriculture and subsistence as their lands were lost due to encroachment and land sales. This forced men to seek employment as laborers, mariners or whalers in coastal cities whereas women and children found employment as domestics in White households or as peddlers of baskets. The shrinking communities were no longer able to support separate church congregations that traditionally used the language. The population also became a smaller and smaller minority with the growth in the population of descendants of English settlers and large-scale arrival of newcomers from Europe in the nineteenth century, exacerbating already existing assimilation pressures. ==Revival==

The language remained in use the longest in speech and writing in the isolated, insular Wôpanâak communities, but as its use slowly faded, many believed that it would return with the help of descendants of those who destroyed it. Massachusett-language documents in the form of land sales, leases and deeds are found in the oldest layer of city and town archives in Massachusetts. The petitions and complaints to the General Court of Massachusetts were often sent in English and in Massachusett. The records of the former Praying Town and now just town of Natick, Massachusetts, are in Massachusett from 1651 until 1720. The Native Americans also maintained their libraries of religious manuscripts and personal records even as the language ceased to be spoken, many of which were later sold to private collectors and ultimately are now in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society. In addition, all the Native American translations and original works by the English missionaries have been preserved. As acceptance and appreciation of Native American culture grew in the early twentieth century, the local peoples of southern New England began to reconnect through Pan-Native American movements and gatherings, adopting aspects of Plains Indian culture and sharing surviving aspects of traditional culture and language. Many Native Americans attended the Aquidneck Indian Council meetings in Providence, Rhode Island, or took part in the Indian Council of New England in 1923. The anthropologist and Eastern Woodlands Culture expert Frank Speck visited the Wampanoag of Mashpee and tried to document the language, but was able to list only twenty words, acquiring them with great difficulty from five of the oldest members in the community. Similarly, Gladys Tantaquidgeon (Mohegan) visited the Wampanoag of Aquinnah. She was able to extract one hundred words from those of most advanced age, her success likely from her attempts to preserve her own language, which became extinct in 1908 with the death of her aunt, Dji'ts Bud dnaca. Gordon Day recorded a reading of the Lord's Prayer from Chief Wild Horse, Clinton Mye Haynes (1894–1966) of Mashpee, in 1961. Wild Horse was likely one of the last language rememberers. In 1993, Jessie Little Doe Baird, of the Mashpee Wampanoag, began the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project as a co-founder. She began her studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Working with Dr. Kenneth Hale and later Norvin Richards, Baird was able to reconstruct the pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary of the Native American documents and English missionary translations. Baird later published her thesis, Introduction to Wampanoag Grammar in 2000, the year she completed her Master's in Algonquian Linguistics. The WLRP later expanded to include participants in the Ahquinnah, Herring Pond and Assonet tribes of the Wôpanâak. Since Kenneth Hale was a direct descendant of the missionary Roger Williams and Baird a direct descendant of Nathan Pocknett, who resisted conversion attempts, they fulfilled the Wôpanâak prophecy regarding the language's revival. ==Current status==

In 2010, Baird was presented the MacArthur Foundation Genius Award in recognition of her language revival efforts. The following year, PBS aired portions of Anne Makepeace's documentary Âs Nutayanyean-We Still Live Here as a segment on the program Independent Lens. The film highlighted Baird's work, as well as interviews with members of the WLRP-participating tribes discussing the project's history, reception, goals and the experiences as the language was revived in their communities. In 2014, the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project was able to boast of a handful of children who were growing up as native speakers for the first time in over a century, 15 proficient speakers, two trained Algonquian linguists, a dictionary with approximately 12,000 entries at the time, pedagogical materials and a complete, non-English educational curriculum, and hundreds of students at various stages of language study. In addition, it has enabled a return of use of the language in cultural, spiritual and sacred expressions of Native American identity. The WLRP continues to host educational programs, language immersion summer camps and after-school sessions, and special language days with the four communities that participate. Instead, the WLRP opened , 'Children's House', a language immersion school at the Montessori Academy of North Falmouth, Massachusetts, with a dozen students. Later in November 2016, the school was moved onto Mashpee Wampanoag tribal property, to be closer to Mashpee, from where most of the WLRP staff, instructors and students come. In 2013, it was estimated that 6% of the students of the Mashpee Public School district were from the Mashpee Wôpanâak tribe. The project also received a three-year grant, which will allow the school to expand to 35 students and train four Montessori-style teachers, but it is likely that the slots may have to be awarded by lottery, given the interest in the project and its closer proximity to a tribal region. Wampanoag spokesmen have objected to aspects of the National Geographic's Saints & Strangers (2015), a two-part Thanksgiving mini-series that explored the early history of the English settlers and Native Americans in Massachusetts. Baird and Linda Coombs, director of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Cultural Center, initially helped National Geographic as language consultants. They were rebuffed when they asked for authority to review the script before filming, "to ensure it was historically and culturally accurate and that any offensive material had been removed." The production company hired a different language consultant and coach, who translated the dialogue into Western Abenaki. A National Geographic spokesman said the production had noted that this was a cousin language to the Wampanoag of the original people who encountered early English settlers. Baird said, "To say that Abenaki is Wampanog is like saying Portuguese is Spanish ... Using the same language family like this is saying one Indian isn't any different than another Indian. One language isn't any different than another. It marginalizes an entire people." ==Phonology==

Consonants Massachusett consonants lack voicing and aspiration. Aspiration, or the puff of air released after a consonant, is common in English in initial consonants or for clarity and emphasis, but not the second element of consonant clusters or syllable-final positions. Thus, Massachusett is more akin to the in spin than the in pin . The unaspirated /p/ may sound voiced and confused with English . Massachusett does not seem to have made any distinctions between voiced and unvoiced consonants as they exist in English, and so the colonial alphabet used voiced-unvoiced pairings such as B/P, G/C-K, J/Ch, Z/S, D/T and G(w)/Q(u) interchangeably, although it is possible that some consonants were voiced as allophonic variations, or sounded voiced to the English missionaries. As voicing is not a phonemic part of the language, the modern alphabet has purged the voiced letters save proper and personal names and loanwords that have not yet been assimilated or replaced. A sound similar to the sound is found in UK English tune; it was often confused by missionary writers as and written with or . It can be approximated by pronouncing the 'ti' in tiara rapidly. It can be confused with , which was used in the colonial and currently in the modern script to represent T followed by an 'infected vowel' which together create the same sound with a short schwa, . Vowels The symmetric vowel inventory of Proto-Algonquian was reduced through mergers along the course of its development. Massachusett vowels can be divided into the long vowels , and ; the short vowels and and the nasal vowel , which may also be considered a long vowel as it is stressed and lengthened in speech as the other long vowels. The language is rich in various vowel combinations and diphthongs created with final and , which are often productive verbal elements. Two vowels together usually indicate hiatus of two distinct sounds and not a true diphthong, e.g., English coagulate and naive. Thus, (), 'to lift up', is pronounced and not *. Nevertheless, combinations of vowels and vowel-glide consonant (semivowel) are particularly numerous, not limited to , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , etc. Due to the wide variance of spelling, the vowels have been hardest to reconstruct for the language. The exact value is unknown, and the vowels , , and could have had values of , , , or , , . Some dialects may have differed in pronunciation, perhaps using the sounds and to represent the letters and . ==Alphabet==

The original alphabet devised by Eliot and used by the Native Americans of the mid-seventeenth till nineteenth centuries consisted of all 26 letters of the Latin alphabet as used in English, with the addition of the digraph as a separate letter, similar to its role in Spanish prior to the 1994 Spanish orthographical reforms. The digraph does not receive similar treatment. Vowels could be marked with the acute accent ( ´ ) to denote stress or long vowels or the circumflex ( ˆ ) used to indicate the nasal vowel , but despite this prescriptive use, most literate native speakers, and even Eliot, used them interchangeably. The double O ligature was used by Eliot primarily to indicate as opposed to the short vowel , analogous to writing ' and ' but cook and rook; however, was not considered a separate letter and often replaced with . , , and only occur in loan words. as the representation of the runic letter thorn () was used in Eliot's time as a shorthand for , often written superscript or subscript in print to differentiate from . Although not included in the colonial alphabet, its use would likely have occurred in some English loan words especially from the oldest Native American documents. and , although not yet considered distinct letters in English of the seventeenth century, were treated as separate letters in Massachusett. The alphabet in use by the Wôpanâak communities that participate in the language revival, the alphabet is much reduced and simplified. , , , , , , , , , , , and are not part of the alphabet, but remain in use for proper names and place names. remains a separate letter, to which the digraphs and have been included. and are considered letters, but restricted to represent and , respectively, and thus eliminating the need for the acute or circumflex. replaces in the modern alphabet for ease of input and rendering on English typesets and is also considered a distinct letter. is retained but restricted to represent whilst the digraph is used as a separate letter for . The only letter with two sounds is , which represents in word-final positions and elsewhere before a vowel for etymological purposes. Writing samples Many of the translations in the Massachusett language were of a religious nature, as the missionaries were hoping to win over converts by using the 'Indian language'. The following is an example of the Lord's Prayer as found in Eliot's 1661 publishing of the New Testament in Matthew 6:9: 'Our Father, who art in Heaven,' 'Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 'Give us this day our daily bread,' 'and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,' 'and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.' 'For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.' An excerpt from Josiah Cotton's Vocabulary of the Massachusetts (or Natick) Indian Language, where the English is his own writings, and the Massachusett that of his father, John Cotton, a prominent preacher to the Wampanoag: Q: 'How shall I learn Indian?' A: 'By talking with the Indians, and minding their words, and manner of pronouncing.' Q: 'And what is the difference between the language of the Island [Martha's Vineyard], and the main?' A: 'I can't tell or don't know, only this I know, that these Indians don't understand every word of them Indians.' An example of records from the Praying Town of Natick, written in 1700 by Thomas Waban, a descendant of Waban: 'July 8. Thomas Waban Senior requested on behalf of his' 'son, Thomas Waban Junior, and he' 'has two acres of meadow.' 'The same day John Wamsquon requested on behalf of' 'Thomas Wamsquon, and he may have a meadow, and' 'he has it. On the same Isaak' 'Wuttasukoopauin requested, that day, and he may have' 'two acres at Wohquomppagok.' Conveyance of land from Soosooahquo to Noshcampaet, from Nantucket, in 1686 'I Soosoahquo have bargained well with Noshcampaet,' 'At Mattahketa he has land, one hundred and' 'two acres. At land by name Kattahtammeth and' 'kabeaqut kashkuhtukqusonk neahmute that swamp is wide' 'the length of Naskompeat's land, (and) land by name Mussantaessuit,' '(and) the width of land by name Massooskaassak,' 'and by name Sakashchah nuppessunnahquemmeth as far as' 'Kuttahkemmeth. The time was 1686, 10th month, 3d day.' == Grammar ==

The Massachusett language shared several features in common with other Algonquian languages. Nouns have gender based on animacy, often considered to reflect the traditional worldview of the speakers on what has spirit versus what does not (e.g. a body would be animate, but the parts of the body are inanimate). Nouns are also marked for obviation, with nouns less relevant to the discourse marked apart from nouns that are more so. Personal pronouns distinguish three persons, two numbers (singular and plural), inclusive and exclusive first-person plural, and proximate and obviative third-persons. Nouns are also marked as absentative, especially when referring to lost items or deceased persons. Sentence structures are typically SVO or SOV, but deviation from strict word order is possible due to the synthetic structure. Verbs are quite complex, and can be broken into four classes of verbs: animate-intransitive (AI), inanimate-intransitive (II), animate-transitive (AT), and inanimate-transitive (IT), depending on the animacy of the subject (for intransitive verbs) or object (for transitive ones). Verbs can also be supplied with various other prefixes and suffixes, so complex things can easily be described just by a verb. ==Vocabulary==

Massachusett shares most of its vocabulary with other Algonquian languages. The following table, mostly taken from D. J. Costa's description of the SNEA languages, demonstrates the relationship of Massachusett with other languages, such as closely related Eastern Algonquian languages such as the Loup and Narragansett—both also SNEA languages—Penobscot, a representative of the Eastern branch of Abenakian languages, Munsee, a Lenape language, and more distant relatives, such as Arapaho, a Plains Algonquian language and Ojibwe, a Central Algonquian language. English influences in the Massachusett language With the arrival of the English colonists, the Native Americans quickly began to adopt English in order to communicate and participate in wider society by necessity as the English settlers came to surround and outnumber the natives. The Native Americans adopted the new crops—, , , ; animal husbandry and domesticated animals—, , , ; tools and farming methods and material culture— ('chamber'), ('pewter'), ('petticoat'), ('calico' garments), etc. As the Native Americans began to lose their autonomy and were settled into the Praying towns, adopting Christianity—, , , ; colonial laws and courts—, , , , ; naming customs—, ; and eventually adopted the English system of measurements—, (acres); calendar systems—, , , ; and self-government— ('juryman'), ('tithe collector'), ('selectman'), ('constable') and economics—, , ('money'), , etc. In addition, many words were introduced by the missionaries unable to find or unaware of a suitable Massachusett translation, thus introducing the proper people and place names of the Bible and various concepts, many of which were later adopted by the Native Americans— ('Pharoah's horsmen'), ('shepherd'), , , , , , , etc. (reverse). Use of English currency led to the words ('money'), , , and as a verbal root for 'pay'. A number of words were borrowed in their English plural form, used in their singular, and pluralized to however the Native Americans assumed whether the term in question was animate or inanimate. For example, ('oxen'), ('pigs') and ('cows') represented the singular 'ox', 'pig' and 'cow' and but were rendered in the plural as ('oxenak), ('pigsack') and ('cowsak) for 'oxen', 'pigs' and 'cows'. Due to the complex consonant and vowel inventory of English in comparison to Massachusett, English loan words were pronounced in one of two ways. Those who were more proficient and bilingual in English likely pronounced them closer to English pronunciation with most speakers adapting it to local Massachusett phonology. This can be seen in US English, with more educated speakers or those with some French-language familiarity pronouncing the loan word guillotine as either anglicized or in approximation of French ). This may explain the Massachusett doublet and for 'Frenchmen'. This can be seen in writing, where many loans were spelled in Massachusett, either roughly the same as in English or indicating adaptation. As and do not occur in the language, they were replaced with , for example in and for 'blanket' and 'share' or omitted altogether in , 'cider', and for 'constable'. 'appletree', 'Indian assembly'. Massachusett influences in the English language ' is from Massachusett meaning 'reddish animal'.After the failed settlement of Roanoke (1585) and the first permanent settlement at Jamestown (1607)—near speakers of Powhatan languages—shifted to New England with failed attempts at Cuttyhunk (1602) and Cape Ann (1624) and successful settlement of Plymouth (1621), Salem (1628), Massachusetts Bay (1629)—all in what is now Massachusetts and in the midst of Massachusett-speaking peoples—and a few other sites in New England. The earliest settlers struggled in the colder climate of New England, with their lives dependent on the Native American peoples for education on local agriculture, food aid, protection from less welcoming tribes and a market for trade. Through these close interactions, the English settlers adopted hundreds of words, probably hundreds more when compounds and calques of Massachusett phrases are included. The Algonquian loan words were known as 'wigwam words' with wigwam coming from Massachusett Pidgin for 'house' or 'home'. Many of the common words such as papoose (which originally referred to the Native American children), squash and moccasin were popularized in 1643, even back in England, with the publication of Roger Williams' A Key into the Language of America and as a result, are often given a Narragansett etymology. Most words were likely borrowed independently until a common form won out, or re-enforced each other through similarity. For example, New Englanders used wauregan to mean 'handsome' and 'showy' until the end of the nineteenth century from an SNEA R-dialect, most likely from Quiripi , but the first settlers in Massachusetts were already familiar with the older cognate form wunnegin from Massachusett () from N-dialect Massachusett. Furthermore, the English settlers of the failed Popham Colony, and later settlements in what is now Maine and New Hampshire encountered from Eastern Abenakian, whilst settlers in the rest of New England encountered from the SNEA languages, ultimately coalescing into English moose. Other forms were shortened beyond recognition, with squash a shortened slang form of original borrowings isquontersquash or squantersquash from Massachusett Tribal groups, Native advocacy groups and social pressure has led to name changes of several species and place names, but squaw remains a common element in these domains. Similarly, many of the Algonquian loan words such as firewater, bury the hatchet, wampum, papoose, powwow and brave can be used to construct offensively, stereotypical sentences, especially when used in Native-specific contexts; they were long used in the condescending, paternalistic writings of explorers, government anthropologists and agency reports and nineteenth century literature referencing the 'last' of the 'noble savages', such as James Fenmoore Cooper's 1826 Last of the Mohegans which re-introduced many of the fading terms of the colonial period. Use of the wigwam words in these disparaging contexts were cited as one of the primary reasons for high drop-out rates of Native American high school students, often served by European-American teachers. '', also called 'chogset' (Massachusett (), 'it is blemished' or 'it is spotted'The coastal dialects of Eastern New England English absorbed many more of these words due to longer interaction and the fact that they are spoken over the territory of Massachusett and related languages. The majority of Algonquian loan words fell into obscurity by the end of the nineteenth century, coinciding locally with the death of the last speakers of Massachusett as well as nationally with the complete subjugation of all of North America's indigenous peoples and policies, largely successful, implemented to eradicate Native American political units, languages and culture. Most of the local dialectal words suffered the same fate, but a legacy of it survives in the use of quahog and chogset to refer to the 'hard-shelled clam' or 'round clam' Mercenaria mercenaria and an edible wrasse fish, Tautoga onitis, known elsewhere as black porgy, chub, blackfish or oyster-fish. The dwindled vocabulary, only fifty or so terms from New England are still current and most only locally are nevertheless important for two reasons. Firstly, they represent the second oldest and largest corpus of Algonquian loan words after Powhatan, and are among the first true 'Americanisms' that began to differentiate American English. • moose, 'Eurasian Elk/American Moose' (Alces alces), /()./(). • tautog, 'blackfish' (Tautoga onitis), from Narragansett (pl.). • menhaden, 'fishes used for fertilizer' (Brevoortia or Ethmidium species), a blend of , used in northern New England, and Narragansett from a base that means 'he fertilizes.' • scup, 'a bream fish' (Stenotomus chrysops). Narragansett . Also appears as scuppaug. • porgy, name for fishes of the family Sparidae, including scup, sheepshead and breams. Because of local Eastern New England English dialectal pronunciation, it also appears as paugee. From (), 'double' or 'pair', cf. , 'they go in pairs.' • pishaug, 'young female Surf scoter', (Melanitta perspicillata)./() • squash, originally a short form of askoquash, askutasqash, or squantersqash. Refers to domesticated varieties of Cucurbita commonly known as pumpkins, squash and gourds in North America, and as marrows in other parts of the English-speaking world. • pumpkin, refers to the large, orange cultivars of Cucurbita pepo var. pepo and similar looking winter squashes. Originally referred to as pompions. From , 'grows forth round.' Native American Tools, Technology, Society and Culture and verb base (), 'bad'. • papoose, from 'child'. Cf. Natick and Naragansett . • moccasin, 'shoe'. From /()./(). • manitou, 'spirit' or 'deity'. Cognate with /() • pow wow, 'Native American gathering' or 'gatherings' in general. Originally referred to a 'shaman'. From /(), • nunkom, 'young man'. From . • caucus, 'meeting for political supporters'. Possibly derives from a form similar to , 'he/she advises', and (), 'to advise others'. • hominy, 'nixtamalized corn' often eaten as grits. Cognate with (), 'to grind'.. • mugwump, formerly used to mean 'kingpin' or 'kingmaker'; later to describe Republican bolters during that supported Grover Cleveland and now to politically neutral, independent people or bolters. Originally referred to a 'war leader'. From . • toshence, 'last of anything' although once used in southeastern Massachusetts to mean 'last child'. From , 'youngest child'. • muskeg, 'swamp'. From Cree, but cognate with Narragansett , 'thick woods'. • wickakee, 'hawkweed' also known in New England as 'Indian paintbrush'. Refers to several species of Hieracium. Topographical legacy Numerous streets, ponds, lakes, hills, and villages across eastern Massachusetts have Massachusett-language origins. The name of the state itself may mean 'near the big hill' or 'hill shaped like an arrowhead'. Very few cities and towns have Massachusett names, most ultimately linked to towns and villages in England, but the ones that probably have a Massachusett origin include Acushnet ('calm water resting place'), Aquinnah ('under the hills'). Cohasset (, 'long fishing point'), Mashpee (, 'great water'), Nantucket, 'in the midst of the waters', Natick, 'place of hills', Saugus ('the outlet, the extension'), Scituate, 'cold brook', Seekonk, 'Canada goose', and Swampscott, 'at the red rock' or 'broken waters'. Other notable Indian placenames include Shawmut (, former name for Boston, 'canoe landing place'), Neponset (a river that flows through the Dorchester section of Boston and a village of Dorchester, meaning unknown), Cuttyhunk Island (, 'a point of departure'), Nantasket (a beach in Hull, 'a low-ebb tide place'), and Mystic River ('great river'). Cities and towns Cities known by previous names Villages Islands Lakes and ponds Rivers ==References==