Quiripi language

Quiripi has also been called also known as Mattabesic, Quiripi-Unquachog, Quiripi-Naugatuck, and Wampano. ==Affiliation and dialects==

Quiripi is an Eastern Algonquian language of the Algonquian language family. It shared several linguistic features with the other Algonquian languages of southern New England, such as Massachusett and Mohegan-Pequot, including the shifting of Proto-Eastern Algonquian * and * to and , respectively, and the palatalization of earlier * before certain front vowels. There appear to have been two major dialects of Quiripi: an "insular" dialect spoken on Long Island by the Unquachog and a "mainland" dialect spoken by the other groups in Connecticut, principally the Quinnipiac. ==Attestation==

Quiripi is very poorly attested, though some sources do exist. One of the earliest Quiripi vocabularies was a 67-page bilingual catechism compiled in 1658 by Abraham Pierson, the elder, during his ministry at Branford, Connecticut, which remains the chief source of modern conclusions about Quiripi. It also displays signs of dialect mixture. Other sources of information on the language include a vocabulary collected by the Rev. Ezra Stiles in the late 1700s and a 202-word Unquachog vocabulary recorded by Thomas Jefferson in 1791, Additionally, three early hymns written circa 1740 at the Moravian Shekomeko mission near Kent, Connecticut, have been translated by Carl Masthay. ==Phonology==

Linguist Blair Rudes attempted to reconstitute the phonology of Quiripi, using the extant documentation, comparison with related Algonquian languages, as "reconstructing forward" from Proto-Algonquian. In Rudes' analysis, Quiripi contained the following consonant phonemes: Quiripi's vowel system as reconstituted by Rudes was similar to that of the other Southern New England Algonquian languages. It consisted of two short vowels and , and four long vowels , , , and . ==References==