The Algic languages (also Algonquian–Wiyot–Yurok or Algonquian–Ritwan)[Proulx, P. (1984). Proto-Algic I: Phonological Sketch. International Journal of American Linguistics, 50(2), 165–207. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1265603] estimated to have been spoken about 5,000 years ago and reconstructed using the reconstructed Proto-Algonquian language and the Wiyot language and Yurok language languages.
History
The term
Algic was first coined by Henry Schoolcraft in his
Algic Researches, published in 1839. Schoolcraft defined the term as "derived from the words Allegheny and
Atlantic Ocean, in reference to the indigenous people anciently located in this geographical area."
Schoolcraft's terminology was not retained. The peoples he called "Algic" were later included among the speakers of Algonquian languages. This language group is also referred to as "Algonquian-Ritwan" and "Wiyot-Yurok-Algonquian."
When Edward Sapir proposed that the well-established Algonquian family was genetically related to the Wiyot and Yurok languages of northern California, he applied the term Algic to this larger family. The Algic urheimat is thought to have been located in the Northwestern United States somewhere between the suspected Urheimat of the Algonquian branch (to the west of Lake Superior according to Ives Goddard
Classification of Algic
The genetic relation of Wiyot and Yurok to Algonquian was first proposed by
Edward Sapir (1913, 1915, 1923), and argued against by Algonquianist
Truman Michelson (1914, 1914, 1935). According to Lyle Campbell (1997), the relationship "has subsequently been demonstrated to the satisfaction of all."
[, who cites among others ] This controversy in the early classification of North American languages was called the "Ritwan controversy" because Wiyot and Yurok were assigned to a genetic grouping called "Ritwan." Most specialists now reject the validity of the Ritwan genetic node.
[; ] Berman (1982) suggested that Wiyot and Yurok share sound changes not shared by the rest of Algic (which would be explainable by either areal diffusion or genetic relatedness); Proulx (2004) argued against Berman's conclusion of common sound changes.
More recently, Sergei Nikolaev has argued in two papers for a systematic relationship between the Nivkh language of Sakhalin and the Amur river basin and the Algic languages, and a secondary relationship between these two together and the Wakashan languages.
Internal Classification
The following tree follows the paradigm established by Goddard (1994) wherein Blackfoot was the first language to diverge from
Proto-Algic, followed by Arapaho and
Cree language, then the Eastern Great Lakes or "Core Central" languages, and finally the Eastern Algonquian languages; this is reflected by "newer" languages being lower on the tree.
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Algic
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Wiyot language (†)
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Yurok language
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Algonquian
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Blackfoot/Siksiká
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Arapahoic
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Arapaho
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Gros Ventre/Atsina (†)
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Nawathinehena (†)
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Cree language
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Cheyenne
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Menominee
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Eastern Great Lakes
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Eastern
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Mi'kmaq
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Abenaki
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Eastern Abenaki
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Western Abenaki
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Massachusett/Wampanoag
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Narragansett (†)
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Maliseet-Passamaquoddy
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Mohegan-Pequot
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Powhatan (†)
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Nanticoke (†)
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Delawaran
Proto-language
See also
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Algonquian–Wakashan languages
Bibliography
Journals and books
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Michelson, Truman. 1915. Rejoinder. American Anthropologist, n.s. 17:194–198.
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(hbk); .
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