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Sibilant-stop clusters in Montagnais*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

William Cowan*
Affiliation:
Carleton University

Extract

Montagnais, an Algonquian language spoken in Quebec, exists in a number of different dialects. The main divisions are on a geographic basis, with western, eastern, and southern Montagnais, and within each of these varieties sub-dialects centered on specific communities like Pointe Bleu, Betsiamites, or Natashquan. In addition, within each community there may be other dialectal distinctions based on age, socio-economic factors, or elements as specialized as the location of traditional family hunting grounds, grounds in which one need no longer hunt to still have them considered family territory. One such community is the reserve town of Betsiamites, also known as Bersimis. The most notable dialectal division there is one based on age : there is a dialect of people over 60; one of people between 40 and 60; and one of those under 40. In addition, there seems to be a conservative/innovative split that cuts across the age-based dialect split, which itself is based on innovations in the speech of younger speakers, and which does not seem to be correlated with any social or political distinction, but only with phonological change and retention in relation to earlier forms of Montagnais and Proto-Algonquian itself. In the innovative dialect, sibilant-stop clusters consist uniformly of [š] plus a stop; or, in the case of young innovative speakers, a development therefrom. In the conservative dialect, sibilant-stop clusters are found in complementary neutralization: before [t] there occurs only [s]; before [p] and [k] there occurs only [š], no matter what was the source of the first or second element of the cluster in Proto-Algonquian (PA).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1986

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References

Cowan, William (1977) “xk/θk proto-algonquien dans le montagnais du 17e siècle.” In Cowan, William (ed.), Actes du huitième congrès de Algonquinistes. Ottawa: Carleton University.Google Scholar
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Silvy, Antoine (1974) Dictionnaire montagnais-français. Transcription par Angers, Lorenzo, Cooter, David E., et McNulty, Gérard E.. Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université du Québec.Google Scholar