Mikasuki or hitichi -mikasuki ( Hitchiti, Hitchiti-Mikasuki, Miccosukee, Mikasuki, Mikasuki Seminole ) is the language of the Muskogee family . The number of carriers is about 500 people in southern Florida , belonging to the tribes of mikasuki (mikosuki) and seminoles . The Hitchitig language, now extinct, was a dialect of Mikasuk.
| Mikasuki |
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| Self name | Kečn'ži |
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| Country | USA |
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| Regions | South florida |
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| Total number of speakers | 190 (2010) |
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| Status | |
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| Category | Native American Languages of North America |
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Muskog family - Eastern Mogu languages
- Mikasuki
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| Writing | latin |
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| ISO 639-1 | - |
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| ISO 639-2 | nai |
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| ISO 639-3 | mik |
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| WALS | |
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| Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
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| Ethnologue | |
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| ELCat | |
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| IETF | |
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| Glottolog | |
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Content
Vowels
| Front row | Middle row | Back row |
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| Closed vowels | i | iː | ĩ | | |
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| Middle Vowels | | | o | oː | õ |
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| Open vowels | | a | aː | ã | |
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Three tones are distinguished: high, low and downward. The longitude of the vowels played a meaningful role, for example: eche ("mouth") - eeche ("deer"); ete ("eye") - eete ("fire").
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
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| Nasal | m | n | | ŋ | |
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| Explosive | deaf | p | t | tʃ | k | |
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| Voiced | b | | | | |
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| Fricatives | f | ɬ | ʃ | | h |
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| Slotted | | l | j | w | |
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Various nouns are added to nouns, for example:
| Suffix | Function | Example | Value |
| | embaache | battery |
| ot | subject marker | embaachot hampeepom | the battery is broken |
| on | add-on marker | embaachon aklomle | i need a battery |
| ee | question marker | embachee cheméèło? | do you have a battery |
Free-standing pronouns ( aane "I", chehne "you", pohne "we", etc.) exist, but are rarely used - instead of them verb suffixes are used more often to indicate a person.
The Mikasuki language uses script based on the Latin alphabet. Vowels are pronounced as follows:
| Letter | Sound |
| a, aa | a , aː |
| a , aa | ã , ãː |
| e ee | i , iː |
| e ee | ĩː , ĩː |
| o oo | o , oː |
| o oo | õ ; õː |
| ay | ai |
| ao | ao |
Consonants:
| Letter | Sound |
| b | b |
| ch | ʧ |
| f | f |
| h | h |
| k | k |
| l | l |
| ł | ɬ |
| m | m |
| n | n |
| ng | ŋ |
| p | p |
| sh | ʃ |
| t | t |
| w | w |
| y | j |
A high tone is indicated by an acute sign, a low tone by grave , a downward tone by an acute, but in a special way - for long vowels it is placed between two identical vowel signs, in other cases it is placed over the following consonant:
| High tone | Low tone | Down tone |
| á, áa | à, àa | áǹ, áà |
In slow speech, the sound [ə] is distinguished between consonants in combinations of kl, kw and kn.
Verbs
| bochonkom | he / she / it concerns |
| chaolom | he / she / it writes |
| chayahlom | he / she / it walks |
| eelom | he / she / it comes |
| empom | he / she / it eats |
| eshkom | he / she / it drinks |
| faayom | he / she / it hunts |
| ommom | he / she / it does |
Numerals
| one | łáàmen |
| 2 | toklan |
| 3 | tocheenan |
| four | shéetaaken |
| five | chahkeepan |
| 6 | eepaaken |
| 7 | kolapaaken |
| eight | toshnapaaken |
| 9 | oshtapaaken |
| ten | pokoolen |
Kinship Terms
| nakne | the man |
| ooche | a son |
| ooshtayke | daughter |
| táàte | father |
| tayke | woman |
| wáàche | mother |
| yaate | person |
| yaatooche | child |
- West, J. & Smith, N. A Guide to the Miccosukee Language , Miami: Miccosukee Corporation 1978.
- West, J. The Phonology of Mikasuki in Studies in Linguistics 1962, 16: 77-91.