A Phonological Analysis of Nanticoke With Practical Applications for Language Revitalization

Abstract

The present study is a phonological analysis of Nanticoke, the Eastern dialect continuum of Maryland Algonquian. Firstly, it provides a historical reconstruction of the phonology via an extensive analysis of the three 18^th century word lists which comprise the known extant records of the Algonquian language formerly spoken on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Secondly, it infers the reflexes in Nanticoke and its sister languages that are missing from the historical record based on the patterns observed throughout Eastern Algonquian. Thirdly, it reports on a representative sample of phylogenetic trees produced by Python scripts generated by ChatGPT and lays out their implications for Nanticoke’s descent from Proto-Eastern Algonquian. Finally, the study then uses the phonology findings to evaluate reconstruction work in existing pedagogical materials created by the author and others since 2006, using the Minimal Course Method (Bruchac, Quinn, & Tarant, 2021) as a framework. Specifically, through selective borrowing and reshaping of Southern New England Algonquian and Delawarean morphology, it demonstrates it is possible to create a new morphology for Nanticoke that captures the essence of Nanticoke as represented in the historical word lists. The dissertation seeks to update the understanding of Nanticoke in the context of more than forty years of research on Eastern Algonquian and to serve as the linguistic foundation that supports the ongoing revitalization of the Nanticoke language by the Nanticoke Indian Association in Millsboro, Delaware.