Pamunkey language explained

Pamunkey
States:	United States
Region:	Virginia
Era:	attested 1844
Familycolor:	American
Family:	unclassified (Algonquian?)
Iso3:	none
Glotto:	pamu1240
Glottorefname:	Pamunkey
Ethnicity:	Pamunkey

The Pamunkey language is an extinct language that was spoken by the Pamunkey people of Virginia, United States.

The Pamunkey language is generally assumed to have been Algonquian. However, only fourteen words have been preserved, which is not enough to determine that the language actually was Algonquian.^{[1] [2]}

Word list

The only attested Pamunkey words, which were recorded in 1844 by Reverend E.A. Dalrymple S.T.D., are:^[3]

English	Pamunkey
son	tonshee
daughter	nucksee
cat	petucka
thankfulness	kayyo
O my Lord	o-ma-yah
friendship	kenaanee
thank you	baskonee
go out dog	eeskut
one	nikkut
two	orijak
three	kiketock
four	mitture
five	nahnkitty
six	vomtally
seven	talliko
eight	tingdum
ten	yantay

Lexical comparison

Below is a comparison of Pamunkey words and selected proto-languages from Zamponi (2024).^[4]

gloss	Pamunkey	Proto-Algonquian^[5]	Proto-Iroquoian (PI)/ Proto-Northern Iroquoian (PNI)^[6]	Proto-Siouan^[7]
son	tonshee	wekwiʔsema·wa		iyįḱe
daughter	nucksee	weta·nema·wa		iyų́·ke
cat	petucka	ka·šake·nsa
thankfulness	kayyo
O my Lord	o-ma-yah
friendship	kenaanee
thank you	baskonee			hahó
go out dog	eeskut
one	nikkut	nekwetwi	õskat (PNI)	rų·sa
two	orijak	nyi·šwi	tekniːh (PNI)	rų́·pa
three	kiketock	neʔθwi	ahsẽh (PNI)	rá·wrį
four	mitture	nye·wi	kajeɹi (PNI)	tó·pa
five	nahnkitty	nya·θanwi, *pale·neθkwi	hwihsk (PI)	kiSų́·
six	vomtally	nekweta·šyeka	tsjotaɹeʔ (?) (PI)	aká·we
seven	talliko	nyi·šwa·šyeka	tsjotaɹeʔ (?) (PI)	ša·kú·pa
eight	tingdum	neʔneʔšwa·šik, *neʔšwa·šyeka	tekɹõʔ (PI)
ten	yantay	meta·hθwi, *meta·tahθwi	wahshẽ (PI)	hą

Except for nikkut 'one', which is clearly similar to Powhatan nekut, none of the words correspond to any known Algonquian language, or to reconstructions of proto-Algonquian. Given the extensive ethnic mixing that occurred among the Pamunkey before 1844, it is possible that Dalrymple's list is from an inter-ethnic pidgin or even a language from an otherwise unknown language family, rather than from the original Pamunkey language.^[8]

See also

• Nansemond language

Notes and References

1. Web site: Archived copy . 2018-12-31 . 2018-12-31 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181231092715/http://www.italian-journal-linguistics.com/wp-content/uploads/Volume_29_Issue2_Appendice_Zamponi.pdf . dead .
2. 10.1086/465576. What is Dalrymple's Pamunkey?. 1979. Howell. Benita J.. Levy. Richard S.. Luckenbach. Alvin. International Journal of American Linguistics. 45. 78–80. 143441104.
3. A Vocabulary of Powhatan, compiled by Captain John Smith, with two word-lists of Pamumkey and Nansemond from other sources. Evolution Publishing, 1997.
4. Book: Zamponi, Raoul . The Languages and Linguistics of Indigenous North America . Unclassified languages . De Gruyter . 2024 . 978-3-11-071274-2 . 10.1515/9783110712742-061 . 1627–1648 .
5. Hewson, John. 1993. A computer-generated dictionary of Proto-Algonquian. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization.
6. Julian, Charles. 2010. A history of the Iroquoian languages. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Ph.D. dissertation.
7. Rankin, Robert L., Richard T. Carter, A. Wesley Jones, John E. Koontz, David S. Rood & Iren Hartmann (eds.). 2015. Comparative Siouan dictionary. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Accessed 31 January 2023.
8. Benita Howell, Richard Levy & Alvin Luckenbach, 'What Is Dalrymple's Pamunkey?', International Journal of American Linguistics, vol. 45, no. 1 (Jan. 1979), pp. 78–80