Editing Mi'kmaq language (section)

==History and related languages==
[[File:Tan teladakadidjik apostalewidjik 1863.jpg|thumb|right|Bible translations into the Miꞌkmaq language]]

Miꞌkmaq is one of the [[Algic languages]], a family that once spanned from a small portion of California across [[Central Canada]], the [[Midwestern United States]], and the northeastern coast of North America. Within this family, Miꞌkmaq is part of the [[Eastern Algonquian languages|Eastern Algonquian subgroup]] spoken largely along the Atlantic coast. It is closely related to several extant languages, such as [[Malecite-Passamaquoddy language|Malecite-Passamaquoddy]], [[Massachusett language|Massachusett]] and [[Munsee language|Munsee]] as well as extinct languages like [[Abenaki language|Abenaki]] and [[Unami language|Unami]]. Beyond having a similar language background and sharing close geographic proximity, the Miꞌkmaq notably held an alliance with four other tribes within the Eastern Algonquian language group known as the [[Wabanaki Confederacy]]: in short, a history of long-term language contact has existed between Miꞌkmaq and its close linguistic relatives.

Miꞌkmaq has many similarities with its fellow Eastern Algonquian languages, including multiple word cognates: for instance, compare the Miꞌkmaq word for 'woman', {{transliteration|mic|eꞌpit}}, to the Maliseet {{transliteration|pqm|ehpit}} {{IPA|[æpit]|lang=pqm}}, or the varying related words for the color 'white': {{transliteration|mic|wapeꞌt}} in Miꞌkmaq, {{transliteration|pqm|wapi}} {{IPA|[wapi]|lang=pqm}} in Maliseet, {{transliteration|umu|waapii}} {{IPA|[wapi]|lang=umu}} in Munsee, {{lang|abe|wôbi}} {{IPA|[wɔ̃bɪ]|lang=abe}} in Abenaki and {{lang|unm|wòpe}} {{IPA|[wɔpe]|lang=unm}} in Unami. Even outside of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup, there exist similar cognates within the larger Algic family, such as the [[Cree language|Cree]] {{transliteration|cr|wāpiskāw}} {{IPA|[wɔ:bɪska:w]|lang=cr}} and the [[Miami-Illinois language|Miami-Illinois]] {{transliteration|mia|waapi}} {{IPA|[wa:pi]|lang=mia}}.<ref name="cognates">{{Cite web|url=http://www.native-languages.org/famalg_words.htm|title=Algonkian/Algonquian Words (Algic)|website=www.native-languages.org}}</ref>

Like many Native American languages, Miꞌkmaq uses a classifying system of [[animacy|animate versus inanimate words]]. The animacy system in general is common, but the specifics of Miꞌkmaq's system differ even from closely related Algic languages. For instance, in Wampanoag, the word for 'Sun', {{transliteration|wam|cone}}, is inanimate, but the word for 'Earth', {{transliteration|wam|ahkee}}, is animate, a fact used by some scholars to claim that the Wampanoag people were aware of the Earth's rotation around an unmoving Sun;<ref name="Animacy">[http://www.bostonreview.net/BR37.1/anne_makepeace_wampanoag_we_still_live_here.php Boston Review: Touching Their Ancestors' Hands, 'Animacy']</ref> however, in Miꞌkmaq, both the word for 'Sun', {{lang|mic|naꞌguꞌset}}, and the word for 'Earth', {{lang|mic|ugsꞌtqamu}}, are animate, and parallel cultural knowledge regarding astronomy cannot be gleaned through the language. Much like [[grammatical gender]], the core concept of animacy is shared across similar languages while the exact connotations animacy has within Miꞌkmaq are unique.

Many [[Acadian French]] and [[Chiac]] words are rooted in the Miꞌkmaq language, due to the Acadians and Miꞌkmaq living together prior to the [[Expulsion of the Acadians]] and the British colonization of [[Acadia]]; in French-speaking areas, traces of Miꞌkmaq can also be found largely in geographical names within regions historically that were occupied by the Miꞌkmaq people, including [[Quebec]]<ref name="Quebec">{{Cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/quebec|title=quebec &#124; Origin and meaning of quebec by Online Etymology Dictionary|website=www.etymonline.com}}</ref> and several towns in Nova Scotia such as [[Antigonish, Nova Scotia|Antigonish]] and [[Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia|Shubenacadie]]. Moreover, several Miꞌkmaq words have made their way into colonizing languages: the English words ''[[boreal woodland caribou|caribou]]''<ref name="caribou">{{Cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/caribou|title=caribou &#124; Origin and meaning of caribou by Online Etymology Dictionary|website=www.etymonline.com}}</ref> and ''toboggan''<ref name="toboggan">{{Cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/toboggan|title=toboggan &#124; Origin and meaning of toboggan by Online Etymology Dictionary|website=www.etymonline.com}}</ref> are borrowings from Miꞌkmaq. The name ''caribou'' was probably derived from the Miꞌkmaq word {{lang|mic|xalibu}} or {{lang|mic|Qalipu}} meaning 'the one who paws'.<ref name=HWW>{{citation|url=http://www.hww.ca/en/species/mammals/caribou.html |orig-year=1985 |year=2005 |isbn=0-662-39659-6 |work=Canadian Wildlife Service/EC |title=Hinterland Who's Who |editor-first=Maureen |editor-last=Kavanagh |access-date=21 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224105839/http://www.hww.ca/en/species/mammals/caribou.html |archive-date=24 December 2013 }}</ref> [[Marc Lescarbot]] in his publication in French in 1610 used the term ''caribou''. [[Silas Tertius Rand]] translated the Miꞌkmaq word {{lang|mic|Kaleboo}} as 'caribou' in his Miꞌkmaq-English dictionary (Rand 1888:98).

The aforementioned use of [[Miꞌkmaq hieroglyphic writing|hieroglyphic writing]] in pre-colonial Miꞌkmaq society shows that Miꞌkmaq was one of the few Native American languages to have a writing system before European contact.

Linguist Peter Bakker identified two [[Basque language|Basque]] [[loanword]]s in Miꞌkmaq, presumably because of extensive trade contact between Basque sailors and Native Americans in the 16th century.<ref>Bakker, P. (1989). Two Basque Loanwords in Micmac. [[International Journal of American Linguistics]] Vol. 55, No. 2 (Apr., 1989), pp. 258–261</ref> The overall friendly exchanges starting in mid-16th century between the Miꞌkmaqs and the [[history of Basque whaling|Basque whalers]] provided the basis for the development of an [[Algonquian–Basque pidgin]] with a strong Miꞌkmaq imprint, which was recorded to be still in use in the early 18th century.