Editing Mandan language

{{short description|Siouan language of North Dakota in the United States}}
{{Lead too short|date=July 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Mandan
| nativename       = {{lang|mhq|Nų́ų́ʔetaa íroo}}
| image            = The Lord's Prayer in Mandan.png
| imagecaption     = The [[Lord's Prayer]] in Mandan (1905)
| states           = [[United States]]
| region           = [[Fort Berthold Reservation]], [[North Dakota]]
| ethnicity        = [[Mandan people|Mandan]]
| extinct          = 9 December 2016, with the death of [[Edwin Benson]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kfyrtv.com/content/news/Edwin-Benson-last-known-fluent-speaker-of-Mandan-passes-away-at-85-405723515.html |title=Edwin Benson, last-known fluent speaker of Mandan, passes away at 85 |accessdate=2016-11-10}}</ref>
| revived          = Taught at [[Fort Berthold Community College]]
| familycolor      = American
| fam1             = [[Siouan languages|Siouan]]
| fam2             = [[Western Siouan languages|Western Siouan]]
| iso3             = mhq
| lingua           = 64-AAB-a
| notice           = IPA
| glotto           = mand1446
| glottorefname    = Mandan
| dia1             = Nuptare
| dia2             = Nuetare
}}

'''Mandan''' ([[endonym]]: {{lang|mhq|Nų́ų́ʔetaa íroo}}) is an extinct [[Siouan languages|Siouan]] language of [[North Dakota]] in the United States.<ref name = "Kasak2024">{{cite book |last=Kasak |first=Ryan M. |publication-place=Berlin |publisher=[[Language Science Press]] |series=Comprehensive Grammar Library |volume=10 |title=A Grammar of Mandan |date=2024 |url=http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/446 |isbn=978-3-96110-495-6 |issn=2749-7798}} {{open access}}
</ref>

== Use and revitalization efforts ==
By 2009, there was just one fluent speaker of Mandan, [[Edwin Benson]] (1931–2016).<ref name="benson">{{cite news |work=The Missoulian |date=11 May 2009 |first=Jodi |last=Rave |url=http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2009/05/11/news/mtregional/news06.txt |title=The last speaker: UND to honor Mandan, last to speak Nu'eta as 1st language }}</ref> The language is being taught in local school programs to encourage the use of the language.<ref>{{Cite news | title = Last known fluent Mandan speaker honored | work = News From Indian Country | accessdate = 2012-09-27 | url = https://www.indiancountrynews.com/index.php/culture/language/4931-last-known-fluent-mandan-speaker-honored }}</ref> Prior to Benson's death, Estonian linguist Indrek Park worked with him for more than two years to preserve the language as much as possible.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://apnews.com/article/7a41507ead8a4f5a8f32c8b4953285e8 |title = Man known as last fluent speaker of the Mandan language dies |date=16 December 2016 |accessdate=2021-03-11 |publisher=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> The 2020 documentary ''To Save A Language'' portrays Park's efforts to revive the language.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://nordische-filmtage.culturebase.org/en_EN/films/16538 |title=To Save a Language |publisher=[[Lübeck Nordic Film Days]] |accessdate=2021-03-11}}</ref>

Mandan is taught at [[Fort Berthold Community College]] along with the [[Hidatsa language|Hidatsa]] and [[Arikara language]]s.<ref name="benson" /> Linguist Mauricio Mixco of the [[University of Utah]] has been involved in fieldwork with remaining speakers since 1993. As of 2007, extensive materials in the Mandan language at the college and at the [[North Dakota Heritage Center]], in [[Bismarck, North Dakota]], remained to be processed, according to linguists.<ref>{{Cite news| title = Rancher, linguist working to preserve Mandan language | work = News From Indian Country | accessdate = 2012-09-27 | date = 2007-08-07| url = https://indiancountrynews.net/index.php/news/76-culture/native-language/1144-rancher-linguist-working-to-preserve-mandan-language-8-07 9}}</ref>

The MHA Language Project has created language learning materials for Mandan, including a vocabulary app, a dictionary, and several books in the language. They also provide a summer learning institute and materials for teachers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.mandanlanguage.org/ |title=Home|website=MHA Language Project - Mandan|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-05}}</ref>

==Classification==
Mandan was initially thought to be closely related to [[Hidatsa language|Hidatsa]] and [[Crow language|Crow]]. However, since Mandan has had [[language contact]] with Hidatsa and Crow for many years, the exact relationship between Mandan and other Siouan languages (including Hidatsa and Crow) has been obscured and is currently undetermined. Thus, Mandan is most often considered to be a separate branch of the Siouan family.

Mandan has two main [[dialect]]s: Nuptare and Nuetare.

Only the Nuptare variety survived into the 20th century, and all speakers were bilingual in Hidatsa. In 1999, there were only six fluent speakers of Mandan still alive.<ref name="speakers">Personal communication from Mauricio Mixco in 1999, reported in Parks & Rankin. 2001. p. 112.</ref> [[Edwin Benson]], the last surviving fluent Mandan speaker, died in 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kfyrtv.com/content/news/Edwin-Benson-last-known-fluent-speaker-of-Mandan-passes-away-at-85-405723515.html |title=Edwin Benson, last-known fluent speaker of Mandan, passes away at 85|last=Skurzewski|first=Joe|publisher=kfyrtv.com|date=9 December 2016|accessdate=13 December 2016}}</ref>

The language received much attention from White Americans because of the supposedly lighter skin color of the Mandan people, which they speculated was due to an ultimate European origin. In the 1830s [[Prince Maximilian of Wied]] spent more time recording Mandan over all other Siouan languages and prepared a comparison list of Mandan and [[Welsh language|Welsh]] words (he thought that the Mandan might be displaced Welsh).<ref name="maximilian">Chafe. 1976b. pp. 37–38.</ref> The idea of a Mandan/Welsh connection was also supported by [[George Catlin]].<ref>[[George Catlin|Catlin, G.]] ''Die Indianer Nordamerikas'' Verlag Lothar Borowsky</ref>

Will and Spinden (p.&nbsp;188) report that the [[medicine men]] had their own secret language.

==Phonology==

Mandan has the following consonant phonemes:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
|-
!
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br>alveolar]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-align="center"
! [[Stop consonant|Stop]]
| {{IPAlink|p}}
| {{IPAlink|t}}
|
| {{IPAlink|k}}
| {{IPAlink|ʔ}}
|-align="center"
! [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
|
| {{IPAlink|s}}
| {{IPAlink|ʃ}}
| {{IPAlink|x}}
| {{IPAlink|h}}
|-align="center"
! [[Sonorant consonant|Sonorant]]
|{{IPAlink|w}}
|{{IPAlink|r}}
|
|
|
|}

{{IPA|/w/}} and {{IPA|/r/}} become {{IPA|[m]}} and {{IPA|[n]}} before nasal vowels, and {{IPA|/r/}} is realized as {{IPA|[ⁿd]}} word-initially.<ref name="phoneme2">Wood & Irwin 2001, p. 349</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan="3"|
! colspan="4"|[[Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan="4"|[[Central vowel|Central]]
! colspan="4"|[[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! colspan="2"|Oral
! colspan="2"|[[Nasal vowel|Nasal]]
! colspan="2"|Oral
! colspan="2"|[[Nasal vowel|Nasal]]
! colspan="2"|Oral
! colspan="2"|[[Nasal vowel|Nasal]]
|-
! <small>[[Vowel length|short]]</small>
! <small>long</small>
! <small>short</small>
! <small>long</small>
! <small>short</small>
! <small>long</small>
! <small>short</small>
! <small>long</small>
! <small>short</small>
! <small>long</small>
! <small>short</small>
! <small>long</small>
|-
! align="left"|[[Close vowel|Close]]
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|i}}
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|iː}}
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|ĩ}}
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|ĩː}}
|
|
|
|
| align="center" |{{IPAlink|u}}
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|uː}}
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|ũ}}
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|ũː}}
|-
! align="left"|[[Close-mid vowel|Mid]]
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|e}}
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|eː}}
|
|
|
|
|
|
| align="center" |{{IPAlink|o}}
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|oː}}
|
|
|-
! align="left"|[[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|
|
|
| align="center" |{{IPAlink|a}}
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|aː}}
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|ã}}
| align="center"|{{IPAlink|ãː}}
|
|
|
|
|}

==Morphology==

Mandan is a [[subject–object–verb]] language.

Mandan has a system of [[allocutive agreement]] and so different grammatical forms may be used that depend on the [[gender]] of the [[Interlocutor (linguistics)|addressee]]. Questions asked of men must use the [[suffix]] {{lang|mqh|-oʔsha:}} the suffix {{lang|mhq|-oʔną}} is used to ask of women. Likewise, the [[indicative]] suffix is {{lang|mhq|-oʔsh}} to address men, {{lang|mhq|-oʔre}} to address women. The same goes for the [[Imperative mood|imperative]]: {{lang|mhq|-ta}} (male), {{lang|mhq|-ną}} (female).<ref name="gender">Hollow. 1970. p. 457 (in Mithun 1999. p. 280).</ref>

Mandan verbs include a set of postural verbs, which encode the shapes of the subject of the verb:<ref name="mithun2001">{{cite book | last = Mithun | first = Marianne | title = The Languages of Native North America | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge | year = 2001 | pages = 115–116 | isbn = 978-0-521-29875-9 }}</ref>

{{interlinear|lang=mhq|number=1|glossing3=yes|italics2=yes|glossing=no abbr
| wérex <u>ną́k</u>oʔsh
| wérex ną́k-oʔsh
| pot sit-PRESENT
| 'A pot was there (sitting).'}}

{{interlinear|lang=mhq|number=2||glossing3=yes|italics2=yes|glossing=no abbr
| mį́ʔtixteną <u>té</u>roomąkoʔsh
| mį́ʔti-xte-ną <u>té</u>-roomąkoʔsh
| village-big-EMPHATIC <u>stand</u>-NARRATIVE.PAST
| 'There was a big village.'}}

{{interlinear|lang=mhq|number=3|glossing3=yes|italics2=yes|glossing=no abbr
| mą́ątah <u>mą́k</u>omąkoʔsh
| mą́ątah <u>mą́k</u>-omąkoʔsh
| river <u>lie</u>-NARRATIVE.PAST
| 'The river was there.'}}

The English translations are not "A pot was sitting there," "A big village stood there," or "The river lay there." That reflects the fact that the postural categorization is required in such Mandan [[locative]] statements.

==Vocabulary==

{{Expand section|date=June 2008}}

Mandan, like many other North American languages, has elements of [[sound symbolism]] in its vocabulary. A {{IPA|/s/}} sound often denotes smallness/less intensity, {{IPA|/ʃ/}} denotes medium-ness, {{IPA|/x/}} denotes largeness/greater intensity:<ref name="soundsymb">Hollow & Parks 1980. p. 82.</ref>
* {{lang|mhq|síire}} "yellow"
* {{lang|mhq|shíire}} "tawny"
* {{lang|mhq|xíire}} "brown"
* {{lang|mhq|seró}} "tinkle"
* {{lang|mhq|xeró}} "rattle"

Compare the similar examples in [[Lakota language#Phonological processes|Lakhota]].

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Carter, Richard T. (1991a). Old Man Coyote and the wild potato: A Mandan trickster tale. In H. C. Wolfart & J. L. Finlay (Ed.), ''Linguistic studies presented to John L. Finlay'' (pp.&nbsp;27–43). Memoir (No. 8). Winnipeg: Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics. {{ISBN|0-921064-08-X}}.
* Carter, Richard T. (1991b). Maximilian's Ruptare vocabulary: Phililogical evidence and Mandan phonology. In F. Ingemann (Ed.),  ''1990 Mid-America Linguistics Conference: Papers'' (pp.&nbsp;479–489). Lawrence, KS: Department of Linguistics, University of Kansas.
* [[Wallace Chafe|Chafe, Wallace]]. (1973). Siouan, Iroquoian, and Caddoan. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), ''Current trends in linguistics'' (Vol. 10, pp.&nbsp;1164–1209). The Hague: Mouton. (Republished as Chafe 1976a).
* Chafe, Wallace. (1976a). Siouan, Iroquoian, and Caddoan. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), ''Native languages of the Americas'' (pp.&nbsp;527–572). New York: Plenum Press. {{ISBN|0-306-37157-X}}. (Originally published as Chafe 1973).
* Chafe, Wallace. (1976b). ''The Caddoan, Iroquoian, and Siouan languages''. Trends in linguistics: State-of-the-art report (No. 3). The Hague: Mouton. {{ISBN|90-279-3443-6}}.
* Coberly, Mary. (1979). A text analysis and brief grammatical sketch based on 'Trickster challenges the buffalo': A Mandan text collected by Edward Kennard. ''Colorado Research in Linguistics'', ''8'', 19–94.
* Hollow, Robert C. (1970). ''A Mandan dictionary''. (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley).
* Hollow, Robert C.; & Parks, Douglas. (1980). Studies in plains linguistics: A review. In W. R. Wood & M. P. Liberty (Eds.), ''Anthropology on the Great Plains'' (pp.&nbsp;68–97). Lincoln: University of Nebraska. {{ISBN|0-8032-4708-7}}.
* Kennard, Edward. (1936). Mandan grammar. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''9'', 1–43.
* [[Robert Lowie|Lowie, Robert H.]] (1913). Societies of the Hidatsa and Mandan Indians. In R. H. Lowie, ''Societies of the Crow, Hidatsa, and Mandan Indians'' (pp.&nbsp;219–358). Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History (Vol. 11, Part 3). New York: The Trustees. (Texts are on pp.&nbsp;355–358).
* [[Marianne Mithun|Mithun, Marianne]]. (1999). ''The languages of Native North America''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-23228-7}} (hbk); {{ISBN|0-521-29875-X}}.
* Mixco, Mauricio C. (1997a). ''Mandan''. Languages of the world series: Materials 159. Münich: LINCOM Europa. {{ISBN|3-89586-213-4}}.
* Mixco, Mauricio C. (1997b). Mandan switch reference: A preliminary view. ''Anthropological Linguistics'', ''39'', 220–298.
* Parks, Douglas R.; Jones, A. Wesley; Hollow, Robert C; & Ripley, David J. (1978). ''Earth lodge tales from the upper Missouri''. Bismarck, ND: Mary College.
* Parks, Douglas R.; & Rankin, Robert L. (2001). The Siouan languages. In R. J. DeMallie (Ed.), ''Handbook of North American Indians: Plains'' (Vol. 13, Part 1, pp.&nbsp;94–114). W. C. Sturtevant (Gen. Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. {{ISBN|0-16-050400-7}}.
* Will, George; & Spinden, H. J. (1906). ''[https://archive.org/details/mandansastudyth00spingoog The Mandans: A study of their culture, archaeology and language]''. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University (Vol. 3, No. 4, pp.&nbsp;81–219). Cambridge, MA: The Museum. (Reprinted 1976, New York: Kraus Reprint Corporation).
* [[Arok Wolvengrey|Wolvengrey, Arok]]. (1991). A marker of focus in Mandan discourse. In F. Ingemann (Ed.),  ''1990 Mid-America Linguistics Conference: Papers'' (pp.&nbsp;584–598). Lawrence, KS: Department of Linguistics, University of Kansas.
* Wood, Raymond W.; & Irwin, Lee. (2001). "Mandan". In "Plains", ed. Raymond J. DeMaille. Vol. 13 of ''Handbook of North American Indians'', ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

==External links==
* {{Cite web
| title = Native American Audio Collections: Mandan
| work = [[American Philosophical Society]]
| url = http://www.amphilsoc.org/exhibit/natamaudio/mandan
| access-date = 20 May 2013
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170214032053/https://amphilsoc.org/exhibit/natamaudio/mandan
| archive-date = 14 February 2017
| url-status = dead}}
* [http://www.native-languages.org/mandan.htm Mandan Indian Language (Ruetare)], native-languages.org
* [http://www.language-archives.org/language/mhq OLAC resources in and about the Mandan language]

{{Siouan languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandan Language}}
[[Category:Languages of the United States]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of the North American Plains]]
[[Category:Native American language revitalization]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of North America]]
[[Category:Languages extinct in the 2010s]]
[[Category:Western Siouan languages]]
[[Category:Mandan]]
[[Category:2016 disestablishments in the United States]]