Muscogee language

Template:Short description {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other

The Muscogee language (also Muskogee {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), previously referred to by its exonym, Creek,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> is spoken by Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole people, primarily in the US states of Oklahoma and Florida.

Muscogee was historically spoken by various constituent groups of the Muscogee confederacy in what are now Alabama and Georgia. In the early 18th century some Muscogee speakers began to join speakers of Hitchiti-Mikasuki in Florida. Combining with other ethnicities there, they emerged as the Seminole. During the 1830s, the US government forced most Muscogee and Seminole to relocate west of the Mississippi River, with most forced into Indian Territory.

Muscogee is today spoken by fewer than 400 people, most of whom live in Oklahoma and are members of the Muscogee Nation and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.<ref name="foo"> Powell, Amy; Martin, Jack (May 17, 2024). "The Muscogee Language Documentation Project". William & Mary</ref> Some speakers of Muscogee are also members of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The variety of Muscogee spoken by Seminoles in Oklahoma is sometimes referred to as "Seminole". Among Seminoles in Florida, Hitchiti-Mikasuki is the dominant language, however.

Muscogee belongs to a family of languages known as Muskogean. Muscogee is related to, but not mutually intelligible with, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Alabama, Koasati, Apalachee, and Hitchiti-Mikasuki.

Current status

Muscogee is the primary heritage language of the Muscogee people. The Muscogee Nation offers free language classes and immersion camps to Muscogee children.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Language programs

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The College of the Muscogee Nation offers a language certificate program.<ref>"Academics." College of the Muscogee Nation. (retrieved 27 Dec 2010)</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Tulsa public schools, the University of Oklahoma<ref>"Creek," Template:Webarchive University of Oklahoma: The Department of Anthropology.(retrieved 27 Dec 2010)</ref> and Glenpool Library in Tulsa<ref>"Library Presents Mvskoke (Creek) Language Class." Native American Times. 8 Sept 2009 (retrieved 27 Dec 2010)</ref> and the Holdenville,<ref>"Holdenville Indian Community." Muscogee (Creek) Nation. (retrieved 27 Dec 2010)</ref> Okmulgee, and Tulsa Muscogee Communities of the Muscogee Nation<ref>"Thunder Road Theater Company to perform plays in the Mvskoke (Creek) Language." Template:Webarchive Muscogee (Creek) Nation. (retrieved 27 Dec 2010)</ref> offer Muscogee Creek language classes. In 2013, the Sapulpa Creek Community Center graduated a class of 14 from its Muscogee language class.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2018, 8 teachers graduated from a class put on by the Seminole nation at Seminole State College to try and reintroduce the Muscogee language to students in elementary and high school in several schools around the state.

Phonology

The phoneme inventory of Muscogee consists of thirteen consonants and three vowel qualities, which distinguish length, tone and nasalization.<ref>Hardy 2005:211-12</ref> It also makes use of the gemination of stops, fricatives and sonorants.<ref>Martin, 2011, p. 50–51</ref>

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Muscogee<ref name="Martin_a">Martin, 2011, p. 83</ref>

	Labial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Glottal
		Central	Lateral
Nasal	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Plosive	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Fricative	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink
Approximant	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink

Plosives

There are four voiceless stops in Muscogee: {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is a voiceless palatal affricate and patterns as a single consonant and so with the other voiceless stops. {{#invoke:IPA|main}} has an alveolar allophone Template:IPAblink before {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref>Martin, 2011, p.48-49</ref> The obstruent consonants {{#invoke:IPA|main}} are voiced to {{#invoke:IPA|main}} between sonorants and vowels but remain voiceless at the end of a syllable.<ref>Martin, 2011, p. 62</ref>

Between instances of Template:IPAblink, or after {{#invoke:IPA|main}} at the end of a syllable, the velar {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is realized as the uvular Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink. For example:<ref name="Martin">Martin, 2011, p. 63</ref>

in-coko		'his or her house'		main}}
tokná:wa		'money'		main}}

Fricatives

There are four voiceless fricatives in Muscogee: {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. {{#invoke:IPA|main}} can be realized as either labiodental Template:IPAblink or bilabial Template:IPAblink in place of articulation. Predominantly among speakers in Florida, the articulation of {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is more laminal, resulting in {{#invoke:IPA|main}} being realized as Template:IPAblink, but for most speakers, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is a voiceless apico-alveolar fricative Template:IPAblink.<ref>Martin, 2011, p. 49</ref>

Like {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, the glottal {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is sometimes realized as the uvular [{{#invoke:IPA|main}}] when it is preceded by {{#invoke:IPA|main}} or when syllable-final:<ref name="Martin" />

oh-leyk-itá		'chair'		main}}
ohɬolopi:		'year'		main}}

Sonorants

The sonorants in Muscogee are two nasals ({{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), two semivowels ({{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), and the lateral {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, all voiced.<ref>Martin, 2011, p.49-50</ref> Nasal assimilation occurs in Muscogee: {{#invoke:IPA|main}} becomes Template:IPAblink before {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref name="Martin" />

Sonorants are devoiced when followed by {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in the same syllable and results in a single voiceless consonant:<ref>Martin, 2011, p.64</ref>

camhcá:ka		'bell'		main}}
akcáwhko		'a type of water bird'		main}}

Geminates

All plosives and fricatives in Muscogee can be geminated (lengthened). Some sonorants may also be geminated, but {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} are less common than other sonorant geminates, especially in roots. For the majority of speakers, except for those influenced by the Alabama or Koasati languages, the geminate {{#invoke:IPA|main}} does not occur.<ref name="Martin_b">Martin, 2011, p. 51</ref>

Vowels

The vowel phonemes of Muscogee are as follows:<ref name="Martin_a" />

	Front	Central	Back
Close	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Close-mid			Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Open		Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink

There are three short vowels {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and three long vowels {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. There are also the nasal vowels {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (in the linguistic orthography, they are often written with an ogonek under them or a following superscript "n"). Most occurrences of nasal vowels are the result of nasal assimilation or the nasalizing grade, but there are some forms that show contrast between oral and nasal vowels:<ref name="Martin_c">Martin, 2011, p. 168-169</ref>

pó-ɬki		'our father'
opónɬko		'cutworm'

Short vowels

The three short vowels {{#invoke:IPA|main}} can be realized as the lax and centralized ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}) when a neighboring consonant is coronal or in closed syllables. However, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} will generally not centralize when it is followed by {{#invoke:IPA|main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in the same syllable, and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} will generally remain noncentral if it is word-final.<ref name="Martin_b" /> Initial vowels can be deleted in Muscogee, mostly applying to the vowel {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. The deletion will affect the pitch of the following syllable by creating a higher-than-expected pitch on the new initial syllable. Furthermore, initial vowel deletion in the case of single-morpheme, short words such as ifa 'dog' or icó 'deer' is impossible, as the shortest a Muscogee word can be is a one-syllable word ending in a long vowel (fóː 'bee') or a two-syllable word ending with a short vowel (ací 'corn').<ref>Martin, 2011, pp. 64, 72-23</ref>

Long vowels

There are three long vowels in Muscogee ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}), which are slightly longer than short vowels and are never centralized.

Long vowels are rarely followed by a sonorant in the same syllable. Therefore, when syllables are created (often from suffixation or contractions) in which a long vowel is followed by a sonorant, the vowel is shortened:<ref>Martin, 2011, p. 64–65</ref>

in-ɬa:m-itá		'to uncover, open'
in-ɬam-k-itá		'to be uncovered, open'

Diphthongs

In Muscogee, there are three diphthongs, generally realized as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref name=":0">Martin, 2011, p. 183</ref>

Nasal vowels

Both long and short vowels can be nasalized (the distinction between {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} below), but long nasal vowels are more common. Nasal vowels usually appear as a result of a contraction, as the result of a neighboring nasal consonant, or as the result of nasalizing grade, a grammatical ablaut, which indicates intensification through lengthening and nasalization of a vowel (Template:Transliteration 'warm' with the nasalizing grade intensifies the word to {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 'nice and warm').<ref>Martin, 2011, pp. 53–54, 95</ref> Nasal vowels may also appear as part of a suffix that indicates a question ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} 'I wonder if it's raining').<ref name="Martin_c" />

Tones

There are three phonemic tones in Muscogee; they are generally unmarked except in the linguistic orthography: high (marked in the linguistic orthography with an acute accent: á, etc.), low (unmarked: a, etc.), and falling (marked with a circumflex: â, etc.).

Orthography

The traditional Muscogee alphabet was adopted by many interpreters and chiefs as the "National Alphabet" in 1853<ref name="Innes">Martin 2011, p. 22</ref> and has 20 letters.

Although it is based on the Latin alphabet, some sounds like c, e, i, r, and v differ from those in English. Here are the (approximately) equivalent sounds using familiar English words and the IPA:

Spelling	Sound (IPA)	English equivalent
a	{{#invoke:IPA|main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "a" in father
c	{{#invoke:IPA|main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "ch" in such or the "ts" in cats
e	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "i" in hit
ē	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "ee" in seed
f	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "f" in father
h	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "h" in hatch
i	{{#invoke:IPA|main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}}:	like the "ay" in day
k	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "k" in skim
l	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "l" in look
m	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "m" in moon
n	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "n" in moon
o	{{#invoke:IPA|main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "o" in bone or the "oo" in book
p	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "p" in spot
r	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	a sound that does not occur in English but is often represented as "hl" or "thl" in English spellings. The sound is made by blowing air around the sides of the tongue while pronouncing English l and is identical to Welsh ll.
s	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "s" in spot
t	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "t" in stop
u	{{#invoke:IPA|main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "oo" in book or the "oa" in boat
v	{{#invoke:IPA|main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "a" in about
w	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "w" in wet
y	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "y" in yet

There are also three vowel sequences whose spellings match their phonetic makeup:<ref>Hardy 2005, pg. 202</ref>

Spelling	Sound (IPA)	English equivalent
eu	main}}	similar to the exclamation "ew!". A combination of the sounds represented by e and u
ue	main}}	like the "oy" in boy
vo	main}} ~ {{#invoke:IPA|main}}	like the "ow" in how

Consonants

As mentioned above, certain consonants in Muscogee, when they appear between two sonorants (a vowel or m, n, l, w, or y), become voiced.<ref name="Innes" /> They are the consonants represented by p, t, k, c, and s:

• c can sound like {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, the "j" in just
• k can sound like {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, the "g" in goat
• p can sound like {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, the "b" in boat
• s can sound like {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, the "z" in zoo
• t can sound like {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, the "d" in dust

Vowel length

While vowel length in Muscogee is distinctive, it is somewhat inconsistently indicated in the traditional spelling. The following basic correspondences can be noted:

• The short vowel v with the long vowel a ({{#invoke:IPA|main}} vs. {{#invoke:IPA|main}})
• The short vowel e with the long vowel ē ({{#invoke:IPA|main}} vs. {{#invoke:IPA|main}})
• The short vowel u with the long vowel o ({{#invoke:IPA|main}} vs. {{#invoke:IPA|main}})

However, the correspondences do not always apply,<ref>Hardy 2005, pp. 201-2</ref> and in some words, short {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is spelled a, long {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is spelled e, and short {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is spelled o.

Nonstandard orthography

Muscogee words carry distinctive tones and nasalization of their vowels. These features are not usually marked in the traditional spelling, but may be indicated in dictionaries and linguistic publications. The following additional markers have been used by Martin (2000) and Innes (2004):

• Falling tone in a syllable is shown using a circumflex. In English, falling tone is found in phrases such as "uh-oh" or commands such as "stop!" In Muscogee, however, changing a verb such as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("she is putting on (a dress)") to {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} alters the meaning from one of process to one of state ("she is wearing (a dress)").
• Nasalization of a vowel is shown with an ogonek under the vowel. Changing the verb {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} to {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} adds the imperfective aspect, a sense of repeated or habitual action ("she kept putting on (that same dress)").

Grammar

Muscogee verbs are highly synthetic, with many prefixes, suffixes, and infixes showing the person, number, and location of participants as well as the tense, aspect, and mood of the sentence. Nouns have fewer affixes, but compounding is used extensively.

Word order

The basic order of elements in a sentence is subject–object–verb.<ref name="Innes" />

Basic order of subject, object, and verb

Efvt	pose	lvstēn	assēces.
ifá-t	pó:si	lást-i:-n	á:ssi:c-ís
dog-SUBJECT	cat	black-DURATIVE-NONSUBJECT	chase.LGR-INDICATIVE
The dog is chasing the black cat.

Subjects and objects are commonly omitted when they are clear from context, so that Assēces is complete as a sentence meaning ’he/she/it is chasing him/her/it’.

The subject and object are noun phrases having words in the following order: (possessor or demonstrative) — noun — (adjective) — (numeral). Adverbs tend to occur either at the beginning of the sentence (for time adverbs) or immediately before the verb (for manner adverbs). Muscogee uses postpositions instead of prepositions.

Case

Noun phrases may be marked with clitics indicating the role of noun phrases in a sentence. The basic distinction is between subjects (which may end in -t) and nonsubjects (which may end in -n). Nonsubjects include direct objects, indirect objects, times, and places. In some situations, case marking is omitted. This is especially true of sentences with only one noun where the role of the noun is obvious from the personal marking on the verb. Case marking is also omitted on fixed phrases that use a noun, e.g. "go to town" or "build a fire".

Possession

Possession in Muscogee is expressed in two quite different ways, depending on the nature of the relationship.

A body part or family member cannot be named in Muscogee without relating it to a possessor. A set of prefixes is used in this type of relation to show the person and number of the possessor.<ref name=":1" />

Relational possession

cv-	cvpuse	/ca-pósi/	my grandmother
ce-	cepuse	/ci-pósi/	your grandmother
e-	epuse	/i-pósi/	his/her grandmother
pu-	pupuse	/po-pósi/	our grandmother

Nouns other than body parts and kinship terms are generally possessed with a different set of markers.

Nonrelational possession

vm	vm efv	/am-ífa/	my dog
cem	cem efv	/cim-ífa/	your dog
em	em efv	/im-ífa/	his/her dog
pum	pum efv	/pom-ífa/	our dog

Person marking

Muscogee has three series of person markers on verbs.<ref name=":1">Martin, Jack B., and Margaret McKane Mauldin. 2001. Creek. Facts about the World’s Languages: An Encyclopedia of the World’s Major Languages, Past and Present. Jane Garry and Carl Rubino, eds., 173–176. New York / Dublin: H. W. Wilson.</ref> The agent (type I) person markers generally show the person and number of subjects that perform an action on purpose. Agent person markers are suffixed to the verb root.

Agent person markers

-i	Hompis.	/homp-éy-s/	I am eating.
-etsk	Hompetskes.	/homp-íck-is/	You are eating.
(no mark)	Hompes.	/homp-ís/	He/she/it is eating..
-ē	Hompēs.	/homp-í:-s/	We are eating.
-atsk	Hompatskes.	/homp-á:ck-is/	You all are eating.

The patient (type II) person markers often indicate the person and number of direct objects.

Patient person markers

cv-	Cvhēces.	/ca-hî:c-is/	He/she/it sees me.
ce-	Cehēces.	/ci-hî:c-is/	He/she/it sees you.
(no mark)	Hēces.	/hî:c-is/	He/she/it sees him/her.
pu-	Puhēces.	/po-hî:c-is/	He/she/it sees us.

A third series of dative (type D) person markers generally shows the person and number of the indirect object.<ref name=":0" />

Dative person markers

vm	Vm opunayes.	/am-ópona:y-ís/	He/she is talking to me.
cem	Cem opunayes.	/cim-ópona:y-ís/	He/she is talking to you.
em	Em opunayes.	/im-ópona:y-ís/	He/she is talking to him/her.
pum	Pum opunayes.	/pom-ópona:y-ís/	He/she is talking to us.

Tenses

Verbs are listed in dictionaries in forms that end in -etv /-ita/. A verb like nesetv /nis-íta/ 'to buy' can appear in five past tense forms depending on how far back an event happened.<ref name=":1" />

Tense forms of nesetv 'to buy'

Mvskoke		English
nesetv	/nis-íta/	to buy	Infinitive
nēses	/ni:s-ís/	he/she is buying it	Present
nehses	/níhs-is/	he/she bought it (today)	Past 1
nēsvnks	/nî:s-ánk-s/	he/she bought it (recently)	Past 2
nēsemvts	/nî:s-imát-s	he/she bought it (about a year ago)	Past 3
nēsvntvs	/nî:s-anta-s	he/she bought (long ago)	Past 4
nēsvtēs	/ni:s-atí:-s	he/she bought (very long ago)	Past 5
nesvrēs	/nis-áɬi:-s	he/she will buy it	Future

Other categories

Muscogee has suffixes at the ends of sentences indicating the functions of sentences. Statements end in -(e)s, questions seeking a yes or no answer end in -v, and singular commands end in -vs.

Mood forms of nesetv 'to buy'

Mvskoke		English
nēses	/ni:s-ís/	he/she is buying it	statement
nēsv?	/ni:s-a/	is he/she buying it?	question
nesvs!	/nis-ás/	buy it!	command

Like other Muskogean languages, Muscogee has a system of ablaut or "grades" that indicate distinctions in grammatical aspect.<ref name="Martin_a" />

Grade forms of wvnvyetv 'to tie'

Mvskoke		English
wvnvyetv	/wanay-itá/	to tie	infinitive
wvnvyvs	/wanáy-as/	tie it!	zero grade
wvnayes	/wana:y-ís/	he/she is tying it	lengthened grade
wvnahyes	/wanáhy-is/	he/she tied it (today/last night)	aspirating grade
wvnayes	/wanâ:y-is/	he/she has tied it	falling tone grade
wvnąyes	/wanǎ:ⁿy-is/	he/she keeps tying it	nasalizing grade

Verbs in Muscogee sometimes have different forms when their subjects or objects are plural.<ref name=":2" /> Verbs like this generally describe position or motion.

Plural forms of verbs

singular subject	dual subject	triplural subject
vretv	welvketv	fulletv	to go about
hueretv	sehoketv	svpakletv	to stand
letketv	tokorketv	pefatketv	to run
wakketv	wakhoketv	lomhetv	to lie

Dialects

The three main dialects of Muscogee are Muscogee proper (used in the Muscogee Nation), Oklahoma Seminole Muscogee, and Florida Seminole Muscogee.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> The most distinct dialect of the language is said to be that of the Florida Seminole, which is described as "rapid", "staccato" and "dental", with more loan words from Spanish and Mikasuki as opposed to English. Florida Seminole Muscogee is the most endangered variety of the Muscogee language.

Dialect differences

Muscogee proper	Oklahoma Seminole
cufonwv	esropottv	needle
kvpe	’sokkoskv	soap

Claudio Saunt, writing about the language of the later 18th century, said that there were different feminine and masculine versions, which he also calls dialects, of the Muscogee language. Males "attach[ed] distinct endings to verbs", while females "accent[ed] different syllables". These forms, mentioned in the first (1860) grammar of the Muscogee language, persisted in the Hichiti, Muscogee proper, and Koasati languages at least into the first half of the 20th century.<ref name="Saunt">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp

Vocabulary

Common expressions

Mvskoke	English
Mvto!	Thank you!
Estonko!	How are you!
Hompvks cē!	Y’all eat!
Enka!	Okay!
Cehecarēs!	I’ll see you!

Family

Mvskoke	English
erke	father
ecke	mother
pvwv	maternal uncle
erkuce	paternal uncle
eckuce	maternal aunt
puca	grandfather
puse	grandmother, paternal aunt

Numbers

Mvskoke	English
hvmken	one
hokkolen	two
tuccēnen	three
osten	four
cahkēpen	five
ēpaken	six
kolvpaken	seven
cenvpaken	eight
ostvpaken	nine
palen	ten

Months

Mvskoke	English
Rvfo ’Cuse	January
Hotvlē-Hvse	February
Tasahcuce	March
Tasahce-Rakko	April
Kē-Hvse	May
Kvco-Hvse	June
Hvyuce	July
Hvyo-Rakko	August
Otvwoskuce	September
Otvwoskv-Rakko	October
Eholē	November
Rvfo-Rakko	December

See also

• Muscogee people
• Creek mythology
• Muskogean languages
• Mikasuki language

References

Citations

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Bibliography

• Haas, Mary R. and James H. Hill. 2014. Creek (Muskogee) Texts.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Edited and translated by Jack B. Martin, Margaret McKane Mauldin, and Juanita McGirt. UC Publications in Linguistics. Berkeley: University of California Press.
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External links

• Mvskoke Opunvkv, Mvskoke Language Department of the Muscogee Nation
• The Muscogee (Seminole/Creek) Documentation Project. This site provides links to many older materials, a dictionary, interviews, and learning materials.
• Muskogee (Creek) Nation, official website
• Acoustic vowel reduction in Creek: Effects of distinctive length and position in the word (pdf)
• Mvskoke Nakcokv Eskerretv Esvhokkolat. Creek Second Reader. (1871)
• Muskogee Genesis Translation
• OLAC resources in and about the Creek language