Quiripi (pronounced /ˈkwɪrɪpiː/,^[1] also known as Quiripi-Unquachog, Quiripi-Naugatuck, and Wampano) was an Algonquian language formerly spoken by the indigenous people of southwestern Connecticut and central Long Island,^[2][3] including the Quinnipiac, Naugatuck, Unquachog, Mattabesic, Potatuck, Weantinock, and Paugussett. It has been effectively extinct since the end of the 18th century,^[4] although Frank T. Siebert, Jr., was able to record a few Unquachog words from an elderly woman in 1932.^[5]

Affiliation and dialects [link]

Quiripi belonged to the Eastern Algonquian branch of the Algonquian language family.^[6][7] It shared a number of linguistic features with the other Algonquian languages of southern New England, such as Massachusett and Mohegan-Pequot, including the shifting of Proto-Eastern Algonquian */aː/ and */eː/ to /ãː/ and /aː/, respectively, and the palatalization of earlier */k/ before certain front vowels.^[8][9] There appear to have been two major dialects of Quiripi: an "insular" dialect spoken on Long Island by the Unquachog and a "mainland" dialect spoken by the other groups in Connecticut, principally the Quinnipiac.^[10][11]

Attestation [link]

Quiripi is very poorly attested,^[12] though some sources do exist. One of the earliest Quiripi vocabularies was a 67-page bilingual catechism compiled in 1658 by Rev. Abraham Pierson, during his ministry at Branford, Connecticut,^[2][13] which remains the chief source of modern conclusions about Quiripi.^[3] Unfortunately, the catechism was "poorly translated" by Pierson,^[3] containing an "unidiomatic, non-Algonquian sentence structure."^[14] It also displays signs of dialect mixture.^[15] Other sources of information on the language include a vocabulary collected by Rev. Ezra Stiles in the late 1700s^[16] and a 202-word Unquachog vocabulary recorded by Thomas Jefferson in 1791,^[5] though the Jefferson vocabulary also shows clear signs of dialect mixture and "external influences."^[17] Additionally, three early hymns written circa 1740 at the Moravian Shekomeko mission near Kent, Connecticut, have been translated by Carl Masthay.^[18]

Phonology [link]

Linguist Blair Rudes attempted to reconstitute the phonology of Quiripi, using the extant documentation, comparison with related Algonquian languages, as "reconstructing forward" from Proto-Algonquian.^[19] In Rudes' analysis, Quiripi contained the following consonant phonemes:^[20]

Quiripi's vowel system as reconstituted by Rudes was similar to that of the other Southern New England Algonquian languages. It consisted of two short vowels /a/ and /ə/, and four long vowels /aː/, /iː/, /uː/, and /ʌ̃/.^[20]

Notes [link]

External links [link]

• Quiripi language
• The Algonquian Confederacy of the Quinnipiac Tribal Council

References [link]

• Costa, David J. (2007). "The Dialectology of Southern New England Algonquian." In Papers of the 38th Algonquian Conference, ed. H. C. Wolfart. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba, pp. 81–127
• Goddard, Ives (1978). "Eastern Algonquian Languages." In Northeast, ed. Bruce G. Trigger. Vol. 15 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, pp. 70–77
• Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Rudes, Blair A. (1997). "Resurrecting Wampano (Quiripi) from the Dead: Phonological Preliminaries." Anthropological Linguistics (39)1:1-59
• Salwen, Bert (1978). "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island: Early Period." In Northeast, ed. Bruce G. Trigger. Vol. 15 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, pp. 160–176