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Muskogean
Geographic distribution	Southeastern North America
Linguistic classification	One of the world's primary language families
Subdivisions	Choctaw–Chickasaw Alabama–Koasati Hitchiti–Mikasuki Muscogee Apalachee
Language codes
Glottolog	musk1252
Pre-contact distribution of Muskogean languages

Muskogean (also Muskhogean, Muskogee) is a Native American language family spoken in different areas of the Southeastern United States. Though the debate concerning their interrelationships is ongoing, the Muskogean languages are generally divided into two branches, Eastern Muskogean and Western Muskogean. Typologically, Muskogean languages are agglutinative. One documented language, Apalachee, is extinct and the remaining languages are critically endangered.

Genetic relationships

Family division

The Muskogean family consists of six languages that are still spoken: Alabama, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (previously referred to as Creek), Koasati, and Mikasuki, as well as the now-extinct Apalachee, Houma, and Hitchiti (the last is generally considered a dialect of Mikasuki). "Seminole" is listed as one of the Muskogean languages in Hardy's list, but it is generally considered a dialect of Muscogee rather than a separate language, as she comments.

The major subdivisions of the family have long been controversial, but the following lower-level groups are universally accepted: Choctaw–Chickasaw, Alabama–Koasati, Hitchiti–Mikasuki, and Muscogee. Because Apalachee is extinct, its precise relationship to the other languages is uncertain; Mary Haas and Pamela Munro both classify it with the Alabama–Koasati group.

Haas's classification

For connections among these groupings, the traditional classification is that of Mary Haas and her students, such as Karen Booker, in which "Western Muskogean" (Choctaw-Chickasaw) is seen as one major branch, and "Eastern Muskogean" (Alabama-Koasati, Hitchiti-Mikasuki, and Muscogee) as another. Within Eastern Muskogean, Alabama-Koasati and Hitchiti-Mikasuki are generally thought to be more closely related to each other than to Muscogee. That classification is reflected in the list below:

• Muskogean
  • Western Muskogean
    • Chickasaw
    • Choctaw (also called Chahta, Chacato)
  • Eastern Muskogean
    • Muscogee (also called Muskogee, Maskoke, Mvskoke, Seminole, and previously referred to as Creek)
    • Hitchiti-Mikasuki (also called Miccosukee)
    • Apalachee–Alabama–Koasati
      • Apalachee †
      • Alabama (also called Alibamu)
      • Koasati (also called Coushatta)

Munro's classification

A more recent and controversial classification has been proposed by Pamela Munro. In her classification, the languages are divided into a "Southern Muskogean" branch (Choctaw-Chickasaw, Alabama-Koasati, and Hitchiti-Mikasuki) and a "Northern Muskogean" one (Muscogee). Southern Muskogean is the subdivided into Hitchiti-Mikasuki and a "Southwestern Muskogean" branch containing Alabama-Koasati and "Western Muskogean" (Choctaw-Chickasaw). The classification is reflected in the list below:

• Muskogean
  • Northern Muskogean
    • Muscogee
  • Southern Muskogean
    • Hitchiti-Mikasuki
    • Southwestern Muskogean
      • Apalachee †
      • Alabama–Koasati
        • Alabama
        • Koasati
      • Western Muskogean
        • Chickasaw
        • Choctaw

Kimball's classification

A third proposed classification is that of Geoffrey Kimball, who envisions a threeway split among the languages, with "Western Muskogean" (Choctaw-Chickasaw), "Eastern Muskogean" (Muscogee), and "Central Muskogean" (Alabama-Koasati and Hitchiti-Mikasuki). However, Kimball's classification has not received as much support as either Haas's or Munro's.

Broader relationships

Possible Muskogean languages

Several sparsely attested languages have been claimed to be Muskogean languages. George Broadwell suggested that the languages of the Yamasee and Guale were Muskogean. However, William Sturtevant argued that the "Yamasee" and "Guale" data were Muscogee and that the language(s) spoken by the Yamasee and Guale people remain unknown. It is possible that the Yamasee were an amalgamation of several different ethnic groups and did not speak a single language. Chester B. DePratter describes the Yamasee as consisting mainly of speakers of Hitchiti and Guale. The historian Steven Oatis also describes the Yamasee as an ethnically mixed group that included people from Muskogean-speaking regions, such as the early colonial-era native towns of Hitchiti, Coweta, and Cussita.

The Amacano, Chacato, Chine, Pacara, and Pensacola people, who lived along the Gulf Coast of Florida from the Big Bend Coast to Pensacola Bay, are reported to have spoken the same Muskogean language, which may have been closely related to Choctaw.

Sparse evidence indicates that a Muskogean language was spoken by at least some of the people of the paramount chiefdom of Cofitachequi in northeastern South Carolina. If so, that would be the most eastern outpost of Muskogean. The people of Cofitichequi were probably absorbed by nearby Siouan and Iroquoian speakers in the late 17th century.

A vocabulary of the Houma may be another underdocumented Western Muskogean language or a version of Mobilian Jargon, a pidgin based on Western Muskogean.

Gulf

The best-known connection proposed between Muskogean and other languages is Mary Haas' Gulf hypothesis, in which she conceived of a macrofamily comprising Muskogean and a number of language isolates of the southeastern US: Atakapa, Chitimacha, Tunica, and Natchez. While well-known, the Gulf grouping is now generally rejected by historical linguists. A number of Muskogean scholars continue to believe that Muskogean is related to Natchez.

Features

Nouns

Most family languages display lexical accent on nouns and grammatical case, which distinguishes the nominative from the oblique. Nouns do not obligatorially inflect for gender or number.

Verbs

Muskogean verbs have a complex ablaut system; the verbal stem almost always changes depending on aspect; less commonly, it is affected by tense or modality. In Muskogean linguistics, the different forms are known as "grades".

Verbs mark for first and second person, as well as agent and patient (Choctaw and Chickasaw also mark for dative). Third-persons (he, she, it) have a null-marker.

Plurality of a noun agent is marked by either affixation on the verb or an innately plural verbal stem:

Pluralization via affixation, Choctaw:

ish-impa

2SG.NOM-eat

ish-impa

2SG.NOM-eat

"you eat"

hash-impa

2PL.NOM-eat

hash-impa

2PL.NOM-eat

"you eat"

Innately-numbered verbal stems, Mikasuki:

łiniik

run.SG

łiniik

run.SG

"to run (singular)"

palaak

run.PAU

palaak

run.PAU

"to run (several)"

mataak

run.PL

mataak

run.PL

"to run (many)"

Vocabulary

Below is a list of basic vocabulary in five Muskogean languages from Broadwell (1992):

Proto-language

Phonology

Proto-Muskogean is reconstructed as having the consonants (given in IPA transcription):

The phonemes reconstructed by Haas as */x/ and */xʷ/ show up as /h/ and /f/ (or /ɸ/), respectively, in all Muskogean languages; they are therefore reconstructed by some as */h/ and */ɸ/. */kʷ/ appears as /b/ in all the daughter languages except Muscogee for which it is /k/ initially and /p/ medially. The value of the proto-phoneme conventionally written ⟨θ⟩ (or ⟨N⟩) is unknown; it appears as /n/ in Western Muskogean languages and as /ɬ/ in Eastern Muskogean languages. Haas reconstructed it as a voiceless /n/ (that is, */n̥/), based partly on presumed cognates in Natchez.

Lexicon

Proto-Muskogean lexical reconstructions by Booker (2005) are as follows.

Notes

1. Hardy 2005, pg. 69
2. (Hardy 2005:70; see also Mithun 2005:462, Crawford).
3. Broadwell 1992, p. 1
4. Hardy 2005, pg. 70
5. Martin & Munro 2005, pg. 299
6. Broadwell 1992, pp. 3; 41-2, footnote 2
7. ^ Hardy 2005, pp. 70-71
8. Mithun 2005, pg. 461
9. Campbell 1997, pg. 147
10. ^ Campbell 1997, pg. 148
11. Mithun 1999, pg. 462
12. Broadwell 1992
13. ^ Campbell 1997, pg. 149
14. Broadwell 1992, pp. 41–42, fn. 2
15. Sturtevant 1994, referenced in Campbell 1997, pg. 149
16. Dr. Chester B. DePratter, "The Foundation, Occupation, and Abandonment of Yamasee Indian Towns in the South Carolina Lowcountry, 1684-1715", National Register Multiple Property Submission
17. Oatis, Steven J. (2004). A Colonial Complex: South Carolina's Frontiers in the Era of the Yamasee War, 1680–1730. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-3575-5.
18. Hann, John H. (2006). The Native American World Beyond Apalachee. University Press of Florida. pp. 11, 20–21, 24, 43. ISBN 9-780-8130-2982-5.
19. Milanich:95, 96
20. Coker:6
21. Swanton:136
22. Hudson, Charles The Juan Pardo Expeditions Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990, pp. 68-73, 75
23. Campbell 1997, pp. 305-9
24. Campbell 1997, pg. 305
25. Broadwell, George Aaron. (1992). Reconstructing Proto-Muskogean Language and Prehistory: Preliminary Results. Paper presented at the Southern Anthropological Society, St. Augustine, FL.
26. Booker 2005
27. Booker 2005, pg. 254
28. Booker 2005, pp. 248, 252, 254
29. Martin & Munro 2005, pg. 318, fn. 2
30. Booker 2005, pg. 286, footnote 7
31. Booker 2005, pp. 251-2

External links

• Muskogean Language Family page at native-languages.org
• Chickasaw Language Information & Videos - Chickasaw.TV

Bibliography

• Booker, Karen. (2005). "Muskogean Historical Phonology." In Hardy, Heather Kay and Scancarelli, Janine (eds.), Native languages of the Southeastern United States, 246–298. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
• Broadwell, George Aaron. (1992). Reconstructing Proto-Muskogean Language and Prehistory: Preliminary Results Archived 2006-01-07 at the Wayback Machine (PDF). Paper presented at the Southern Anthropological Society, St. Augustine, FL. Retrieved on 2009-05-03.
• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Coker, William S. (1999) "Pensacola, 1686-1821." in Judith Anne Bense. (1999) Editor. Archaeology of colonial Pensacola. University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1661-4 Found at Google Books
• Crawford, James M. (Ed.). (1975a). Studies in Southeastern Indian Languages. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
• Crawford, James M. (1975b). "Southeastern Indian Languages". In Crawford (ed.) 1975, pp. 1–120.
• Goddard, Ives (Ed.). (1996). Languages. Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 17). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-048774-9.
• Haas, Mary (1951). "The Proto-Gulf word for water (with notes on Siouan–Yuchi)". International Journal of American Linguistics 17: 71–79.
• Haas, Mary. (1952). "The Proto-Gulf word for 'land' (with notes on Proto-Siouan)". International Journal of American Linguistics 18:238–240.
• Haas, Mary. (1973). "The Southeast". In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), Linguistics in North America (part 2, pp. 1210–1249). The Hague: Mouton.
• Hardy, Heather. (2005). "Introduction". In Hardy & Scancarelli 2005, pp. 69–74.
• Hardy, Heather & Janine Scancarelli. (2005). Native Languages of the Southeastern United States. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
• Hopkins, Nicholas A. The Native Languages of the Southeastern United States (PDF). Report for the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. Retrieved on 2009-05-03.
• Martin, Jack B. & Pamela Munro. (2005). "Proto-Muskogean Morphology". in Hardy & Scancarelli eds., pp. 299–320
• Milanich, Jerald T. (1995). Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1360-7
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Sebeok, Thomas A. (Ed.). (1973). Linguistics in North America (parts 1 & 2). Current trends in linguistics (Vol. 10). The Hague: Mouton. (Reprinted as Sebeok 1976).
• Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). (1978–present). Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 1–20). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. (Vols. 1–3, 16, 18–20 not yet published).
• Sturtevant, William C. (1994). "The Misconnection of Guale and Yamasee with Muskogean". International Journal of American Linguistics 60:139–148.
• Swanton, John Reed. (1952) The Indian Tribes of North America. Found at Google Books

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Middle Mississippian	American Bottom and Upper Mississippi Aztalan Big Eddy Cahokia Monks Mound Mound 34 Mound 72 Ramey state Woodhenge Cloverdale Dickson Mounds Emerald Acropolis Emmons Cemetery Horseshoe Lake John Chapman Kuhn Station Larson Lunsford-Pulcher McCune Mitchell Orendorf Sleeth Starr Steed-Kisker culture Sugarloaf Mound Lower Ohio River and Confluence area Adams site Dogtooth Bend Mounds Kincaid Mounds Marshall Site Millstone Bluff Orr-Herl Rowlandton Mound Towosahgy Turk Site Twin Mounds Ware Mounds Wickliffe Mounds Middle Ohio River Angel Mounds Angel phase Annis Mound Bone Bank Caborn-Welborn culture Ellerbusch Hovey Lake-Klein Hovey Lake District Murphy Prather Slack Farm Tolu Welborn Village Yankeetown Tennessee and Cumberland Backusburg Beasley Mounds Brentwood Library Brick Church Castalian Springs Dunbar Cave Fewkes Group Hiwassee Island Link Farm Mound Bottom Riverview Sellars Obion Old Town Swallow Bluff Central and Lower Mississippi Belle Meade Boone's Boyd Campbell Carson Chucalissa Denmark Eaker Janet's Menard-Hodges Murphy Nodena Nodena phase Owl Creek Parkin Quigualtam Tipton phase Tunica Koroa Yazoo Walls phase
South Appalachian Mississippian	Adamson Avery Beaverdam Creek Bell Field Mound Bessemer Biltmore Blair Bussell Island Chauga Chiaha Chota Citico Coosa Dallas phase Dyar Etowah Garden Creek Hoojah Branch Irene Jere Shine Joara Joe Bell King Lamar Lamar phase Liddell Little Egypt Long Swamp Mabila Mandeville McMahan Moccasin Bend Moundville Mouse Creek phase Mulberry Muscogee (Creek) Nacoochee Nikwasi Ocmulgee Park Mound Pisgah phase Punk Rock Shelter Rembert Roods Landing Rucker's Bottom Savannah Shiloh Sixtoe Summerour Taskigi Tomotley Toqua Town Creek Waddells Mill Pond Wilbanks
Fort Walton culture	Anhaica Apalachee Apalachee Province Cayson Corbin–Tucker Fort Walton Mound Lake Jackson Leon-Jefferson culture Letchworth Velda Yon
Pensacola culture	Bottle Creek Dauphin Island Fort Walton Hickory Ridge Cemetery Naval Live Oaks Cemetery Pensacola people
Plaquemine Mississippian	Anna Atchafalaya Basin Emerald Fitzhugh Flowery Fosters Ghost Glass Grand Village of the Natchez Holly Bluff Jaketown Jordan Julice Mangum Mazique Medora Mott Natchez Taensa Pocahontas Routh Scott Place Sims Transylvania Venable Winterville
Caddoan Mississippian	Battle Belcher Blue Spring Shelter Bluffton Caddo Caddoan Mounds Gahagan Hughes Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village Keller Spiro
Upper Mississippian cultures	Oneota Anker Beattie Park Blood Run Carcajou Point Fifield Fisher Mound Group Gentleman Farm Grand Village of the Illinois Griesmer Hartley Fort Hotel Plaza Hoxie Farm Huber Juntunen Knoll Spring Mero site Moccasin Bluff Oak Forest Palos Plum Island Roche-a-Cri Petroglyphs Schwerdt Summer Island Fort Ancient culture Alligator Effigy Mound Clover Dodge Leo Petroglyph Serpent Mound SunWatch Indian Village
Culture	Agriculture Beans Chenopodium Little barley Maize Marshelder Pumpkin Squash Sunflower Three Sisters Tobacco Artwork Emmons mask Copper plates Rogan plates Spiro plates Wulfing cache Duck River cache Long-nosed god maskette Mill Creek chert Pottery Shell gorget Stone statuary Languages Caddoan Central Algonquian Cherokee Mobilian Jargon Muskogean Natchez Taensa Siouan Timucuan Tunican Yuchi Religion Ballgame (Southeastern) Northern Black drink Burial mound Ceremonial pipe Chanunpa Chunkey Earth/fertility cult Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Platform mound Red Horn Sacred bundle Village bundle Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Stone box grave Thunderbird Underwater panther
Related topics Chevron bead Clarksdale bell Mound Builders de Soto Expedition

• Muskogean languages
• Agglutinative languages
• Language families
• Indigenous languages of the North American Southeast
• South Appalachian Mississippian culture
• Gulf languages