A grammar and dictionary of Wyandot.

摘要

Wyandot is a Northern Iroquoian language. Although no longer spoken (the last speakers having lived in the 1960s), there are extensive texts prepared by Marius C. Barbeau. These texts are the basis for this grammar and dictionary.;The nature of Barbeau's data created several problematic issues that needed to be resolved before analysis. The first problem was an orthography that was both under- and over-differentiated, as well as described inconsistently, leaving certain expected phonetic and phonemic distinctions (e.g., aspiration, voicing) opaque. A second problem was the use of ambiguous and inconsistent word boundaries, interfering with morphological analysis.;Although previous discussions of Wyandot in the Iroquoian literature have been primarily diachronic in nature, the orientation taken here is synchronic. Phonological and morphological analyses were tied as closely as possible to the surface forms as given by Barbeau, to reduce the level of abstraction of underlying forms.;Features distinguishing Wyandot from other Iroquoian ages, such as further morphological elaboration (anteprepronominal prefixes), are clarified. Finally, evidence is given showing that Wyandot is rot a daughter language of Wendat (Huron), but rather a sister age, probably Tionontati (Petun, Tobacco).;Appendices show sample pages of the source data, two fully interlinearized texts, and a morpheme-level Wyandot-English root list with an English-Wyandot index.