Talk:Abenaki language

Need more info
Well, I've started work on Abenaki. I live in an area formerly inhabited by western Abenaki speakers.

The Cowasuck site is clearly put together by somebody with very little knowledge of structural linguistics. (Seem to be a lot of those sites. The primary tutorial for Aragonese is just as bad.)  I'm likely to be busy tomorrow, but I'll try to get some more information soon. I'm gonna try to work on several incomplete language pages at once (already working on Aragonese, Abenaki, and Iberian), so it may take a bit. If anybody has any better links, or better yet, wants to add stuff themselves, I'd be grateful. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Quintucket (talk • contribs) 04:49, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Phonology question
Does  really represent a dipthong or, as in English? I would have expected or --especially given that  is apparently a separate phoneme, and  and  would be pretty much impossible to distinguish, I would think. Anyone know? --Miskwito 03:22, 29 November 2006 (UTC)


 * No idea. íslenskur fel lib ylur #12 (samtal) 21:12, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Origin of term "Monadnock"
The Mount Monadnock talk page recently had this question:


 * I'm a British geographer/geologist who has long been familiar with the term 'monadnock' as applies to this form of mountain. Until reading this article I'd never considered for a minute that the name origin might have been anything but an anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic 'monadh' + 'cnoc'; it fits so well. Of course I know next to nothing about native American languages. Can an expert in the Abanaki language assist us here, in case it is a borrowing from Gaelic? Geopersona (talk) 06:14, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

Does anyone who follows this article have knowledge regarding the Abenaki origin of the term "Monadnock"? --Ken Gallager (talk) 13:10, 2 March 2012 (UTC)


 * The etymology of Monadnock:
 * The name “Monadnock” — “Mon-ADD-nock” seems to be the preferred pronunciation — is derived from the Native American Indian Abenaki language: menonadenak, meaning "smooth mountain," or menadena, meaning “isolated mountain.” Other sources identify it deriving from menonadenak, not menadena. At any rate, it seems unlikely it is connected in any way to Scottish Gaelic terms as Indigenous place names are often constructed from their own words that describe the particular place, its location or, especially, its features.
 * That is from this source: https://altamontenterprise.com/opinion/columns/back-roads-geology/10042013/monadnock-peak-became-paradigm
 * Also, Monadnock, from Mnona'denak meaning To the bare smooth mountain. Source:
 * Abenaki Indian Legends, Language, and Place Names, by Henry Lorne Masta, copyright 1932:
 * https://www.google.com/books/edition/Abenaki_Indian_Legends_Grammar_and_Place/ojg76JFg6eIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=monadnock
 * PaulThePony (talk) 23:13, 17 October 2020 (UTC)


 * I haven't been following this page, so I missed your answer. Thank you! Ken Gallager (talk) 12:41, 18 October 2022 (UTC)

Vowel table
Does anyone know which source(s) was used for the vowel table? I'd like to compare it to the source I have. Thanks! MakD123 (talk) 01:34, 14 February 2023 (UTC)


 * The same exact sources that were used for the consonant sounds; Voorhis (1979), Beach (2004). Fdom5997 (talk) 04:27, 14 February 2023 (UTC)