Quiripi language

{{Short description|Language}} {{Use shortened footnotes|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox language | name = Quiripi | altname = | states = United States | extinct = ca. 1900 | familycolor = Algic | fam1 = Algic | fam2 = Algonquian | fam3 = Eastern Algonquian | iso3 = qyp | glotto = wamp1250 | glottorefname = Wampano | map = Tribal_Territories_Southern_New_England.png | mapcaption = The location of the Paugussett, Tunxis, Podunk, Quinnipiac, Mattabesic (Wangunk), Unquachog and their neighbors, c. 1600 | region = Gold Coast, Long Island | ethnicity = Quinnipiac, Unquachog, Mattabessett (Wangunk), Podunk, Tunxis, Paugussett }}

'''Quiripi''' (pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|w|ɪ|r|ɪ|p|iː}}{{respell|KWIH|rih|pee}})<ref>Salwen (1978:175)</ref> was an Algonquian language formerly spoken by the Quinnipiac, an Indigenous nation of southwestern Connecticut and central Long Island,<ref name="r1">Rudes (1997:1)</ref><ref name="g72">Goddard (1978:72)</ref> It has been extinct since the end of the 19th century,<ref>Goddard (1978:71)</ref> although Frank Siebert was able to record a few Unquachog words from an elderly woman in 1932.<ref name="r5">Rudes (1997:5)</ref>

== Name == Quiripi has also been called also known as Mattabesic,<ref>Native American Language Net</ref> Quiripi-Unquachog, Quiripi-Naugatuck, and Wampano.{{citation needed|date=October 2025}}

==Affiliation and dialects== Quiripi is an Eastern Algonquian language of the Algonquian language family.<ref>Goddard (1978)</ref><ref>Mithun (1999:327)</ref> It shared several linguistic features with the other Algonquian languages of southern New England, such as Massachusett and Mohegan-Pequot, including the shifting of Proto-Eastern Algonquian *{{IPA|/aː/}} and *{{IPA|/eː/}} to {{IPA|/ãː/}} and {{IPA|/aː/}}, respectively, and the palatalization of earlier *{{IPA|/k/}} before certain front vowels.<ref>Goddard (1978:75)</ref><ref name="r27">Rudes (1997:27)</ref> 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.<ref>Rudes (1997:6–7)</ref><ref>Costa (2007:116, 119)</ref>

==Attestation== Quiripi is very poorly attested,<ref>Costa (2007:116, 118)</ref> though some sources do exist. One of the earliest Quiripi vocabularies was a 67-page bilingual catechism compiled in 1658 by Abraham Pierson, the elder, during his ministry at Branford, Connecticut,<ref name="r1" /><ref>Mithun (1999:331)</ref> which remains the chief source of modern conclusions about Quiripi.<ref name="g72" /> Unfortunately, the catechism was "poorly translated" by Pierson,<ref name="g72" /> containing an "unidiomatic, non-Algonquian sentence structure."<ref>Costa (2007:118)</ref> It also displays signs of dialect mixture.<ref>Costa (2007:116)</ref> Other sources of information on the language include a vocabulary collected by the Rev. Ezra Stiles in the late 1700s<ref>Rudes (1997:4)</ref> and a 202-word Unquachog vocabulary recorded by Thomas Jefferson in 1791,<ref name="r5" /> though the Jefferson vocabulary also shows clear signs of dialect mixture and "external influences."<ref>Costa (2007:120)</ref> Additionally, three early hymns written circa 1740 at the Moravian Shekomeko mission near Kent, Connecticut, have been translated by Carl Masthay.<ref>Rudes (1997:2)</ref>

==Phonology== 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.<ref>Rudes (1997:6)</ref> In Rudes' analysis, Quiripi contained the following consonant phonemes:<ref name="r18">Rudes (2007:18)</ref>

{| class="wikitable" ! ! align="center"|Labial ! align="center"|Alveolar ! align="center"|Palatal ! align="center"|Velar ! align="center"|Glottal |- ! Plosive | align="center"|{{IPA link|p}} | align="center"|{{IPA link|t}} | align="center"|{{IPA link|tʃ}} | align="center"|{{IPA link|k}} | |- ! Fricative | | align="center"|{{IPA link|s}} | align="center"|({{IPA link|ʃ}}){{ref|a|*}} | | align="center"|{{IPA link|h}} |- ! Nasal | align="center"|{{IPA link|m}} | align="center"|{{IPA link|n}} | | | |- ! Rhotic | | align="center"|{{IPA link|r}} | | | |- ! Semivowel | align="center"|{{IPA link|w}} | | align="center"|{{IPA link|j}} | | |} {| |- |{{note|a unlabeled||{{IPA|/ʃ/}} was a distinct phoneme only in the mainland dialect; in Unquachog it had merged with {{IPA|/s/}}}} |}

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 {{IPA|/a/}} and {{IPA|/ə/}}, and four long vowels {{IPA|/aː/}}, {{IPA|/iː/}}, {{IPA|/uː/}}, and {{IPA|/ʌ̃/}}.<ref name="r18" />

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==Bibliography== * {{aut|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 * {{aut|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 * {{aut|Mithun, Marianne}} (1999). ''The Languages of Native North America''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press * [http://www.native-languages.org/quiripi.htm "Quiripi (Quinnipiac, Unquachog, Wampano, Naugatuck, Mattabesic)."] Native American Language Net * {{aut|Pierson, Rev. Abraham}} (1980). ''Some Helps for the Indians 1658 Bilingual Catechism'', reprinted in "Language and Lore of the Long Island Indians," ''Readings in Long Island Archaeology and Ethnohistory'', Vol. IV. Stony Brook, NY: Suffolk County Archaeological Association * {{aut|Rudes, Blair A.}} (1997). "Resurrecting Wampano (Quiripi) from the Dead: Phonological Preliminaries." ''Anthropological Linguistics'' (39)1:1–59 * {{aut|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

== External links == *[http://www.language-archives.org/language/qyp OLAC resources in and about the Quiripi language] * [http://www.native-languages.org/quiripi.htm Quiripi language]

Category:Eastern Algonquian languages Category:Languages of the United States Category:Extinct languages of North America Category:Indigenous languages of the North American eastern woodlands Category:Languages extinct in the 1900s