Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People

The Abenaki Language

The Abenaki language is classified by linguists as belonging to the Algonquin family of Native American Languages. Therefore, there are many similarities between the terms used by the tribes ranging from New England to Northeast and Central Canada, and often it is possible for these distinct groups to verbally communicate.

In our homeland encompassing Southern Quebec, Vermont, New Hampshire and parts of Maine and New York, many modern place names are derived from their original Native pronunciation. For example, the name of the well-known Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire originated from the Abenaki word Winninebesakik or region of the land around lakes. The main difficulty in understanding the Abenaki language from many published sources is that, unlike the English language, there is not always a literal translation for a word. For example, according to Gordon Day's Abenaki Dictionary, the Abenaki word for clock is babizookwazik.

However, in Abenaki translation this word loses some of its meaning and becomes "that thing that ticks." The concept of a clock and other terms is further complicated because Native Americans do not think along Western European lines, and have an altogether different concept of what time is and how it is measured. Consequently, while many place names have remained similar to their original names, a literal translation of many other Abenaki words is not possible.

The Pennacook-Abenaki Language - Basics: Alphabet, Vowels, Grammar Rules -

The "Aln8ba8dwa" or (Human) Abenaki language (speech) is an Algonquin (Algic ISO 639-3) ("L" Dialect - Pennacook) language dialect - today it is improperly referred to as "Western Abenaki" which is actually a more modern variant dialect of the Penobscot (Our Nieces).

This dialect is distinguished from the "Eastern Abenaki" sub-dialects of the Micmac, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Penobscot that were corrupted by European contact.

Some linguists believe that Pennacook-Abenaki is "archaic" and may be one of the oldest "root-word" proto-Algonquin dialects. Therefore, there are many similarities between the terms used by the tribes ranging from New England to Northeast and Central Canada, and often it is possible for these distinct groups to verbally communicate.

The Pennacook-Abenaki language is classified by linguists as belonging to the Algonquin family of Indigenous Languages. Therefore, there are many similarities between the terms used by the tribes ranging from New England to Northeast and Central Canada, and often it is possible for these distinct groups to verbally communicate.

In our homeland encompassing Southern Quebec, Vermont, New Hampshire and parts of Maine and New York, many modern place names are derived from their original Native pronunciation.

For example, the name of the well-known Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire originated from the Abenaki word Winninebesakik or region of the land around lakes.

The main difficulty in understanding the Abenaki language from many published sources is that, unlike the English language, there is not always a literal translation for a word. For example, according to Gordon Day's Abenaki Dictionary, the Abenaki word for clock is babizookwazik.

However, in Abenaki translation this word loses some of its meaning and becomes "that thing that ticks."

The concept of a clock and other terms is further complicated because Native Americans do not think along Western European lines, and have an altogether different concept of what time is and how it is measured. Consequently, while many place names have remained similar to their original names, a literal translation of many other Abenaki words is not possible.

N'gadiwawaldam aln8ba8dwawogan - I want to learn Abenaki language

The Pennacook - Abenaki Alphabet -

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo 8 Pp Ss Tt Uu Ww Zz

Vowels are sounded as follows -

A as in master.
E as in label.
I as in Indian; but more often "I" is sounded as "E" in emotion.
O as in notice.
U as if it were "e yo" when followed or preceded by a consonant; when alone it is as "U" in union.
8 is the nasal "o(n)" sound; for example, 8h88 (yes) is pronounced o(n)-ho(n).

The consonants are sounded as follows -

B & P are sounded as a hard "P"; when written they are often interchanged.
C is always followed by the letter "H" and is sounded as "TS"; for example, chaga (if) is pronounced tsa-ga.
D & T are sounded as a hard "T"; when written they are often interchanged.
G is always hard as in game.
H is sounded like "H" in help; when not preceded by "C".
J is sounded like the letters "DZ"; for example, chijis (baby) is pronounced tsid-zes.
K as in kitten.
L as in label.
M as in mom.
N as in name.
S as in sound.
W is pronounced (oo)w; for example wliwni (thank you) is pronounced oowle-oowne
Z as in zebra.

Basic Language Rules -

A or Ï AIEE.
CH TS.
J DZ.
G hard "G".
W (OO)W.
8 or Ô O(N) - nasal "O".
PH not "F" sound.
D soft "T".
I at end of word "E" as in pedal.
I in middle of a word "EE" as in seen.

Basic Grammar Rules -

Plural animate words end in "K".

Plural inanimate words end in "AL"; except words ending in "KW" or "GL" have "O" for plural.

Words ending with "AD" or "ID" denote trade or occupation; "JIK" in plural.

"R", "F", "V", "X", and "Y" have no pronunciation in the language.

"EIAW" at the end of a word means "four"

In some cases, the letters may be interchanged as has been seen with examples for words starting with ("P" and "B") or ("D" and "T") or ("G" and "K") or ("W" and "O"). t should also be noted that most of our Abenaki words are descriptive. The "i" is the strong "e" sound. 8 = Õ or ô = nasal long "o" sound.

Here are some words to test some of these pronunciation rules:

Mean, angry chilao tsi-lao'
Bad majigo ma-dzi-go'
Good wligen (oo)w-li-gen
Man san8ba sa-no(n)-ba
Woman phanem p-ha-nem
Tree abazi ah-bah-ze
Drum pakholigan pak-ho-li-gan
Drummer noli pakholid no-le' pak-ho-it
Leaf wanibagw (oo)wah-ni-bahgw'
Leaves wanibagwol (oo)wah-ni-bahg'-wohl
I/me nia ni-ah'
You kia ki-ah
He/she agma ahg-mah'
Us/we niona ni-oh'-nah
You (formal) kiona ki-oh'nah
They agm8w8 ag-mo(n)-wo(n)

Resources - Language Site Links:

New familiar Abenakis and English Dialogues - Joseph Laurent, 1884

Abenaki language (Wikipedia)