Menominee

Facts

  • Language: Menominee
  • Alternate names: Menomini
  • Language code: mez
  • Language family: Algic, Algonquian-Blackfoot, Algonquian
  • Number of speakers: 39
  • Vulnerability: Endangered [Read more...]
  • Script: Latin script

More information:

    Introduction

    Menominee is an Algonquian language originally spoken by the Menominee people of northern Wisconsin and Michigan. It is still spoken on the Menominee Nation lands in Northern Wisconsin in the United States.

    The Verb

    The usual way to express who is doing what in Menominee is to inflect the verb by adding prefixes and suffixes. Instead of using whole words to show who the subject is, Menominee modifies the word with a letter or letters in front of the word (prefix), and a letter or letters at the end of the word (suffix).

    Sample verb: kēwāe to go home'

    Present
    Sg.1 nekēwāem
    Sg.2 kekēwāem
    Sg.3 kēwāew
    Pl.1 (exlusive) nekēwāemenaw
    Pl.1 (inclusive) kekēwāeq
    Pl.2 kekēwāemuaw
    Pl.3 nekēwāewak
    Passive kēwāen

    Verblist