CREEK LANGUAGE

The 'Creek language', also known as 'Muscogee' (''Mvskoke'' in Creek), is a Muskogean language spoken by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Seminole Indians in Florida and Oklahoma.

Contents

Orthography

Consonants

Vowel Length

Non-Standard Orthography

Distinctive Features of the Language

Sentence Structure

Verbs

Verbs with Irregular Plurals

Stative Verbs

Locative Prefixes

Possession

Transferrable Nouns

Locative Nouns

Phonology

See also

References

External links

Orthography

The traditional Creek alphabet was adopted by the tribe in the late 1800s (Innes 2004).
There are 20 letters. Although it is based on the Latin alphabet, some of the sounds
are vastly different from those in English — in particular those
represented by 'c', 'e', 'i', 'r', and 'v'. Here are the
(approximately) equivalent sounds using familiar English words.
# 'a', as in father.
# 'c', like the "ch" such.
# 'e', like the "i" in hit.
# 'ē', like the "ee" in seed.
# 'f', as in father.
# 'h', as in hero.
# 'i', like the "ay" in day, but really more of a pure vowel like Spanish language "e".
# 'k', like the "k" in risk.
# 'l', as in look.
# 'm', as in moon.
# 'n', as in moon.
# 'o', which can be short like "oo" in book, or long like "o" in bone.
# 'p', as in spot.
# 'r', a sound which does not occur in English. This is often represented as "hl" or "thl" in non-Creek texts. The sound is made by blowing air around the sides of the tongue while pronouncing English "l".
# 's', as in spot.
# 't', like the "t" in spot.
# 'u', essentially the same sound as that given for short 'o', above.
# 'v', like the English schwa sound: "a" in about or the second "o" in common.
# 'w', as in wet.
# 'y', as in yet.
There are only three major diphthongs in written ''Mvskoke'':

★ 'ue', like the "oy" in boy.

★ 'vo', like the "aw" in hawk.

★ 'eu', which is simply the Creek short 'e' sound blended smoothly into the Creek 'u' sound.
There are no silent letters in Creek; everything is pronounced.

Consonants

Four consonants in ''Mvskoke'' are slightly different from what English speakers
would expect, being unaspirated and unvoiced.
When placed between two voiced sounds
or at the beginning of a word, they can sound slightly different (Innes 2004).

★ 'c' can sound like the "j" in just.

★ 'k' can sound like the "g" in goat.

★ 'p' can sound like the "b" in boat.

★ 't' can sound like the "d" in dust.
In addition, certain combinations of consonants sound differently to English
speakers, giving multiple possible transcriptions.
The most prominent case
is the 2nd person singular ending for verbs.
''Wiketv'' means "to stop"; the verb for "you are stopping" may be written
in Creek as ''wikeckes'' or ''wiketskes''. Both are pronounced the same.
The '-eck-' transliteration is preferred by Innes (2004), while the
'-etsk-' transliteration has been used by Martin (2000) and
Loughridge (1964).

Vowel Length

A key point in ''Mvskoke'' is the length of vowels. Generally speaking,
vowels come in long and short pairs; alteration of this vowel sound is
the basis for many changes in meaning, for example, alteration of
verb tense,
mood, and
aspect. The vowel pairs are:

★ The short vowel 'v' with the long vowel 'a'.

★ The short vowel 'e' with the long vowel 'ē'.

★ The short vowel 'u' with the long vowel 'o'.
Unfortunately, in written ''Mvskoke'', sometimes the traditional
spelling for a word is written using 'a' when the actual
vowel is 'v'; similarly, 'o' is used in some spellings
where a 'u' sound is pronounced. For instance, Martin (2000)
points out that ''kono'' (skunk) might also be found as ''kunu'';
in either case, the correct pronunciation is close to the English
words ''cook nook'' without the k's.

Non-Standard Orthography

Creek words may have specific tone and nasalization of their vowels.
These additional qualities are not given in the standard orthography, only in dictionaries.
The following additional markers have been used by Martin (2000) and Innes (2004).

★ 'Falling tone' in a syllable is shown using a circumflex. In English, falling tone is only really found in phrases such as ''uh oh''. In Creek, however, changing a verb such as ''acces'' ("she is putting on (a dress)") to ''âcces'' alters the meaning from one of process to one of state ("she is wearing (a dress).")

★ 'Nasalization' of a vowel is given by an ogonek under the vowel. Changing the verb ''acces'' to ''ącces'' adds the imperfective aspect, that is, a sense of repeated or habitual action ("she kept putting on (that same dress)").

★ The 'key syllable' of a word is often shown with an accent mark. This is the last syllable of the word with normal tone; the following syllables are all lower in pitch.

Distinctive Features of the Language

Sentence Structure

The general sentence
structure fits the pattern
"subject,
object,
verb". The subject or object may be
a noun or a noun followed by
one or more adjectives.
Adverbs tend to occur either at the
beginning of the sentence (for time adverbs) or
immediately before the verb (for manner adverbs).

Verbs

In Creek, a single verb can translate into an entire English
sentence. The root infinitive form of the verb is altered for:

★ 'Person (of subject).' ''Letketv'' = to run.

★
★ ''Letkis.'' = I am running.

★
★ ''Letkeckes.'' (or ''Letketskes.'')= You are running.

★
★ ''Letkes.'' = He / She is running.

★
★ Plural forms can be a bit more complicated (see below).

★ 'Person (of direct or indirect object).' This is accomplished with prefixes. ''Hecetv'' = to see.

★
★ ''Cvhēcis'' = I see you.

★
★ ''Cehēceckes.'' = You see me.

★ 'Tense.' ''Pohetv'' = to hear.

★
★ ''Pohis.'' = I am hearing (present).

★
★ ''Pohhis.'' = I just heard (1st or immediate past; within a day ago).

★
★ ''Pohvhanis.'' = I am going to hear.

★
★ ''Pohares.'' = I will hear.

★
★ ''Pohiyunks.'' = I heard recently (2nd or middle past, within a week ago).

★
★ ''Pohimvts.'' = I heard (3rd or distant past, within a year ago).

★
★ ''Pohicatēs.'' = Long ago I heard. (4th or remote past, beyond a year ago).

★
★ There are at least ten more tenses, including perfect versions of the above, as well as future, indefinite, and pluperfect tenses.

★ 'Mood.' ''Wiketv'' = to stop.

★
★ ''Wikes.'' = He / She is stopping (indicative).

★
★ ''Wikvs.'' = Stop! (imperative)

★
★ ''Wikv-wites.'' = He / She may stop (potential).

★
★ ''Wike-nomat.'' = If he / she stops (subjunctive).

★
★ ''Wikepueces.'' = He / She made someone stop (causative).

★ 'Aspect.' ''Kerretv'' = to learn.

★
★ ''Kērris.'' = I am learning (progressive, ongoing or in progress).

★
★ ''Kêrris.'' = I know (resulting state).

★
★ ''Kęrris.'' = I keep learning (imperfect, habitual or repeated action).

★
★ ''Kerîyis.'' = I just learned (action completed in the past).

★ 'Voice.'

★
★ ''Wihkis.'' = I just stopped (active voice, 1st past).

★
★ ''Cvwihokes.'' = I was just stopped (passive voice, 1st past).

★ 'Negatives.'

★
★ ''Wikarēs.'' = I will stop (positive, future tense).

★
★ ''Wikakarēs.'' = I will not stop (negative, future tense).

★ 'Questions.' ''Hompetv'' = to eat; ''nake'' = what.

★
★ ''Hompeckes.'' = You are eating.

★
★ ''Hompeckv?'' = Are you eating? (expecting a yes or no answer)

★
★ ''Nake hompecka?'' = What are you eating? (expecting a long answer)

Verbs with Irregular Plurals

Some Creek verbs, especially those involving motion, have
highly irregular plurals. For example, ''letketv'' = to run,
with a singular
subject. However, ''tokorketv'' = to run of two subjects,
and ''pefatketv'' =
to run of three or more.

Stative Verbs

Another entire class of Creek verbs are the stative verbs.
These verbs express no action, imply no duration, and provide
only description of a static condition. In some languages,
such as English, these are expressed as adjectives. In Creek,
the verbs behave similar to adjectives, yet are classed and
treated as verbs. However, these verbs are not altered for
the person of the subject by an affix, as above;
instead, the prefix changes.
'Example:' ''Enokkē'' = to be sick;
''enokkēs'' = he / she is sick;
''cvnokkēs'' = I'm sick;
''cenokkēs'' = you are sick.

Locative Prefixes

Prefixes are also used in Creek for shades of meaning of verbs
which are expressed in English using preposition stranding.
For example, in English, the verb ''to go'' can be changed to
''to go up'', ''to go in'', ''to go around'', and other variations.
In ''Mvskoke'', the same principle of shading a verb's meaning
is handled by 'locative prefixes':
'Example:' ''vyetv'' = to go (singular subjects only,
see above);
''ayes'' = I am going;
''ak-ayes'' = I am going (in water / in a low place / under something);
''tak-ayes'' = I am going (on the ground);
''oh-ayes'' = I am going (on top of something).
However, for verbs of motion, Creek also has a large selection
of verbs with specific meaning: ''ossetv'' = to go out;
''ropottetv'' = to go though.

Possession

In some other languages, a special form of the noun,
the genitive case, is used to show
possession. This process is
handled in two fundamentally different ways in Creek,
depending on the nature of the noun.

Nouns in Fixed Relationships (Inalienable Possession)

A body part or family member cannot be discussed in Creek
without mentioning the possessor; it is an integrated part
of the word. A set of changeable prefixes serves this
function:

★ ''enke'' = his / her hand;

★ ''cvnke'' = my hand;

★ ''cenke'' = your hand;

★ ''punke'' = our hand.
Even if the possessor is mentioned specifically,
the prefix still must be part of the word, for example,
''Toske enke'' = Toske's hand. This is not
redundant in Creek (e.g. "Toske's his hand").

Transferrable Nouns

All other nouns are possessed through separate set
of prepositions.

★ ''efv'' = dog;

★ ''vm efv'' = my dog;

★ ''cem efv'' = your dog;

★ ''em efv'' = his / her dog;

★ ''pum efv'' = our dog.
Again, even though the construction in English would
be redundant, the proper way to form the possessive
in Creek must include the correct preposition.
For example,
''Toske em efv'' = Toske's dog.
This is grammatically correct in Creek, unlike the
literal English translation "Toske's his dog".

Locative Nouns

A final distinctive feature of Creek, tied to the
above, is the existence of 'locational nouns'.
In English, we have prepositions to indicate location,
for example, ''behind'', ''around'', ''beside'', and
so on. In Creek, these locations are actually nouns.
These are possessed just like parts of the body and
family members were above.

★ ''cuko'' = house; ''yopv'' = noun for "behind"; ''cuko yopv'' = behind the house; ''cvyopv'' = behind me; ''ceyopv'' = behind you.

★ ''lecv'' = under; ''eto'' = tree; ''eto lecv'' = under the tree.

★ ''tempe'' = near; ''cvtempe'' = near me; ''cetempe'' = near you; ''putempe'' = near us.

Phonology

The phonology of Creek seems to be: [1], [2]

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p	t		k
Affricate
Fricative	f	s			h
Lateral fricative
Nasal	m	n
Lateral		l
Semivowel	w		j

is spelled , is spelled , and /j/ is spelled .

	Front	Central	Back
Close
Close-Mid
Open

Creek has three diphthongs: /ej ow aw/. Nasal vowels are indicated using an ogonek underneath: <ę>, <ų>, <į>, etc. There are three tones: high (marked with an acute: á), low (unmarked: a), and falling (marked with a circumflex: â). Short vowels /i o a/ are subject to centralization, to around . The orthographical conventions discussed here are those used primarily by linguists, and not necessarily the traditional orthographies.

See also

★ Creek people

★ Creek mythology

References

★

★

★

External links

★ The Creek Language Archive. This site includes a draft of a Creek textbook, which may be downloaded in .pdf format (''Pum Opunvkv, Pun Yvhiketv, Pun Fulletv: Our Language, Our Songs, Our Ways'' by Margaret Mauldin, Jack Martin, and Gloria McCarty).

★ Comprehensive Creek Language materials online.

★ The official website for the Muskogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma

★ Ethnologue report for Creek

★ Acoustic vowel reduction in Creek: Effects of distinctive length and position in the word (pdf)