Maliseet-Passamaquoddy language

Common card · No. 450408

Maliseet-Passamaquoddy ( MAL-ih-seet PAS-ə-mə-KWOD-ee; skicinuwatuwewakon or skicinuwi-latuwewakon) or Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey is an endangered Algonquian language spoken by the Wolastoqey and Passamaquoddy peoples along both sides of the border between Maine in the United States and New Brunswick, Canada. The language consists of two major dialects: Maliseet, which is mainly spoken in the Saint John River Valley in New Brunswick; and Passamaquoddy, spoken mostly in the St. Croix River Valley of eastern Maine. However, the two dialects differ only slightly, mainly in their phonology. The Wolastoqiyik and Passamaquoddy widely spoke Maliseet-Passamaquoddy in these areas until around the post–World War II era when changes in the education system and increased marriage outside of the speech community caused a large decrease in the number of children who learned or regularly used the language. As a result, in both Canada and the U.S. today, there are only 600 speakers of both dialects, and...

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