Mahican Resource Articles

Slides from the 56th Algonquian Conference

A presentation about scientific methodology using Mahican language samples as examples.

Sources of Mahican Language Information

Introduction to Mahican Texts

A guide to interpret the sounds and writing system in use on this website.

Mahican Vowel Fluctations

February 2025. A numerical report on the frequency of vowel sounds /i/ and /e/ in written sources of Mahican across time periods.

Mohican Tribal Name

This short paper describes how our Mohican tribal name has been corrupted by arbitrary, unreferenced, and unilateral linguistic decisions made by a non-tribal member hired to research and revitalize Mahican. This article and the others, below, represent a “second opinion” with references to the source materials.

The Language of our Elders

This paper discusses language change and whether Mahican as spoken in the early 1900s had evolved into new patterns of pronunciation and morphology versus the alternate explanation, that later speakers simply lacked the knowledge and proficiency  to speak as well as their grandparents.

Swadesh Data

A datasheet with excerpts from the unpublished field notes of linguist Morris Swadesh, highlighting features of Mahican.

Timeline of the use of Glottal Stops in Mahican

Chronological evidence arguing against the existence of a glottal stop in the Mahican language.

Timeline of the Mohican Tribal Name

Chronological evidence that there should NOT be a glottal stop in the Mohican tribal name.

An Important Mahican Vowel

A discussion of the long “ee” vowel which was only sometimes recorded by some visiting linguists in the early 1900s as “ay” (as in English ‘say’).

Wuniiwih: Thank You in Mahican

As published in the Mohican News. A review of the data in support of the “w” sound instead of its German language influenced equivalent “o.”

Misconceptions about the LCC

A rebuttal to negative comments made about the committee in social media.

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munsee-delaware-examples.mp3

Sound files in Munsee cited in a paper soon to be published.

Noah Story – Munsee Transcription

Transcription of a story narrated in Munsee, with a word-by-word transcription plus English translations.