Traces of Proto‐Algonquian*wi·la‘he, she’ in Maliseet‐Passamaquoddy

Abstract

Proto‐Algonquian (PA) *wi·la ‘he, she’ has been replaced in the Eastern Algonquian languages, including contemporary Maliseet‐Passamaquoddy, by reflexes of Proto‐Eastern‐Algonquian (PEA) *ne·kəma, with the same meaning. The expected Passamaquoddy reflexes of PA *wi·la are attested, however, in material taken down by Albert S. Gatschet of the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1897. The evidence of Gatschet’s recordings supports Bloomfield’s (1946) reconstruction of PA *wi·la by demonstrating that this form has a cognate in the Eastern branch of the family, as well as in the Central languages from which Bloomfield drew most of the data on which his reconstructions are based. This conclusion, in turn, supports Goddard’s hypothesis that the introduction of *ne·kəma is a shared innovation of the Eastern Algonquian languages.