The termAlgic was first coined byHenry Schoolcraft in hisAlgic Researches, published in 1839. Schoolcraft defined the term as "derived from the wordsAllegheny andAtlantic, in reference to the indigenous people anciently located in this geographical area".[5] Schoolcraft's terminology was not retained. The peoples he called "Algic" were later included among the speakers of Algonquian languages. This language group is also referred to as "Algonquian-Ritwan" and "Wiyot-Yurok-Algonquian".
WhenEdward Sapir proposed that the well-established Algonquian family wasgenetically related to the Wiyot and Yurok languages of northernCalifornia, he applied the termAlgic to this larger family. The Algicurheimat is thought to have been located in theNorthwestern United States somewhere between the suspectedhomeland of the Algonquian branch (to the west ofLake Superior according toIves Goddard[6]) and the earliest known location of the Wiyot and Yurok (along the middleColumbia River according to Whistler[7]).
Thegenetic relation of Wiyot and Yurok to Algonquian was first proposed byEdward Sapir (1913, 1915, 1923), and argued against by AlgonquianistTruman Michelson (1914, 1914, 1935). According to Lyle Campbell (1997), the relationship "has subsequently been demonstrated to the satisfaction of all".[8] This controversy in the early classification of North American languages was called the "Ritwan controversy" because Wiyot and Yurok were assigned to a genetic grouping called "Ritwan". Most specialists now reject the validity of the Ritwan genetic node.[9] Berman (1982) suggested that Wiyot and Yurok share sound changes not shared by the rest of Algic (which would be explainable by either areal diffusion or genetic relatedness); Proulx (2004) argued against Berman's conclusion of common sound changes.[1]
The following tree follows the paradigm established by Goddard (1994) whereinBlackfoot was the first language to diverge fromProto-Algic, followed byArapaho andCree, then theEastern Great Lakes or "Core Central" languages, and finally theEastern Algonquian languages; this is reflected by "newer" languages being lower on the tree.[12]
Proto-Algic is an example of a second-orderproto-language: its reconstruction depends on the reconstruction another proto-language (namely its descendantProto-Algonquian), as well as the divergent branches ofWiyot andYurok.[3] As such, reconstruction of Proto-Algic is based oncross-examination of linguistic features between Proto-Algonquian, Wiyot, and Yurok.[15]
Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe (1839).Algic researches, comprising inquiries respecting the mental characteristics of the North American Indians. First series. Indian tales and legends. Vol. 1. New York: Harper & Brothers.OCLC6836253.OL17492450M.
