| Fox | |
|---|---|
| Meskwaki-Sauk-Kickapoo | |
| Meshkwahkihaki | |
| Native to | United States,Mexico |
| Region | CentralOklahoma, NortheasternKansas,Iowa, andCoahuila |
| Ethnicity | 760Meskwaki andSauk and 820Kickapoo in the US (2000 census)[1] and 423Mexican Kickapoo (2010 census)[2] |
Native speakers | 700: 250 Sauk and Fox and 400 Kickapoo in the US (2007–2015)[1] 60 Kickapoo in Mexico (2020 census)[3] |
| Dialects | |
| Latin, Great Lakes Algonquian syllabics | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:sac – Fox and Saukkic – Kickapoo |
qes Mascouten | |
| Glottolog | foxx1245 |
| ELP | Sauk-Fox |
 Map showing the distribution ofOklahomaIndian Languages | |
 Kickapoo is classified as Severely Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Fox (known by a variety of different names, includingMesquakie (Meskwaki),Mesquakie-Sauk,Mesquakie-Sauk-Kickapoo,Sauk-Fox, andSac and Fox) is anAlgonquian language, spoken by a thousandMeskwaki,Sauk, andKickapoo in various locations in theMidwestern United States and innorthern Mexico.
The three distinct dialects are:
If Kickapoo is counted as a separate language rather than a dialect of Fox, then only between 200 and 300 speakers of Fox remain. Extinct Mascouten was most likely another dialect, though it is scarcely attested.
Most speakers are elderly or middle-aged, making it highlyendangered. The tribal school at theMeskwaki Settlement in Iowa incorporates bilingual education for children.[6][7] In 2011, the Meskwaki Sewing Project was created, to bring mothers and girls together "with elder women in the Meskwaki Senior Center sewing traditional clothing and learning the Meskwaki language."[8]
Prominent scholars doing research on the language includeIves Goddard[9] andLucy Thomason of the Smithsonian Institution andAmy Dahlstrom of the University of Chicago.
The consonant phonemes of Fox are given in the table below. The eight vowel phonemes are: short/a,e,i,o/ and long/aː,eː,iː,oː/.
| Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar orpalatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||||
| Plosive | plain | p | t | tʃ | k | |
| preaspirated | ʰp | ʰt | ʰtʃ | ʰk | ||
| Fricative | s | ʃ | h | |||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||
Other than those involving a consonant plus/j/ or/w/, the only possible consonant cluster is/ʃk/.
Until the early 1900s, Fox was a phonologically very conservative language and preserved many features ofProto-Algonquian; records from the decades immediately following 1900 are particularly useful to Algonquianists for this reason. By the 1960s, however, an extensive progression of phonological changes had taken place, resulting in the loss of intervocalic semivowels and certain other features.[10]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This section is empty. You can help byadding to it.(July 2019) |
Mesquakienumerals are as follows:[11]
| nekoti | one |
| nîshwi | two |
| nethwi | three |
| nyêwi | four |
| nyânanwi | five |
| nekotwâshika | six |
| nôhika | seven |
| neshwâshika | eight |
| shâka | nine |
| metâthwi | ten |
Besides theLatin script, Fox has been written in two indigenous scripts.[12]
"Fox I" is anabugida based on the cursive French alphabet (seeGreat Lakes Algonquian syllabics). Consonants written by themselves are understood to be syllables containing the vowel/a/. They are:
| ℓ[a] | /pa/ |
| t | /ta/ |
| s | /sa/ |
| d | /ʃa/[b] |
| tt | /tʃa/[c] |
| ŋ[d] | /ya/ |
| w | /wa/ |
| m | /ma/ |
| n | /na/ |
| K | /ka/ |
| g[e] | /kwa/[f] |
Vowels are written by adding dots to the consonant:
| ℓ | /pa/ |
| ℓ. | /pe/ |
| ℓ· | /pi/ |
| ℓ.. | /po/ |
"Fox II" is a consonant–vowel alphabet. According to Coulmas,/p/ is not written (as/a/ is not written in Fox I). Vowels (or/p/ plus a vowel) are written as cross-hatched tally marks.
| + | /t/ |
| C | /s/ |
| Q | /ʃ/ |
| ı | /tʃ/ |
| ñ | /v/[a] |
| ═ | /y/ |
| ƧƧ | /w/ |
| 田 | /m/ |
| # | /n/ |
| C′ | /k/ |
| ƧC | /kw/ |
| × | /a/ |
| /e/[b] | |
| /i/[c] | |
| /o/[d] |
Italics indicate extinct languages * indicates extinct language in Oklahoma but still spoken elsewhere | |
| Indigenous | |
| Sign languages | |
| Non-Indigenous | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
