Loup languages
Loup is a term which refers to the Algonquian language varieties spoken in colonial New England as attested in the manuscripts of mid-eighteenth century French missionaries. Loup A was attested in a notebook titled Mots loups, compiled by Jean-Claude Mathevet, a priest who worked among Algonquian peoples, composing of 124 pages. Loup was a French colonial ethnographic term, and usage was inconsistent. In modern literature, Loup A refers to the varieties described by Mathevet, and Loup B refers to those described by François-Auguste Magon de Terlaye.
Classification
Linguist Ives Goddard identified three distinct language varieties each attested in the Loup A and Loup B manuscripts. The languages of Loup A are referred to as Loup 1, Loup 2, and Loup 3; the languages of Loup B are referred to as Loup 4, Loup 5, and Loup 6. According to Goddard, Loup 3 and Loup 4 are the same language.On the basis of morphophonological comparisons with other Algonquian languages and ethnogeographic context, Goddard identifies the five Loup languages with particular bands of the Pocumtuck Confederacy:
- Nipmuck
- Norwottuck
- Pocumtuck
- Woronoco
- Pojassick
Phonology
The phonology of Loup A, reconstructed by Gustafson 2000:The vowel sounds likely have the same phonetic quality as other southern New England Algonquian languages. The short vowels may represent the sounds as,,, and, while the long vowels,, and correspond to,, and.