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Munsee (also known as Munsee Delaware, Delaware, Ontario Delaware) is an endangered language of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family, itself a branch of the Algic language family. Munsee is one of the two Delaware languages. It is very closely related to the extinct Unami Delaware, but the two are sufficiently different that they are considered separate languages. Munsee was spoken aboriginally in the vicinity of the modern New York City area in the United States, including western Long Island, Manhattan Island, Staten Island, as well as adjacent areas on the mainland: southeastern New York State, the northern third of New Jersey, and northeastern Pennsylvania.〔〔Goddard, Ives, 1996, p. 5〕 As of 2009, Munsee was spoken only on the Moraviantown Reserve in Ontario, Canada, by no more than seven or eight elderly individuals, the youngest of which was 61 in 2002.〔Gordon, Raymond, 2005〕〔(Adam McDowell, "More than words: Can Canada's dying languages be saved?" ), ''National Post'', 22 Jan 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2009〕〔 〕 However, there has been interest in learning the language by younger individuals.〔(Yoh Lunaapeewak! )〕 ==Classification== Munsee is an Eastern Algonquian language, which is the sole recognized genetic subgroup descending from Proto-Algonquian, the common ancestor language of the Algonquian language family. Munsee is very closely related to Unami Delaware. Munsee and Unami constitute the Delaware languages, comprising a subgroup within Eastern Algonquian. Taken together with ''Mahican'', the Delaware languages constitute ''Delawaran,'' a subgroup within Eastern Algonquian.〔Goddard, Ives, 1979〕〔Goddard, Ives, 1996〕 The term Munsee arose as a name for the aggregated group that formed along the upper Delaware River north of the Delaware Water Gap. Other Munsee dialect speakers joined the Minisink group;〔Goddard, Ives, 1978a, p. 213, 237〕 the earliest recorded mention of Munsee dates from 1725.〔Kraft, Herbert, 1986, p. xvii〕 Minisink is a Munsee term meaning "at the island", and is to be transcribed ''mə̆nə́sənk.'' It is the locative form of a now disused word /mənə́s/ "island"; cognates in other Algonquian languages are e.g. Ojibwe ''minis'', "island".〔Nyholm, Earl, and John Nichols, 1995, p. 85〕 Orthographic in the form Minisink is the modern Munsee locative suffix (discussed below in the Grammar section). The term "Munsee" is the English adaptation of a regularly formed word ''mə́n'si·w'' (person from Minisink). Over time Munsee was extended to any speaker of the Munsee language. Attempts to derive ''Munsee'' from a word meaning "stone" or "mountain" as proposed by Brinton are incorrect.〔Goddard, Ives, 1978a, p. 237〕 Kraft's claim that ''Munsee'' is not an indigenous term, and that it results from a "corruption" of English use of Minisink is incorrect. The term follows a regular pattern of Munsee word formation.〔Goddard, Ives, 1978a, p. 236〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Munsee language」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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