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| Unami | |
|---|---|
| Wënami èlixsuwakàn | |
| Native to | Eastern United States |
| Region | Around the lower Delaware and Hudson rivers in the United States; some Unami groups in Oklahoma |
| Ethnicity | Lenape |
| Extinct | August 31, 2002, with the death of Edward Thompson[1] |
| Revival | Taught as a second language |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | unm |
| Glottolog | unam1242 |
| ELP | Unami |
 Map showing the aboriginal boundaries of Delaware territories, with Munsee territory and Unami dialectal divisions indicated. The territory of the Unalachtigo dialect of Unami is not clearly indicated, but is presumed to be approximately in the area of "Sankhikan" on the map. | |
| Person | Wënami, Lënape |
|---|---|
| People | Wënamiyok, Lënapeyok |
| Language | Wënami èlixsuwakàn, Lënapei èlixsuwakàn |
| Country | Wënamihòkink, Lënapehòkink |
Unami (Delaware: Wënami èlixsuwakàn)[4] is an Algonquian language initially spoken by the Lenape people in the late 17th century and the early 18th century, in the southern two-thirds of present-day New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, and the northern two-thirds of Delaware. The Lenape later migrated, largely settling in Ontario, Canada and Oklahoma. Today, it is only spoken as a second language.
Unami is one of two Delaware languages; the other is Munsee. The last fluent Unami speaker in the United States, Edward Thompson, of the federally recognized Delaware Tribe of Indians, died on August 31, 2002.[1] His sister Nora Thompson Dean (1907–1984) provided valuable information about the language to linguists and other scholars.
Lenni-Lenape literally means 'Men of Men', but is translated to mean 'Original People'. The Lenape names for the areas they inhabited were Scheyichbi (i.e. New Jersey), which means 'water's edge', and Lenapehoking, meaning 'in the land of the Delaware Indians'. It describes the ancient homeland of all Delaware Indians, both Unami and Munsee.[5][6] The English named the river running through much of the traditional range of the Lenape after the first governor of the Jamestown Colony, Lord De La Warr, and consequently referred to the people who lived around the river as "Delaware Indians".
- ^ a b Chambers, Steve. "The vanishing voice of the Lenape." Star-Ledger. 17 Nov 2002. Retrieved 3 Dec 2022, archived from the original on 4 Jun 2019
- ^ Pentland, David, 1992, p. 15; Goddard, Ives, 1996, p. 5
- ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian (2022-05-24). "Delawaran". Glottolog. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Archived from the original on 2022-10-30. Retrieved 2022-10-29.
- ^ Online Lenape Talking Dictionary, "Unami (a group of the Lenape or Delaware Indians)", [1]
- ^ Kraft, Herbert C., The Lenape-Delaware Indian Heritage: 10,000 BC to AD 2000, Lenape Books, p.9, n.2
- ^ Lenapehoking Map Archived 2006-01-13 at the Wayback Machine, showing approximate locations of Lenape Indian Bands, Lenape Lifeways website (accessed December 16, 2007)