The Massachusett language shared several features in common with other Algonquian languages. Nouns have gender based on animacy, often considered to reflect the traditional worldview of the speakers on what has spirit versus what does not (e.g. a body would be animate, but the parts of the body are inanimate). Nouns are also marked for obviation, with nouns less relevant to the discourse marked apart from nouns that are more so. Personal pronouns distinguish three persons, two numbers (singular and plural), inclusive and exclusive first-person plural, and proximate and obviative third-persons. Nouns are also marked as absentative, especially when referring to lost items or deceased persons.
Sentence structures are typically SVO or SOV, but deviation from strict word order is possible due to the synthetic structure.Fermino (2000: 10–63) Verbs are quite complex, and can be broken into four classes of verbs: animate-intransitive (AI), inanimate-intransitive (II), animate-transitive (AT), and inanimate-transitive (IT), depending on the animacy of the subject (for intransitive verbs) or object (for transitive ones). Verbs can also be supplied with various other prefixes and suffixes, so complex things can easily be described just by a verb.Pentland (2006).Fermino (2000: 28–64)
Person Animate Inanimate Proximate Singular Plural Singular Plural 1, 'I,' 'me' 1p, 'we' (exclusive) 0, 'it' 0p, 'they' 12, 'we' (inclusive) 2, 'thou/you' 2p, 'you' 3, 'he/she/it' 3p, 'they' X, 'someone/somebody' Obviate 3", 'he/she/it' 3", 'they' Prox. of obv. 3, 'he/she/it' 3p, 'they'
Massachusett recognizes first, second and third person in singular and plural form. However, like other Algonquian languages, Massachusett makes a distinction between the first person plural exclusive, 'we, excluding you' and the first person plural inclusive, 'we, including you.' In general, the exclusive is more common when referring to oneself and one's family and network or when the audience is unknown, but the inclusive is used when the audience is definitely being referenced.
The obviate, a form of 'second third person' that disambiguates the activities of another third person in a sentence, may possess another noun which although technically a 'third third person,' has no forms that distinguish it from the unmarked proximate bare form of a noun, as opposed to more conservative languages like Ojibwe which have a separate form for nouns in this rare position. Similarly, there are no attested forms for obviate inanimate nouns, as exist in Ojibwe.Waasaagoneshkang (2001: 13).
Persons exist on an importance scale, which is often more important in establishing word order regarding synthetic placement of prefixes, suffixes and markers. For example, most words exist which generally follow a hierarchy of 2 > 1 > X > 3 > 3'.Macaulay, M. (2005).
Nouns Person Prefix Stem Central Infix Peripheral Plural or Absentative Locative Obviative Diminutive Animate or Inanimate Singular Plural 1 (nu-) (-ees) (-amees) (-ak) (-ash) (-ay) (-uk) (-ut) (-uk) (-ah) 2 (ku-) 3 (wu-) (u-) 1p (nu-) (-un) (-ôn-) 12 (ku-) 2p (-uw) (-ôw-) 3p (wu-) (u-) X (mu-) (wu-) before , , or alters to (u-) .
Nouns can only have an animate/inanimate plural or absentative animate/inanimate singular or plural terminations on a given word. In general, the locative is the same in the singular and plural and replaces the animate/inanimate plural if any. All nouns can have a diminutive, locative and obviative ending, although it would be rare for a word to exist with all possible forms, the order is usually diminutive, absentative/animate-inanimate plural (if any), locative, obviative. For example, *wekeesiutoh *(weekeesayutah), literally 'his-house-diminutive-absentative-locative-obviate' which would signify 'at the other man's/woman's small house—that is no more? that was destroyed?'
Number Algonquian languages recognize two numbers, singular and plural. Although it is rare for a word to not have both a singular and plural form, a small number of nouns, as in English, are either uncountable or inherently plural or singular. This is clearest in loan words from English such as monêash (moneyash), from English 'moneys,' which always appears in the plural and saut (salt), from English 'salt' which only appears in the singular.Rees-Miller (1996).
Nouns are unmarked in the singular, but can take one of two forms dependent on the noun's gender, which can be either animate and refer to something considered living, moving, divine or said to have spirit and inanimate including natural objects, tools and small plants.Goddard & Bragdon (1988: 486–497). Words that are animate have -ack/-og/-ak (-ak) and those that are inanimate have -ash/-osh (-ash) appended to the end, respectively. Although unmarked in the singular, words must have either an animate or inanimate plural, with only a few rare exceptions to this rule.Fermino (2000: 11).
Nouns in the singular often exist in a truncated form, but when any endings such as the plural are appended, many nouns will have consonants or syllables appear where unexpected, but were probably the original form of the word from its development from Proto-Algonquian. For instance, the words 'dog,' 'man' and 'chair' appear in Massachusett as annum (anum) , wosketomp (waskeetôp) and appuonk (apuwôk) in the singular but anumwog (anumwak) , wosketompauog (waskeetôpâak) and appuonkanash (apuwôkanash) as 'dogs' and 'chairs,' respectively.Trumbull (1903: 12, 14, 292). In the case of 'dog,' Massachusett annum (anum) developed from Proto-Algonquian *aθemwaWiktionary. Proto-Algonquian *aθemwa. with the final *-wa only re-appearing in the non-truncated forms of the plural, i.e., Proto-Algonquian *aθemwaki and Massachusett annumwak (anumwak). As they are based on etymology, words with these non-truncated finals must be learned individually.
Gender and plural formation As seen in the plural formations, all nouns have a grammatical gender based on animacy, thus nouns are either animate or inanimate. Animate objects include human beings and their bodies, animals, trees and bushes, planetary bodies—essentially things considered to be alive, possess spirit or are mobile—whereas inanimate nouns cover most objects, body parts, natural land forms, abstract things—essentially objects that do not move, do not possess spirit and generally unable to move.
Numerous exceptions to this general rule exist. The body parts -ohpee (-apee), 'hip,' -úhkus (-uhkas), 'finger nail' and woskequah (wushkeeqâh) , 'whale bone'; the English loan words conner (corner) and Testament (Testament) and the kitchen object kunnommaog (kunumuwôk) , 'ladle' or 'spoon' are all animate. The sun and moon, despite being planetary bodies, are inanimate. Although standing trees are animate, names of trees and species are always inanimate, thus the plural form of kꝏwa (k8wa) , 'pine tree,' is not *kꝏwak (*k8wak) but instead kꝏwash (k8wash).
Only a handful of words can appear with both genders, with subtle differences in meaning. For instance, the word for 'tree' is mehtog (muhtuq), but can also mean 'wood.' As gender is not overtly marked in the singular, this can be seen in the plural forms where mehtogquog (muhtuqak), 'trees' (that are still in the ground and living) and mehtogquosh (muhtuqash), 'trees' (that have been felled) but better translates as 'wood,' i.e., the product of a tree that is no longer living.Trumbull (1903: 54, 346). Another rare form is to refer to land forms, structures or locales said to have a spiritual presence, or were considered the meeting place with or dwelling of tutelary spirits were discussed in the animate gender, in essence 'personifying' or linguistically 'animating' them. For example, wadchuash (wachuwash), 'mountains,' is the inanimate plural, but when it appears as *wadchuog (wachuwak) in the animate plural, it signifies 'mountains' but specifically the 'spirit(s) of the mountains.' This latter feature only appears in religious and ceremonial usage and is only known from a few examples, but was likely more common prior to the introduction of Christianity and the English missionary influences.
Case Obviation Massachusett, just as in other Algonquian languages, marks second third persons with an obviative marker -oh (-ah) . The proximate, usually the primary subject or more important topic is left unmarked. In English, for example, 'He gives the book to me, then I give the money to him,' it is ambiguous if the man receiving the money is the same as the giver of the book or a different man present, but in Massachusett, the person giving the book would be proximate and thus unmarked and the recipient of the money would be marked for obviation and removing the ambiguity.
The noun marked for obviation tends to be the possessed, not the possessor, and also tends to be the less animate or the recipient of a particular action. For example, mosq nâau ahtuckoh (masq nâwâw ahtuhqah) , 'The bear sees the deer.'Fermino (2000: 12–13). Like the word 'deer' in English, which may refer to the animal in the singular and collectively, the obviative forms are identical in the singular and the plural and have to be differentiated by context. Nouns which are truncated are restored, as with the plural endings, so anum (anum), 'dog' and plural anumwog (anumwak) and appuonk (apuwônk) and plural appuonkanash (apuwônkanash), 'chairs' become annumwoh (anumwah) and appuonkanah (apuwônkanah) , respectively, when marked for obviation. This can occur in verbs as well:Fermino (2000: 54–56).
Proximate
Obviate
Proximate of obviate (third third-person)
Absentation Algonquian languages mark those objects that were, i.e., people or living things that are deceased and objects that are lost, stolen or destroyed, or 'absent,' as opposed to those that currently exist. For people and animate objects, it generally refers to something alive that has passed away. Items that are destroyed, beyond repair or lost forever tend to be inanimate objects.Goddard & Bragdon (1988: 494, 506–508). All nouns, whether animate or inanimate, are marked with the suffixes -i or -y (-ay) in the singular and -uk or -ug (-uk) in the plural. With the same forms, a noun's animacy must be known or determined from context. Truncated noun stems are also restored before absentative endings, so woskétomp (waskeetôp) is restored before becoming woskétompáay (waskeetôpâay) , 'man' (that is passed away).Fermino (2000: 13).
Animate kꝏshi (k8shay) , 'your (singular) late father' nussontimminonuk (nusôtyumunônuk) , 'our (exclusive) deceased sachems'
Inanimate uméquonnai (umeequnay) , 'his feather' (that was lost? that was destroyed?) wuttuhquaunnick (wutuhqônuk) 'her hooks' (that were lost? that were destroyed?)
Diminution Nouns can be marked with one of two diminutive endings, -ees (-ees) or -emes (-âmees) , with the latter form chosen for more extreme examples or euphony. These endings indicate that the noun is smaller, littler or younger. For example, nonkomp (nôkôp) , 'boy,' nonkompees (nôkôpees) , 'young boy' and nonkompamees (nôkôpâmees) , a 'very young boy.' Although rare in the written language, which may have thus protected against its complete intrusion in the spoken language, late-stage speakers along the western and northern transitional dialects permitted syncope and the diminutive ending is often truncated, as seen in the surname of Crispus Attucks, Attuck[ee]s (Ahtuq[ee]s), 'Little Deer,' and wachu[ee]s (wachu[w][ee]s), 'small mountain' or 'hill' as in the example of Mount Wachusett, a Native toponym from the closely related Nipmuc-speaking peoples where syncope was generally permitted.