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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 ('Wolf') 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.

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Jul 1, 2026
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Loup
Nipmuck
Pronunciation[lu] loo
Native toUnited States
RegionMassachusetts, Connecticut
EthnicityNipmuck
Extinct18th century
transcribed with Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
xlo – Loup A
xlb – Loup B
Glottologloup1243  Nipmuck
loup1245  Loup B

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.1 Loup A was attested in a notebook titled Mots loups (literally translating to 'wolf words'), compiled by Jean-Claude Mathevet, a priest who worked among Algonquian peoples, composing of 124 pages.2 Loup ('Wolf') 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.1

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.1

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:1

Chaubunagungamaug lake sign, a place name originating from the Nipmuck people source ↗

Phonology

The phonology of Loup A (Nipmuck),1 reconstructed by Gustafson 2000:

Nipmuc consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal/
Postalveolar 		Velar Glottal
plain pal. plain lab.
Nasal m n
Plosive p t tʲ k (kʷ)
Affricate tʃ
Fricative s h
Lateral l
Approximant w j
Vowels
Front Back
Close i, iː u
Mid e o, oː
Open a, aː, ã

The vowel sounds likely have the same phonetic quality as other southern New England Algonquian languages. The short vowels /i o e a/ may represent the sounds as [ɪ], [ʊ], [ɛ, ə], and [ʌ], while the long vowels /iː/, /oː/, and /ã/ correspond to /i/, /o/, and /ã/.23

References

References

  1. Goddard, Ives (2012). "The 'Loup' Languages of Western Massachusetts: The Dialectal Diversity of Southern New England Algonquian". Papers of the 44th Algonquian Conference. 44. SUNY Press: 104–138.
  2. Gustafson, Holly Suzanne (2000). A Grammar of the Nipmuck Language (PDF). Deparament of Linguistics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Archived from the original on April 13, 2017.
  3. Costa, David J. (2007). The Dialectology of Southern New England Algonquian (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 August 2018.
External links