Historical Linguistics Talk – Algonquian family tree

A more structured family tree: Algonquian subgrouping

Jerome Biedny, Andrea Cudworth, Sarah Holmstrom, Monica Macaulay, Gabrielle Mistretta, Charlotte Vanhecke, Bo Zhan, & Joe Salmons, UW-Madison

Algonquian is one of the most intensely and longest studied language families in the world, yet the internal classification of Algonquian has rarely been treated with explicit attention to methodological questions about subgrouping. The almost universal view today is that the family consists of only one clear subgroup, Eastern Algonquian, with the many other languages splitting directly from Proto-Algonquian. Using a character-based approach to phonological history and the principle of synapomorphy, we argue for a set of new subgroups in the family, a substantial redrawing of the family tree.