Mi'kmaq language

The Mi'kmaq language (spelled and pronounced Micmac historically and now often Migmaw or Mikmaw in English, and Míkmaq, Míkmaw or Mìgmao in Mi'kmaq) is an Eastern Algonquian language spoken by nearly 11,000 Mi'kmaq in Canada and the United States out of a total ethnic Mi'kmaq population of roughly 20,000. The word Mi'kmaq is a plural word meaning 'my friends' (singular Míkm); the adjectival form is Míkmaw. The language's native name is Lnuismk, Míkmawísimk or Míkmwei (in some dialects).

The phonemic inventory of Mi'kmaq is shown below.

The consonants of Mi'kmaq can be divided into two groups: the obstruents /p, t, k, kʷ, t͡ʃ, s, x, xʷ/, and the sonorants /m, n, w, l, j/. The vowels of Mi'kmaq are also counted as sonorants.

The obstruents have a wide variety of pronunciations. When they are located word-initially or next to another obstruent, they are voiceless. However, when they are located between sonorants, they are voiced, and appear as [b, d, g, ɡʷ, d͡ʒ, z, ɣ, ɣʷ]. When the stops and affricate are located word-finally, they may be aspirated, and appear as [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ, kʷʰ, tʃʰ]. An example of each kind of pronunciation is given below.

Mi'kmaq distinguishes between both long and short vowels and consonants, symbolized in Listuguj by doubling the consonant. Beyond expanding in length, long consonants add a schwa when they precede other consonants. For instance, compare /en.mitk/, written in Listuguj as enmitg ("flow away") with /en.nə.mit/, written in Listuguj as ennmit ("stick into"); or, /tox.tʃu.pi.la.wek/, written in Listuguj as toqju'pilaweg ("hoist"), with /ge.si.gaw.wek/, written in Listuguj as gesigawweg ("loud").