The language spoken by the Lėnape is called Unami, and is considered to be an extinct language. The last known fluent speakers have all crossed over, but due to the efforts of a small handful of them, and my text book, the language has been recorded and preserved, at least in writing.
The late Grandmother Nora Thompson Dean, a Lėnape Elder, compiled two short booklets with accompanying tapes, which demonstrate some basic vocabulary and pronunciation guides. James Rementer and the late Grandmother Lucy Blalock, compiled a grammar of the language which included a lengthier vocabulary than that of Grandmother Nora Dean's booklets. Unfortunately Grandmother Nora's works were far too short and brief, and James Rementer's much too technical for a begiining student. I have since combined the works of both and reformatted them into a comprehensive yet easily understood format which would make learning the language simple, and hopefully fun.
It should be remembered that Unami was originally a spoken language only. Prior to the efforts discussed above, the only recorded source of our language was the writings of David Ziesberger, an 18th century Moravian missionary, who wrote a lexicon of the language. Ziesberger used German phonetics and the German alphabet. Although his writings had become the standard resource for the Unami language, it is important to remember that he used German phonetics and spellings, and so are not totally accurate. To remedy this situation, a Lėnape alphabet was developed with corresponding pronunciation guides and "rules of grammar". It is this Lėnape alphabet which is currently used to record our language in a written form.
The following is a brief introduction to the Unami language. It should be noted that this section is in no way a thorough course or discussion on the Lėnape language, but rather only a brief introduction.
The Lėnape alphabet is as follows:
a (ą).....b.....ch.....d.....e (č...ė).....g.....h.....i (ģ).....j.....k.....l (2 variations) .....m.....n.....o (ņ).....p.....s (sh..s'h).....t.....u (ł).....w.....x.....y.....z (zh)
Pronunciation variations have been notated by ( ) in the above alphabet presentation.
* If at the beginning of a word OR in the middle of a word before a vowel.
** If at the end of a word OR in the middle of a word before a consonant except h or x. To pronounce the voiceless "L".......start to say "lot" but just let the air pass over your tongue with no vibration of your vocal chords. (When you say "lot" normally....feel your throat....you'll feel a vibration....this is voicing....you do not want this vibration when pronouncing the voiceless "L").
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Consonant Beginning of Before Vowel or Before Consonant
a Word "H" or "X" not "H" or "X"
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mp b m + b m + p
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(IE) hčmpės = hčm-bės hčmpsa = hemp-sa
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nch j n + j n + ch
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nk g n + g n + k
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nt d n + d n + t
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Consonant Beginning of Middle & End
a Word of a Word
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ns z n + s
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(IE) z as in zip
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nsh z n + sh
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(IE) z as in azure
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1) In Lėnape, the next to last syllable of a word is the stressed syllable. Exceptions to this rule are designated by an _ under the vowel in the stressed syllable.
2) T and H are never pronounced together as they are in English (ie: the,they, etc.)....they are pronounced separately as 2 distinct letters.
This is one of three variations of the women's dance. As the name implies, only women perform these dances.
In this dance the dancers moving straight ahead with plain short steps.
