Unami (Delaware) Texts Recorded in 1966
These texts are in Unami (also called Delaware and Lenape), an Eastern Algonquian language.  
They were recorded on reel-to-reel tape in Oklahoma in 1966 by Ives Goddard as part of his 
dissertation research, and later digitally remastered.  (The first few minutes have a hum caused at 
the time of the original recording by an imperfect connection.)  They are made available here in 
accordance with the expressed wishes of the speakers that their words be heard by others.
The edited texts are presented in a four-field format, with an optional field for notes:
u/ edited Unami (raised dot = length)
m/ morpheme breakdown.  Forms without underline are written in morphophonemes (see 
 Ives Goddard, Delaware Verbal Morphology, 1979): macron = length; |?| etc. = invariant 
 strong vowels; |??h| = |Oh| that is realized as /hi/ ~ /ig/ before |kw|.
g/ glosses of morphemes
e/ English translation of Unami.
n/ textual notes
For each text the colophon at the beginning gives the name of the sound file and the time of the 
beginning and the end in that file.
The Unami consonant phonemes are:
plain stops  p t ? k
long stops  pg tg ?g kg
plain fricatives  s ? x h
long fricatives   sg ?g xg
nasals   m n
lateral    l 
semivowels  w  y
The plain stops are consistently voiceless, except that they are voiced (or partially voiced) after a 
homorganic nasal: /mp/ is [mb]; /nt/ is [nd]; /n?/ is [?j?]; /nk/ is [?g].  A long vowel preceding a 
plain consonant falls slightly in pitch and perceived loudness.  The long consonants are always 
voiceless and generally half long, except that, for example, /ntg/ is [nnRt]; they are perceived as 
ambisyllabic, with level pitch on the preceding vowel.  The consonant clusters include true 
geminates: pp, tt, ??, kk; hh, mm, nn, ll, ww.  The geminate stops are doubly released, except that 
/pp/ was heard as simply extra long.  (A word with both /tt/ and /tg/ is /kOmigttO?tgOna/ ?the black 
woman? (literally, ?our little older sister?).)  Emphatic vowel lengthening, considered extra-
phonemic, is marked by two raised dots [gg].
The Unami vowel phonemes are:
  short    long
 i  u  ig  og
 e O 5  eg  5g
  a    ag 
 
(By convention, the predictable long allophone of /O/ is written /Og/.)
The main stress in each word (accompanied by raised pitch in isolation) is marked with an acute 
accent (?): /kaw?/ ?sleep (you sg.)!? vs. /k?wi/ ?you (sg.) sleep?.
                                                                        
In texts 4 through 14 sentence intonation is tentatively indicated by the following conventions:
B Pitch rise on final syllable.
BB Ends with an emphatic two-syllable pitch rise. (One-syllable high if monosyllable.)
C Pitch fall to low on final syllable.
G Slight fall on final syllable from previous strong syllable; pitch stays up, at mid pitch.
H Raised pitch register.
The abbreviations and conventions used in the interlinear glosses are these:
AGT agentive; AN animate; CC changed conjunct; COLL collective; CS changed subjunctive; DIM 
diminutive; DUB dubitative (evidential for inference); /e English; ECM exocentric compound 
second member; EMPH emphatic; EXT extended; FOC focus; f.s. false start; FUT future; /g glosses; 
HAB habitual; HESN hesitation form; HRSY (evidential for hearsay account); IC initial change; IMP 
imperative; IN inanimate; IND indicative; INTERJ interjection; REP intensive; LOC locative; /m 
morphemes (in underlying form if not underlined); /n notes; NEG negative; O2 secondary object; 
PC  plain conjunct; OBL oblique; OBV obviative; OBV.POSS obviative possessor; P particle; PERF 
perfective; PL, pl  plural; PN prenoun; PNF prenoun final; POT potential; PP preparticle; PPL 
participle; P(PV) preverb used as free particle (postposed or with a gapped main verb); PRED 
predicator; PRES presentational; PRET preterite; PROH prohibitive (negative imperative); PST past; 
PT possessed theme; PV preverb; PWM particle of weak meaning; Q question; R (abstract marker 
of reduplication formula); REP repetitive; SBD subordinative; SBJ subjunctive; sg singular; smt 
sometime; smthg something; smwh somewhere; /u Unami (in phonemic transcription); VOC 
vocative; VS  vowel stretching; xx  abstract meaning.
1 first person; 1s  first singular; 1p  first plural exclusive; 12  first plural inclusive; 2  second 
person; 2s  second singular; 2p  second plural; 3  third person animate; 3s  third person animate 
singular; 3p  third person animate plural; 3?  third person animate obviative; 0  third person 
inanimate; 0s  third person inanimate singular; 0p  third person inanimate plural; X  indefinite.
Inflection for arguments: 3s  third singular subject or possessor; 1s?2s  first singular subject 
acting on second singular primary object; 3s?(0)  third singular animate subject acting on 
inanimate object (absolute); 3s?0s  third singular acting on inanimate singular (objective); 
3p?3?+0  third plural animate subject acting on third obviative primary object plus inanimate 
secondary object; (-O)  syntactically objectless use of TI absolute inflection (TI-O).
Reduplication:
Ra PL [plural; |C-| (except |w-|) drops in the reduplication except with a prefix or IC]
RO_? PL [plural; pOm- ?along? ? |ap?m-|, |-pOp?m-| ?about?; could be taken as lexicalized]
RO` REP [repetitive, intensive; with |CO-|] (C short, but /tOtgOp-/ ?around?)
R? REP [repetitive, intensive; with |wOl-|] (1 ex.)
Rv REP [repetitive, intensive; with voiceless C; C after the reduplication is short]
Rvh REP [repetitive, intensive; with V- or voiced C-]
Rih HAB [habitual; |h| retained except before cluster]
R? CONT [continuative, attenuated = slowly, etc.; voiceless C after the reduplication is long]
R? REP [repetitive; with |Ol-| ?{so}?; |ap?m-| ?about?; |kOtOm?k-| ?poor, pitiful?; etc.]
R? EXT [extended = removed past, or with negative ?ever? (making ?never?);
  voiceless C after the reduplication is long; |?| not shortened before /Cah/.]