Montagnais
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A language of Canada
11,000 (2011 census).
Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec provinces; Lake Saint John east along Saguenay Valley to north shore Saint Lawrence River, Gulf of Saint Lawrence east to St. Augustin, north to height of land at Schefferville and inland Labrador, Goose Bay and Lake Melville, 11 communities.
6b (Threatened).
Western Montagnais, Eastern Montagnais. Palatalized l-dialect and palatalized n-dialect within Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi language complex or dialect subgroup. There are possibly 3 dialects based on the shifting of Proto-Algonquian *l within Western Montagnais to ‘n’. 2 Western Montagnais communities (Mashteuiatsh, Betsiamites) use ‘l’, as the reflex of Proto-Algonquian *l, and the other Western Montagnais (Uashat-Maliotenam, Matimekosh) use ‘n’. Uashat-Maliotenam and Matimekosh could be classified as Central Montagnais. All Eastern Montagnais speakers use ‘n’.
Vigorous except 2 communities. Rapid shift occurring in communities near cities. Strong use in lower north shore communities and Schefferville (Golla 2007). All ages. Also use English [eng]. Also use French [fra], especially in the Mashteuiatsh communities in Quebec, nearly all fluently. Used as L2 by Naskapi [nsk].
Latin script [Latn].
Culture mainly based on family hunting grounds visited seasonally.