Algic is an indigenous language family of North America comprising 43 languages descended from a reconstructed Proto-Algic spoken an estimated 5,000 years ago. Most Algic languages belong to its largest branch, Algonquian, spread from the Rocky Mountains to Atlantic Canada, with Cree its most widely spoken member; the family's two other branches, Yurok and Wiyot, are spoken in northwestern California, with Wiyot now extinct and Yurok critically endangered. The genetic relationship linking Wiyot and Yurok to Algonquian, once contested, has since been demonstrated to the satisfaction of specialists, and Algic is counted among the world's primary language families.
Facts
RegionFrom the Rocky Mountains to Atlantic Canada (the Algonquian subfamily), plus Yurok and Wiyot in northwestern California 1 Proto-Language StatusAll Algic languages descend from a reconstructed Proto-Algic spoken an estimated 5,000 years ago; the genetic relation of Wiyot and Yurok to Algonquian, first proposed by Edward Sapir and long disputed as the Ritwan controversy, is now accepted by most specialists, though a further proposed link to the Nivkh language of Sakhalin remains unconfirmed. 1 In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Algic Languages
Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction, second and third sentences
Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian subfamily, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to Atlantic Canada. The other Algic languages are the Yurok and Wiyot of northwestern California, which, despite their geographic proximity, are not closely related to each other.
Classification of Algic section
the relationship “has subsequently been demonstrated to the satisfaction of all”
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