A Dictionary of Creek/Muskogee, with Notes on the Florida and Oklahoma Seminole Dialects of Creek (review)

This dictionary is the product of a decade of lexicographic research and reflects collaboration between a nonnative linguist (Jack Martin) and a native speaker and teacher of Muskogee at the University of Oklahoma (Margaret McKane Mauldin). It includes material representing all three living Creek dialects (Oklahoma Muskogee, Oklahoma Seminole, and Florida Seminole Creek). The authors use ‘Creek’ as a cover term for all three and indicate which particular words belong to only one or two of these dialects. The body of the book consists of four parts. Part 1 (1–154) contains the Creek-English dictionary with over seven thousand entries. Part 2 (155–63) is composed of brief sections listing topical information such as common expressions, numbers, clans, traditional dances, Books of the New Testament, seasons, months, days of the week, and leaders of the Creek and Seminole nations. Part 3 (165–83) discusses traditional Creek place and group names and gives the etymologies of modern American toponyms borrowed from Creek. Part4 (185–351) is an English-Creek dictionary containing about 4,000 entries. An appendix lists common affixes (352–3). The dictionary closes with fourteen photographs or line drawings illustrating individual aspects of Creek culture (354–7). A map showing the historical distribution of Creek-speaking groups from 1814 to the present appears on p. xii.

An introduction (xiii–xxxviii) provides important background information on the development of Creek writing and explains the various conventions used in the entries. Also explained is the phonetic value(s) of each letter in the Creek alphabet, a system developed largely on the basis of English spelling, though the letter 〈v〉 conveys ‘schwa’ and 〈r〉 a voiceless lateral fricative. In the Creek-English portion of the dictionary, each entry appears in its canonical spelling as well as in a transcription developed specially for Creek by Mary Haas during her fieldwork on the language. Understanding this transcription is crucial since prosodic features such as tone are not expressed in the Creek alphabet itself. Though most users, particularly professional linguists, might have preferred standard IPA instead, the Haas transcription is perfectly adequate and continues a tradition in Creek linguistic studies. Also explained are the grammatical symbols that appear after many entries. For verbs and adjectives, this includes the lexical choice of subject affix (Creek marks active and inactive terms differently, the former with a suffix, the latter with either a patientive or a dative series of prefixes). Creek noun entries note whether the noun takes patientive or dative series prefixes when possessed; a plural form of any noun that has one is also provided. Finally, the introduction discusses verbs that exhibit suppletion based on subject or object number. Many Creek verbs have a different root depending upon whether there is one, two, or many agents or patients involved in the action. This information is added to all of the appropriate entries.

Most valuable from a lexicographic perspective is the care taken by the authors to use the widest variety of written sources containing significant Creek lexical materials. A list of these appears on pp. xxx–xxxviii, the most voluminous being materials compiled by Reverend Robert M. Loughridge and David M. Hodge and originally published in 1890 (English and Muskokee dictionary, Creek Mission, Indian Territory. Reprinted by B. Frank Belvin. Okmulgee, OK: Baptist Home Mission Board, 1964). For over a century, until now, this work remained the most significant single publication of Creek dictionary materials. Entries indicate any word that appears only in older sources or is felt by contemporary speakers to have acquired a new meaning. The native speakers who contributed to this editing process are credited on p. vii.

Designed to satisfy the needs of learners, native users, and professional linguists alike, this dictionary will serve as an authoritative reference on the Creek lexicon for years to come.