Prelude : The above map gives a "very general yet unprecise " picture of the territorial extensions of North American aboriginal language families..... blue ( Siouan languages ) , Grey ( Algonkian languages ) , Red ( Iroquoian languages ) , Light green ( Uto - Aztecan languages ) etc.I have a better one from the Smithsonian that covers a wall..... far too big and complex to post here.
At the moment of first contacts some 500 native languages were being spoken throughout North America and these tongues can be regrouped into roughly 50 - 55 linguistic families showing ( at least for the present moment ) NO LINGUISTICALLY GENETIC RELATIONSHIP among them.....each family represented by at least one language ( an isolate such as Zuni , Karankawa , Kootenay ) or by as many as 25 or more sister languages ..... each decended from a common ancestor or proto - language.....a few of which have been recorded historically in written form such as Latin which gave birth to French , Italian , Spanish , Italian , Roumanian and Romanch...... whereas most , such as Proto - Celtique which mothered Irish and Scottish Gaelic , Cornish , Welsh , Breton , etc , was never attested to in writing. I might add that both Central and South America present an even more puzzling enigma with some 70 - 75 linguistic families . In fact more than half of all known languages .......roughly 6000 worldwide........were once spoken in our own Western Hemisphere !! Why so many of homo sapiens' greatest masterpieces ( or the fruit of God's creation as be your personal belief ) have washed up on the foggy shores of oblivion since 1492 I shall leave to your own private surmise , reflexions and readings. However , one tidbit worthy of thought might conjure up opinions as to whether mankind's origins were mono- or plurilinguistic ????? The Tower of Babel would be an easy answer for many. The science of linguistics is not yet certain................... although it does affirm with certitude that , given the time lapse necessary for language change ( sounds and structures of organized speech ) ,to evolve , it would take MUCH MORE TIME than 6000 years for ONE language to beget and differentiate into the colossal diversity we observe on our planet today !
I find this totally fascinating. Maybe you should write a book along these lines. A sort of detective story.
ReplyDeleteYou know, like what language started where and how that language was/may have been effected by the then social structure, culture, religion or lack-there-of and what kind of "work" employed the populace. What and how did at least a portion of a language break off from "here" and wind up way over "there".
I believe we once before discussed some of the Norsemen language that was discovered within the language of an American Indian tribe in what eventually became the State of Minnesota. Some things have to be speculated at, sure, but an understanding of just what may have happened sure grabs all those "know-it-alls" by the throat and shakes them up a little.
Not that they'd ever admit anything other than "their" predecessors were/are the "chosen ones". **LOL**
Hey , Jim.....As for the first suggestion I think there are more competent than I in the field of comparative historical amerindian linguistics.. I did more of the practical stuff such as compiling dictionaries and discovering and writing up grammatical rules for a couple of native languages. Somebody has to do the groundwork before serious comparative work can be undertaken. I published all this material a few years back .
ReplyDeleteAs for your second point.... we have an axiom in anthropological linguistics , "If something is culturally important for a people then it will be encoded in their language ". ....... paraphrasing Sapir's ideas...."language is the mirror of culture "........when I first began learning the Innu language I noticed that it possessed 11 terms for the life stages of the caribou starting with the foetus and ending with old age ... and likewise 8 for the beaver..... It turned out on close examination that these two animals were highly privileged in Innu tradition and society ...... moreso than any others.
I have been thinking about you lately. Have missed seeing you around. Enjoyed this post but it is one I must read again to completely take in .
ReplyDeleteI have had lots of thoughts in my mind lately. Was talking to a family member and found out that my great- great grandfather married a Cherokee woman. In Oklahoma I think. I want to find out so much more. Maybe I will someday. I am sure there are thousands of similar stories but I ams so interested in knowing more.
Good seeing your post.
I am very pleased to renew contact with you too , Cindy Anne. Back in the 1830s Washington needed lands East of the Missiissippi so they shipped many native tribes West to Indian Territory ... now mainly Oklahoma. Google up the sad story of the great removal or Trail of Tears in 1838. The Cherokees ended up in or near Talequah , Oklahoma where I vísited with them a few years ago. They were one of the so - called Five Civilized Tribes. Their historical record books are in good order so maybe you could check with the national Cherokee register. Thanks to George Guest ( Segoyah ) and his syllabary the Cherokee was a written language as early as the 1820s.... books , newspaper , etc. HUgs
ReplyDeleteThis is very fascinating. Gives one pause to think. Thanks for sharing. I agree with Jim, what an interesting book that would be. Sometimes I wonder where languages come from. hugs!
ReplyDeleteHey there , Julie - Ann... I believe that language derives from thinking beings' profound need to communicate with other humans in an orderly fashion. There exist , however , oodles of theories about the origins of language itself. Some believe it was created for lying.... hiding the truth ! lol For many "believers "God had a hand in its fashioning. Hugs.
ReplyDeleteI am with Cindy! Great post, but I too had to read it a couple of times, you write with such a nice language for a middle aged, not well educated Swedish lady! *giggles*
ReplyDeleteI always been fascinated with languages though! =o) Wish you and your lady a wonderful day KRAM
The magic of language is another of the puzzles of life. The answer would have to be God only knows...or sort of. Lately Ive been unearthing some family history via a book written by a man from the area of my birth and where my parents are from...the sad history is now official since he has an old newspaper clipping as proof that BOTH of my Great Grandfathers were murdered and ONE Grandfather. And to Cindy Annes comment...there is Cherokee on my mothers side of the family you can really see it in my grandmothers pictures...she was a hard woman who had a hard life.
ReplyDeleteBack to the point of language...I think one thing that happens even today is the mispronunciation of words due to accents...and then a new word is mistakenly created...I would have to say Latin is a blessing in that it ties so many together.
You bloggers out there might be interested in knowing that my old buddy Buck (lonesome polcat) , in order to prevent getting bored in the summertime, used to spend his free time on reservations along the Lower North Shore of this Province , putting together dictionaries of Indian languages and dialects that had never seen the written form since the dawn of creation.......today he can walk into most of those villages , be recognized immediately and treated as an honored guest.....
ReplyDeleteHej , Mona..... thank you for the sweet words ..... and please do not put yourself down !! You are much younger than middle - aged since I'm in that age group...... and you are a hell of a lot smarter than many Masters students I've done business with!! but you are Swedish !!! That I will give you .... Jante and all !! LOL... Hugs !
ReplyDeleteRather sad family history there , Dixxe....3 murdered ! I am not at all surprisd by your Cherokee roots as I spent some time a while back just across state lines at Cherokee , North Carolina where there is still a sizeable native population . Your whole area is their ancestral territory which they supposedly signed over to the US just before the Great Removal to OklaHOMA.BACK IN THE 1830S. hUGS
ReplyDeleteIt blows my mind that some can learn more then two languages. (I can 't even learn 2)
ReplyDeleteThere must be something so fulfulling to be able to do that.
Btw I forgot. I have another question.
ReplyDeleteYou speak of the removal in a "nice way". Wasn't that a cruel thing to carry out? Didn't many Cherokees die during that time? Was there other American Natives in that removal or just Cherokees? I know so little about this.
My dear old friend , Bill ..... I am overwhelmed with joy that you feel so " edified " by my life's work . I truly appreciate your kind words , old buddy ! ...... "and the good they do is oft interred with their bones "! Not as long as you're around I guess !! Amitiés et de gros bisous à vous deux et je te lancerai un coup de fil avant de partir dimanche..
ReplyDeleteHey Cindy Anne...you again !!!!! Just kidding as it is always a pleasure whenever you drop by. Learning a language is a question of willpower and hard work !! .... the work of a life time ... even when perfecting knowledge of one's own language..
ReplyDeleteThe great removal was a terrible moment in the lives of thousands of Cherokee , Choctaw , Chickasaw , Creek and Seminole natives..... as they made the long march from the EaST to Oklahoma....... thousands dying along the way...... thus the common term used in Amerindian milieux ... The Trail of Tears ! They were promised Oklahoma but in 1907 OKlahoma was voted by the white folks to state status and joined the UNion..... ... however ,, the Indians didn't have the right to vote in such elections !! They got screwed !! Hugs !
We treated our Indians so horribly. I find if difficult to watch western movies. The horror of it all just makes me ill. Many tribes here have casinos on their reservations. I urge them on!! They are finally getting even with the white man by taking his money now. And occasionally a bit of mine!!
ReplyDeleteHey Julie - Ann.... yes , but as a Canadian , well aware of our own road record with treatment of native peoples , I am not too hastily pitching stones at the Americans. However , Canada has been constantly making giant strides to "soothe"historical errors nd injustices. Reading about the Sand Hill Massacre in California and Wounded Knee Massacre in 1891 makes my blood boil though! Hugs !
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