"Yankee" & American Indian PIdgin English

[Dave Robertson]

From:         Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OAK.CATS.OHIOU.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Yankee
Comments: To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
In-Reply-To:  <353781.3220163334@[10.218.202.195]>
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Another interpretation of "yankee" derives it from the Algonquian
pronunciation of "Englishmen" (applied, by extension, to all white
Europeans):  [iNk at l@Sm at n], cited by Ives Goddard (1977) as
Munsee.  Leechman and Hall, who collected samples of the Indian English
used in native-white contact situations, found the spelling "Ingismon" in
early records, and Armstrong (1971) found "Yengees man" and "Yengees," the
latter adopted by Fenimore Cooper.  With initial palatalization, the
transition to "Yengee" and ultimately "Yankee" makes sense.

I've discussed this debate and the general history of native-white contact
English (a pidgin, in effect) in my dissertation (Indiana, 1981)--available
from Ann Arbor, if anyone's interested.

BTW, cf. the Amish use (and others?) of "English" for all non-Amish
Euro-Americans.