Book: Native American languages history

[McGinnis, Scott]

Title: American Languages in New France
Subtitle: Extracts from the Jesuit Relations
Series Title: Annals of Colonial North America
			
Publication Year: 2002
			
Publisher: Evolution Publishing 
           www.evolpub.com		   
			
Book URL: http://www.evolpub.com/ACNA/AnnalsNA.html
			
Editor: Claudio R. Salvucci,  
				
Hardback: ISBN: 1889758353, Pages: 344, Price: US$75.00
			
Abstract:

"[Includes] an excellent introduction to the linguistic situation in
the region during the 17th century....[A] fascinating book for anyone
interested in Native American languages and ... also an invaluable
tool for historical linguists, anthropologists, and ethnologists."
-Language Magazine

This volume collects valuable fragments of linguistic data and
accounts of Native language as used among the Algonquian and Iroquoian
tribes of New France. Volume 1 documents not only observations on the
languages themselves, but also on the mutual intelligibility and
geographical extent of various dialects, the various pidgins and
jargons which came into use as a result of cultural contact, and the
use of European languages such as French and Basque in native North
America.

The volume also includes several extended tracts in various Native
American languages, including Brébeuf's 1636 description of Huron
grammar, Lalemant's interlinear translation of a Huron prayer,
Vimont's letter in Algonquin, Le Jeune's description of Montagnais,
and many others. A map showing the location of the various missions
and the approximate distributions of the Native languages is also
included, as well as useful appendices:

Appendix A - A Native language concordance of the nearly 1,600 Native
terms mentioned in the volume;

Appendix B - A chart which assembles the various observations about
linguistic relationships found in the extracts and compares them with
a modern classification.

Lingfield(s):
Anthropological Linguistics
Historical Linguistics
			 
Subject Language(s):
Etchemin (Language code: XETC)
Micmac (Language code: MIC)
Montagnais (Language code: MOE)
Natchez (Language code: NCZ)
Ottawa (Language code: OTW)
Wyandot (Language code: WYA)

Language Family(ies):
Algonquian
Iroquoian

Areal Regions:
Native American

Written In:
English (Language Code: ENG)