Catawban languages

Catawban
Eastern Siouan
Geographic distribution	The Carolinas
Linguistic classification	Siouan Catawban
Subdivisions	Catawba † Woccon †
Language codes
Linguasphere	64-AB
Glottolog	cata1285
Pre-contact distribution of the Catawban languages

The Eastern Siouan branch consists of various historical languages spoken by Siouan peoples of the Appalachian Plateau and Piedmont regions of present-day Virginia and the Carolinas. These languages are sometimes collectively referred to as Catawban.

The two attested Eastern Siouan languages were historically spoken by the Catawba and Woccon peoples. While early scholars such as John R. Swanton suggested that the Woccon may have represented a late subdivision of the Waccamaw, contemporary linguists have not reached a consensus on whether Woccon was the specific language of the historic Waccamaw people or a related Catawban variety. ^{[1] [2]} The Eastern Siouan languages possibly represent a dialect continuum with Ohio Valley Siouan languages (Ofo language/Mosopelea, Biloxi language). ^[3] The Catawban family is a branch of the larger Siouan–Catawban language family.

Family division

See also: Proto-Siouan language § Yuchi

Recognized members of the Eastern Siouan/Catawban family include:

1. Catawba (†) – spoken by the Catawba people
2. Woccon (†) – spoken by the Woccon people, possibly Waccamaw ^[2]

References

1. Swanton, John Reed (2003). The Indian tribes of North America. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub. Co. pp. 90, 100. ISBN   9780806317304.
2. Passmore, Elizabeth; Sayers, Addie; Bradley, Julien; Lomboy, Ashley (15 May 2024). "Reviving Waccamaw Siouan: Reconciling ethics, Indigenous epistemologies, and colonial data archives". Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America. 9 (1): 5717. doi: 10.3765/plsa.v9i1.5717 .
3. Ryan M. Kasak. 2016. "A distant genetic relationship between Siouan-Catawban and Yuchi." In Catherine Rudin and Bryan J. Gordon (eds.), Advances in the study of Siouan languages and linguistics, 5–39. Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI:10.17169/langsci.b94.120 https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/be94144a-3e4f-4913-9089-2bcfe5bd0879/611691.pdf

• Parks, Douglas R.; & Rankin, Robert L. (2001). The Siouan languages. In R. J. DeMallie (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians: Plains (Vol. 13, Part 1, pp. 94–114). W. C. Sturtevant (Gen. Ed.). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN   0-16-050400-7.