Houma language

Last updated
Houma
Uma
Native to United States
Region Louisiana
Ethnicity Houma people
Extinct after 1907
Revival 2013
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None (mis)
07n
Glottolog None

Houma (Houma: uma) is a Western Muskogean language that was spoken in the Central and Lower Mississippi Valley by the indigenous Houma people. There are currently no native speakers; however, efforts continue to bring the Houma language back to its people through a group of dedicated Houma persons and linguists, the Houma Language Project. [1] [2]

Contents

The Indigenous Houma language is thought to have fallen out of use by the late 19th century due to European-American encroachment. In 1907, John R. Swanton interviewed an elderly Houma woman to collect vocabulary from the Houma language. As a result of a language shift that began during the French colonial period and trading in Louisiana, most Houma people today speak Louisiana French, while American English is also widely used. In light of their distinct society and isolated geography, as many as 3,000 mostly elderly people living on Houma tribal lands in the Lafourche Basin are believed to be monolingual speakers of French. [3] More recently, efforts have been made to collect vocabulary and grammar from elders to revitalize the language. [4]

Classification

Based on a list gathered by Swanton of seventy-five words and three sentences, linguists have concluded that the Houma spoke a Western Muskogean language (akin to Choctaw or Chickasaw). [5]

Phonology

The Houma Language Project reconstructs the following phoneme inventory:[ citation needed ]

Vowels

FrontBack
ShortLongNasalShortLongNasal
High-closeiĩuũ
Mid-openɛɛːɛ̃
Lowaã

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop voiceless p[p]t[t]tc[t͡ʃ]k[k][ʔ]
voiced b[b]d [t]
Fricative f[f]s[s]lh[θ]h[h]
Nasal m[m]n[n]
Trill
Approximant w[w]l[l]y[j]

Related Research Articles

Mobilian Jargon was a pidgin used as a lingua franca among Native American groups living along the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico around the time of European settlement of the region. It was the main language among Native tribes in this area, mainly Louisiana. There is evidence indicating its existence as early as the late 17th to early 18th century. The Native groups that are said to have used it were the Alabama, Apalachee, Biloxi, Chacato, Pakana, Pascagoula, Taensa, Tunica, Caddo, Chickasaw, Houma, Choctaw, Chitimacha, Natchez, and Ofo. The name is thought to refer to the Mobile Indians of the central Gulf Coast, but did not originate from this group; Mobilian Jargon is linguistically and grammatically different from the language traditionally spoken by the Mobile Indians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John R. Swanton</span> American anthropologist (1873–1958)

John Reed Swanton was an American anthropologist, folklorist, and linguist who worked with Native American peoples throughout the United States. Swanton achieved recognition in the fields of ethnology and ethnohistory. He is particularly noted for his work with indigenous peoples of the Southeast and Pacific Northwest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana Creole</span> French-based creole in Louisiana

Louisiana Creole is a French-based creole language spoken by fewer than 10,000 people, mostly in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Also known as Kouri-Vini, it is spoken today by people who may racially identify as white, black, mixed, and Native American, as well as Cajun and Creole. It should not be confused with its sister language, Louisiana French, a dialect of the French language. Many Louisiana Creoles do not speak the Louisiana Creole language and may instead use French or English as their everyday languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muskogean languages</span> Language family of Southeast US

Muskogean is a Native American language family spoken in different areas of the Southeastern United States. Though the debate concerning their interrelationships is ongoing, the Muskogean languages are generally divided into two branches, Eastern Muskogean and Western Muskogean. Typologically, Muskogean languages are agglutinative. One documented language, Apalachee, is extinct and the remaining languages are critically endangered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alabama language</span> Muskogean Language spoken in Texas, US

Alabama, also known as Alibamu, is a Native American language, spoken by the Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Texas. It was once spoken by the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town of Oklahoma, but there are no more Alabama speakers in Oklahoma. It is a Muskogean language, and is believed to have been related to the Muklasa and Tuskegee languages, which are no longer extant. Alabama is closely related to Koasati and Apalachee, and more distantly to other Muskogean languages like Hitchiti, Chickasaw and Choctaw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chickasaw language</span> Muskogean language from the US

The Chickasaw language is a Native American language of the Muskogean family. It is agglutinative and follows the word order pattern of subject–object–verb (SOV). The language is closely related to, though perhaps not entirely mutually intelligible with, Choctaw. It is spoken by the Chickasaw tribe, now residing in Southeast Oklahoma, centered on Ada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comecrudan languages</span> Extinct language family of Texas and Mexico

Comecrudan refers to a group of possibly related languages spoken in the southernmost part of Texas and in northern Mexico along the Rio Grande of which Comecrudo is the best known. These were spoken by the Comecrudo people. Very little is known about these languages or the people who spoke them. Knowledge of them primarily consists of word lists collected by European missionaries and explorers. All Comecrudan languages are extinct.

Comecrudo is an extinct Pakawan language of Mexico. The name Comecrudo is Spanish for "eat-raw". It was best recorded in a list of 148 words in 1829 by French botanist Jean Louis Berlandier. It was spoken on the lower Rio Grande near Reynosa, Tamaulipas, in Mexico. Comecrudo has often been considered a Coahuiltecan language although most linguists now consider the relationship between them unprovable due to the lack of information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houma people</span> Native American tribe located in Louisiana, United States

The Houma are a historic Native American people of Louisiana on the east side of the Red River of the South. The United Houma Nation, who identify as descendants of the Houma people, have been recognized by the state as a tribe since 1972, but are not recognized by the federal government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atakapa language</span> Extinct language of southern United States

Atakapa is an extinct language isolate native to southwestern Louisiana and nearby coastal eastern Texas. It was spoken by the Atakapa people. The language became extinct in the early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chitimacha language</span> Language isolate of southern Louisiana, US

Chitimacha is a language isolate historically spoken by the Chitimacha people of Louisiana, United States. It became extinct in 1940 with the death of the last fluent speaker, Delphine Ducloux.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natchez language</span> Extinct indigenous language of Mississippi and Louisiana

The Natchez language is the ancestral language of the Natchez people who historically inhabited Mississippi and Louisiana, and who now mostly live among the Muscogee and Cherokee peoples in Oklahoma. The language is considered to be either unrelated to other indigenous languages of the Americas or distantly related to the Muskogean languages.

The Taensa were a Native American people whose settlements at the time of European contact in the late 17th century were located in present-day Tensas Parish, Louisiana. The meaning of the name, which has the further spelling variants of Taenso, Tinsas, Tenza or Tinza, Tahensa or Takensa, and Tenisaw, is unknown. It is believed to be an autonym. The Taensa should not be confused with the Avoyel, known by the French as the petits Taensas, who were mentioned in writings by explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville in 1699. The Taensa are more closely related to the Natchez people and both are considered descendants of the late prehistoric Plaquemine culture.

The Quinipissa were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands who were living on the lower Mississippi River, in present-day Louisiana, as reported by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1682.

The Acolapissa were a small tribe of Native Americans of North America, who lived in the Southeast of what is the present-day United States. They lived along the banks of the Pearl River, between present-day Louisiana and Mississippi. They are believed to have spoken a Muskogean language, closely related to the Choctaw and Chickasaw spoken by other Southeast tribes of the Muskogean family.

The Tangipahoa were a Native American tribe that lived just north of Lake Pontchartrain and between the Pearl River and the Mississippi River.

The Okelousa were Native American people Louisiana, United States. They lived west and north of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana.

The Bayogoula were a Native American tribe from Louisiana in the southern United States.

The Taensa language was spoken by the Taensa people originally of northeastern Louisiana, and later with historical importance in Alabama. Though poorly documented, it was probably a dialect of the Natchez language. It was also the subject of controversy beginning in 1880–1882, when a French student published a grammar and sample texts of a language that he claimed to be Taensa, though it bore no resemblance to Natchez — these publications are generally considered to be a hoax and the language it described to be invented.

The Mougoulacha were a Native American tribe that lived near Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana.

References

  1. Berlin, Carly; Schreiber, Alana (2022-09-30). "From our Coastal Desk, a look at the Indigenous communities who call Louisiana home". WWNO . Retrieved 2024-07-10.
  2. "Houma Today". www.houmatoday.com. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
  3. Teasdale, Guillaume (2006). "BRASSEAUX, Carl A., French, Cajun, Creole, Houma: A Primer on Francophone Louisiana (Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 2005), 176 p." Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française. 59 (4): 519. doi: 10.7202/013618ar . ISSN   0035-2357.
  4. Kilpatrick, Mary. "Houmas search for native language". houmatoday.com. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  5. Brown, Cecil H.; Hardy, Heather K. (2000). "What Is Houma?". International Journal of American Linguistics. 66 (4): 521–548. doi:10.1086/466440. ISSN   0020-7071. JSTOR   1265848. S2CID   144088226.

Further reading