Mohican language facts for kids

The Mohican language (also called Mahican) is a special language from the Eastern Algonquian group. This group is part of the larger Algonquian language family, which itself belongs to the Algic family.

For a long time, people thought the Mohican language had disappeared. The last speakers were recorded around the 1930s. But guess what? Since the late 2010s, people are working hard to bring it back to life! Adults are learning it, and some children are even growing up speaking Mohican as their first language. This amazing effort helps keep the culture and history of the Mohican people alive.

Where Mohican People Lived

Long ago, the Mohican people lived in what is now eastern New York state and Vermont. Their land stretched along the upper Hudson River. It went north to Lake Champlain and east to the Green Mountains in Vermont. To the west, it reached near Schoharie Creek in New York.

Why Mohican People Moved

The Mohican people faced many challenges. They had conflicts with the Mohawk tribe over the fur trade. Also, European settlers started moving into their lands. Because of this, many Mohicans had to leave their homes. Some moved to west-central New York. They shared land there with the Oneida people.

Later, more moves happened. In the 1820s and 1830s, some Mohicans were forced to move all the way to Wisconsin. Other groups went to different communities in Canada. Sadly, in Canada, many lost their connection to the Mohican language and culture.

Different Ways of Speaking: Mohican Dialects

Just like how people in different parts of a country might speak with different accents or use different words, languages can have dialects. These are slightly different versions of the same language. For Mohican, experts have found two main dialects: Moravian and Stockbridge.

The Stockbridge Dialect

The Stockbridge dialect developed in a place called Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It was spoken by Mohican people from New York. It also included people from other tribes, like the Wappinger and Housatonic. After moving many times, the Stockbridge group settled in Wisconsin. There, they joined with people who spoke the Munsee dialect of Lenape. Today, they are known as the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe.

The Moravian Dialect

The Moravian dialect came from groups of Mohican people who gathered near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. These Mohican groups had joined the Moravian Church around 1740. They moved from New York and Connecticut to Bethlehem. Another group moved to Wyoming, Pennsylvania. After some difficult events, some of these groups went to Canada. They settled at a place now called Moraviantown. There, they blended in with the larger Lenape population. Another group moved to Ohsweken, at Six Nations in Ontario. They also joined with other groups living there.

How Mohican Sounds Were Recorded

Linguists are language scientists. They study how languages work. They have collected many materials about the Mohican language. These include old writings from missionaries and notes from linguists.

One important record is an old dictionary from the 1700s. It was made by a Moravian missionary named Johann Schmick. In the 1900s, linguists like Truman Michelson and Morris Swadesh also recorded Mohican words from the last speakers in Wisconsin.

These records help us understand the sounds of Mohican. Experts have studied how the sounds of Mohican changed over time from an older language called Proto-Algonquian. They also noticed that Mohican sounds are similar to the Delaware languages like Munsee and Unami. Some experts even group Mohican and the Delaware languages together.

Mohican Consonant Sounds

The Mohican language has many different consonant sounds. These are sounds made by blocking air in your mouth in different ways. For example, it has sounds like 'm' and 'n' (nasal sounds). It also has 'p', 't', and 'k' (stop sounds), where the air is completely stopped. Other sounds include 's' and 'sh' (fricative sounds), where air is pushed through a narrow space.

Mohican Vowel Sounds

Mohican also has a variety of vowel sounds. These are sounds where air flows freely from your mouth. Some vowels are short, and some are long. The language uses sounds like 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', and 'u', but also has special sounds like 'ʌ' (like the 'u' in 'but') and 'ə' (like the 'a' in 'about').

/a, ã, aː, ʌ, ʌ̃, ɛ, ə, e, ɪ, i, ɔ, o, u, aɪ, aʊ/

Learning Mohican Words

Here are some examples of words in the Mohican language. You'll see them written in two ways: a "linguistic" way that shows all the tiny sound details, and a "practical" way that is easier to read and write. The practical way often doubles a vowel letter to show it's a long sound.

Counting in Mohican

Here are the numbers from one to ten in Mohican:

See also

• Mohicans
• Stockbridge-Munsee Community