Natchez language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Natchez |
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| Na·šceh | ||||
| Native to | United States | |||
| Region | Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma | |||
| Ethnicity | Natchez people | |||
| Extinct | 1957 with the death of Nancy Raven |
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| Language family |
language isolate
(Gulf?) |
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Precontact distribution of the Natchez language
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The Natchez language was the original language of the Natchez people. They used to live in Mississippi and Louisiana. Today, most Natchez people live in Oklahoma, often among the Muscogee and Cherokee tribes. Experts aren't sure if Natchez is related to other Native American languages. Some think it's unique, while others believe it might be distantly connected to the Muskogean languages.
The Natchez language had some interesting sounds. It also had complex ways of changing verbs. Natchez storytellers used a special way of speaking when they pretended to be cannibals in their stories.
The Natchez chiefdom was destroyed by the French in the 1730s. Natchez speakers found safety with their neighbors. They moved with them when the U.S. government forced them to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). This journey was known as the Trail of Tears. Because of this, Natchez speakers often knew several languages. They might speak Muscogee, Cherokee, Natchez, and English.
Over time, the Natchez language became endangered. It is now mostly considered extinct. However, there are new efforts to bring it back. Much of what we know about the language comes from its last fluent speakers. These were Watt Sam and Nancy Raven. They worked with a linguist named Mary Haas in the 1930s.
The Natchez nation is now working to revive their language. In 2011, field linguists from the community were learning how to document languages. At that time, six members of the Natchez tribe in Oklahoma spoke the language. There are about 10,000 Natchez people in total.
Contents
What is the Natchez Language?
The Natchez language is usually considered a language isolate. This means it is not clearly related to any other known language family.
Mary Haas studied the language in the 1930s. She thought Natchez might be distantly related to the Muskogean languages. Another linguist, Geoffrey Kimball, also agreed with this idea. It was first suggested by John R. Swanton in 1924.
In 1941, Haas also suggested grouping Natchez with other languages. These included Atakapa, Chitimacha, and Tunica. She called this group the Gulf family. However, most linguists today do not widely accept this idea.
History of the Natchez Language
The Natchez people historically lived in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Their ancestors are believed to be from the Plaquemine culture. This makes the Natchez the last group of the historical Mississippian chiefdoms in that area.
The first mentions of the Natchez in history come from the French. They began to colonize the Mississippi Valley around 1700. At that time, the Natchez were centered near the Grand Village of the Natchez. This village was close to what is now Natchez, Mississippi.
The French and Natchez were first allies. But problems grew as colonists took more Natchez land. The earliest information about the Natchez language comes from Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz. He was a French colonist who lived among the Natchez. He learned their language and wrote about it. His writings show how Natchez was spoken in the early 1700s.
In 1729, the Natchez revolted. They attacked the French colony of Fort Rosalie. The French fought back by destroying all Natchez villages. The remaining Natchez people fled in small groups. They went to live among the Chickasaw, Creek, and Cherokee tribes.
They later followed these tribes on the Trail of Tears. This happened when the Indian removal policies of the mid-19th century forced them to move to Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, the language was mostly spoken in Abihka and Notchietown.
Most Natchez speakers knew many languages. They also spoke Cherokee and Creek. Traditionally, the Natchez language was passed down from mothers. As Natchez, Muscogee, and Cherokee speakers married each other, fewer people learned Natchez. This caused the number of Natchez speakers to decline.
In 1907, anthropologist John R. Swanton visited the Natchez. Only seven fluent speakers were left. By the 1930s, when linguist Mary Haas did her research, there were only two: Watt Sam (1876 - 1944) and Nancy Raven (1872-1957).
In 1931, anthropologist Victor Riste made some recordings of Watt Sam. He used wax cylinders. These recordings were later found at the University of Chicago in the 1970s. Watt Sam's nephew Archie Sam and linguist Charles Van Tuyl rediscovered them. These are the only known recordings of spoken Natchez. One of the cylinders is now at the Voice Library at Michigan State University.
The Natchez language has not been studied much. Most of what we know comes from Swanton, Haas, and early French writings. Daniel Garrison Brinton wrote an article about the language in 1873. Albert Gallatin and Albert Pike also mentioned it briefly. Charles van Tuyl published a vocabulary based on French sources in 1979. More recently, linguist Geoffrey Kimball has worked on the language. He used Haas's notes and unpublished writings.
Sounds of Natchez Words
Natchez had a fairly simple set of consonant sounds. But it was unusual because of how it used "voicing." In most languages, sounds like 'p' and 'b' are different because 'b' uses your vocal cords (voiced), and 'p' does not (voiceless). Natchez did this differently for some sounds.
The language had six main vowel sounds. It also had a difference in vowel length. This means some vowels were held longer than others. Natchez also had nasal vowels, but these were not a main part of the sound system.
The "accent" in Natchez was based on pitch, not stress. This means certain syllables were spoken with a higher or lower musical tone.
How Natchez Grammar Works
Natchez grammar had two main types of words: nouns and verbs. Nouns are words for people, places, or things. Verbs are action words. There were also smaller groups of words like "deictics" (words like 'this' or 'that') and "particles" (small words that add meaning).
Adverbs (words that describe verbs) and adjectives (words that describe nouns) were part of the noun group. Verbs were divided into two classes: independent and dependent. Independent verbs changed their form using prefixes (added to the beginning) and suffixes (added to the end). Dependent verbs did not change much themselves. Instead, they needed "auxiliary verbs" (helper verbs) to show different meanings.
Natchez verbs could be very complex. They used many parts to show who was doing the action, when it happened, and other details.
For example, a verb form could include parts that mean "can" and "something."
- nokkinhanta:wã: means "I can work."
Verbs also changed based on who was doing the action (first person "I," second person "you," third person "he/she/it"). They also changed for past tense or if the action was a wish.
- ta-hkuʃãː means "I drink."
- ya-hkuʃãː means "I drank."
The language also had ways to show if there were two people doing something or many people.
- ta-pani-hkuʃãː means "we two drink."
- ta-pi-hkuʃãː means "we drink."
Natchez verbs also used special parts to show if the action was ongoing or completed.
The language marked direct and indirect objects on the verb. These parts showed if the object was "me," "you," or "him/her."
- taː-ʔa-ni-l-k means "let her kill me and..."
Nouns in Natchez changed mostly by adding suffixes to the end. These suffixes could show if something was small or if it belonged to someone.
To show something was small, they added -ːnuh or -iːnuh.
- naːʃt͡seh means "Natchez person."
- naːʃt͡senuh means "Natchez child."
Possession was shown with a suffix that matched the owner.
- kitah means "friend."
- kitahniʃ means "my friend."
- kitahpiʃ means "your friend."
- kitahiʃ means "his/her friend."
Natchez also had a special ending for the "ergative" case. This was used to mark the person or thing doing the action in certain sentences. It was also used for tools or locations.
- ʔakʷenuht͡sa hokʃaɬ means "opossum skinned him and..."
There were also suffixes that changed the meaning of a noun. For example, one could refer to someone who had passed away or changed into something else.
- tamaːɬ-iː-ya-n means "the former woman." This would be used for a woman who magically turned into a man.
Sentence Structure
The most common sentence order in Natchez was "Subject-Verb" (for actions done by one person) and "Agent-Verb" (for actions done by someone to something else). It could also be "Direct.Object-Verb" or "Agent-Direct.Object-Verb." Sometimes, the order changed to put emphasis on the object or the verb.
Some verbs were "stative verbs." These describe a state or condition, not an action that someone controls. For example, "to be tired" would be a stative verb.
See also
In Spanish: Idioma natchez para niños
