Woccon language facts for kids

The Woccon language was a language spoken by a group of Native American people. It was part of the Catawban language family, which is also known as Eastern Siouan. This family was connected to the larger Siouan language family.

We only know about Woccon from a list of 143 words. An English explorer named John Lawson wrote these words down in 1709. He met the Woccon people in what is now North Carolina. Experts believe the Woccon people were a smaller group of the Waccamaw tribe.

What Happened to the Woccon Language?

The Woccon people faced many challenges. They are thought to have been greatly reduced in number during the Tuscarora War in 1713. This was a conflict between Native American tribes and English colonists in the Carolinas.

After the war, many Woccon survivors likely joined the Tuscarora tribe. The Tuscarora spoke a different language, called Iroquoian. Most of the Tuscarora people moved north to New York. By 1722, they became the sixth nation of the powerful Iroquois Confederacy. Because of these events, the Woccon language likely disappeared in the 1700s.

Efforts to Bring the Language Back

Even though the Woccon language is considered extinct, some people are trying to revive it. In 2021, an organization called the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages helped. They worked with the Cape Fear Band of Skarure and Woccon Indians in North Carolina.

Together, they started building a "Living Dictionary" for Woccon. This project aims to help people learn and use the language again. It's important to know that this group is not officially recognized by the state or federal government as being related to the Cape Fear, Tuscarora, or Waccamaw tribes.