Laurentian language

Laurentian, or St. Lawrence Iroquoian, was an Iroquoian language spoken until the late 16th century along the shores of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec and Ontario, Canada.

History

The explorer Jacques Cartier observed in 1535 and 1536 about a dozen villages in the valley between Stadacona and Hochelega, the sites of the modern cities of Quebec City and Montreal. Archeologists have unearthed other villages further West, near the eastern end of Lake Ontario. St. Lawrence Iroquoians lived in villages which were usually located a few kilometres inland from the Saint-Lawrence River, and were often enclosed by a wooden palisade. Up to 2000 persons lived in the larger villages.

By the time of the arrival of Samuel de Champlain in 1608, however, there was no longer any trace of the Iroquoians visited by Jacques Cartier some 75 years earlier. The complete disappearance of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians has spawned several theories, including devastating wars with the Iroquois tribes to the south or the Hurons to the West, the impact of Old World contagious diseases or their migration towards the Great Lakes region. Archeological evidence points most strongly to devastating wars with neighbouring Iroquoian tribes, the Huron and the Iroquois.

Laurentian Language

Several dialects of Laurentian may have existed in the 16th century in the St. Lawrence River valley. Since only sparse records were made by Jacques Cartier during his voyages, the Laurentians may have indeed spoken several distinct languages. At least one Laurentian word may still be in use today: the word "canada", meaning village in Laurentian. Jacques Cartier used the word to describe both the region and the river that it crosses.

On the basis of the Laurentian vocabularies of Jacques Cartier, the linguist Marianne Mithun concludes that Laurentian was an Iroquoian language and its speakers were "clearly in contact with the Lake Iroquoian peoples [Huron and Iroquois] " (Mithun, 1981).

Laurentian Vocabularies

Jacques Cartier published in 1545 a journal of his voyages and included a first list of Laurentian words. Here are some examples (numbers and parts of the human body), as written by Jacques Cartier:

A second shorter vocabulary list was appended to his journal of his first voyage, which was published much later, first in Italian and later in English and French.

ee also

* [http://www.native-languages.org/laurentian.htm List of Web sites on the Laurentian language] (Native Languages of the Americas Online Resources)
* [http://www.native-languages.org/laurentian_words.htm Laurentian words]

References

*Jacques Cartier. (1545). " [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12356/12356-h/12356-h.htm Relation originale de Jacques Cartier] ". Paris: Tross (1863 edition). (Vocabulary list on pages 46 to 48)
*Floyd G. Lounsbury. (1978). "Iroquoian Languages," "Handbook of North American Indians". Volume 15. Pages 334-343.
*Marianne Mithun. (1979). "Iroquoian," in Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun, "The Languages of Native America". Austin: University of Texas Press. Pages 140-141. ("Laurentian")
*Marianne Mithun. (1981). The Mystery of the Vanished Laurentians, in Papers from the 5th International Congress on Historial Linguistics (Anders Ahlquist, ed.). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Pages 230-242.
*Marianne Mithun. (1999). "The languages of Native North America". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
*James F. Pendergast. (1998). "The Confusing Identities Attributed to Stadacona and Hochelaga", "Journal of Canadian Studies". Volume 32. Pages 149-167.
*Bruce G. Trigger and James F. Pendergast. (1978). "Saint Lawrence Iroquoians", "Handbook of North American Indians". Volume 15. Pages 357-361.
*Bruce G. Trigger. (1976). "The Children of Aataentsic: a History of the Huron People to 1660". Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press. Pages 214-228. ("The Disappearance of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians")