User:Babaldridgepstcc/sandbox

Phase 1 and 2

Mound Builders

Fact: The Natchez language is a language isolate, supporting the scenario that after the collapse of the Mound builder cultures in the 17th century, there was an influx of unrelated peoples into the area.

MLA Citation: Geoffrey Kimball. “Natchez Language.” The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, The University of North Carolina Press, 2017, p. 98,

DOI: 10.5149/9781469616629_montgomery.30

Quote: Linguists consider Natchez to be a language isolate, meaning that there are no closely related languages known. Quote: Linguists consider Natchez to be a language isolate, meaning that there are no closely related languages known. Phase 3

Swanton, J. R. (1924). “The Muskhogean Connection of the Natchez Language”. International Journal of American Linguistics, 3(1), 46–75. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1263161

The diversity gap I chose is on the Natchez language that was spoken by a small group of mound builders known as the Natchez. In the wiki article, Natchez language is listed as a language isolate, meaning it shows no connection to any other language. This article shows that there is a connection between Muskhogean languages and the Natchez language by studying them phonetically side-by-side. The study notes that an interesting thing was learned that even when languages are related, they may not show any resemblance when first looked at.

Haas, M. R. (1956). "Natchez and the Muskogean Languages". Language (Baltimore), 32(1), 61–72. https://doi.org/10.2307/410653

This article backs up the research and connection from the other article. It also concludes that there is, in fact, a connection between the Muskogean languages and the Natchez language. This article goes deeper and shows that Natchez is related to Proto-Muskogean language and not each individually spoken Muskogean language. It shows that the languages came from the same initial language and eventually branched off from one another. Natchez language stopped branching off, but the Muskogean language branched off into other languages.

Phase 4

Fact 1 Paragraph

"When the material for this study was first assembled, I had just been engaged in an investigation of the Koasati dialect of the Muskhogean stock and consequently chose that for primary comparison with Natchez. Later I undertook similar investigation of the Hitchiti dialect and many new points came to light, both of divergence and agreement. Therefore Hitchiti examples were added to those drawn from Koasati. A few examples have also been cited from Creek or Muskogee and Choctaw, and it is highly probable that a careful comparison of these languages and Natchez would markedly reinforce the conclusion arrived at in this paper, but, not having made a sufficiently thorough study of those two better known branches of the Muskhogean family of languages, I have not drawn upon them heavily. The case appears to me sufficiently strong without appealing to them."

Fact 1 Summary

Swanton argued that Natchez language is related to Muskogean languages by comparing and contrasting a Muskhogean stock dialect with the Natchez language.

Fact 2 Paragraph

"The relationship of Natchez to the Muskogean languages has been generally accepted for over thirty years. When Swanton first posited the relationship in 1924, he gave examples of lexical similarities between various individual Muskogean languages and Natchez; as a result of his postulation and his method of presenting the evidence, Natchez has often been referred to as a Muskogean language. Such nomenclature is, however, both misleading and inaccurate, because Natchez must be compared with Proto-Muskogean and not directly with the separate Muskogean languages. To indicate clearly the nature of the relationship that exists, it is more appropriate to speak of a Natchez-Muskogean stock composed of Natchez and the Muskogean family. Since no series of sound correspondences between reconstructed Proto-Muskogean (PM) and Natchez has ever been published, the purpose of the present paper is to make a preliminary statement concerning such correspondences. A brief description of the sounds of Natchez and of the Muskogean languages is provided first as background. This is followed by (1) a list of possible cognates between Natchez and PM, (2) a list of the sound correspondences exhibited in these cognates, and (3) a discussion of certain other features which point to a relationship between the two languages." Fact 2 Summary

Haas furthers Swanton's study by postulating that Natchez is related to Proto-Muskogean, and the languages should be grouped together as a Natchez-Muskogean stock instead of separately.

Article Section

It is now thought that the most likely bearers of the Plaquemine culture, a late variant of the Mississippian culture, were ancestral to the related Natchez and Taensa peoples. The Natchez language is a language isolate, supporting the scenario that after the collapse of the Mound builder cultures in the 17th century, there was an influx of unrelated peoples into the area. Swanton argued that Natchez language is related to Muskogean languages by comparing and contrasting a Muskhogean stock dialect with the Natchez language. Haas furthers Swanton's study by postulating that Natchez is related to Proto-Muskogean, and the languages should be grouped together as a Natchez-Muskogean stock instead of separately. The Natchez are known to have historically occupied the Lower Mississippi Valley. They are first mentioned in French sources of around 1700, when they were centered around the Grand Village close to present day Natchez, Mississippi. In 1729 the Natchez revolted, and massacred the French colony of Fort Rosalie, and the French retaliated by destroying all the Natchez villages. The remaining Natchez fled in scattered bands to live among the Chickasaw, Creek and Cherokee, whom they followed on the trail of tears when Indian removal policies of the mid 19th century forced them to relocate to Oklahoma. The Natchez language was extinct in the 20th century, with the death of the last known native speaker, Nancy Raven, in 1957.