Tawasa is an extinct

Native American language Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and enterta ...

. Ostensibly the language of the

Tawasa Tawasa is an extinct Native American language. Ostensibly the language of the Tawasa people of what is now Alabama, it is known exclusively through a word list attributed to a Tawasa named Lamhatty, collected in 1707. John Swanton studied the L ...

people of what is now

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, it is known exclusively through a word list attributed to a Tawasa named Lamhatty, collected in 1707.

John Swanton John Reed Swanton (February 19, 1873 – May 2, 1958) was an American anthropologist, folklorist, and linguist who worked with Native American peoples throughout the United States. Swanton achieved recognition in the fields of ethnology and ethn ...

studied the Lamhatty word list and identified the language as a

Timucuan The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The var ...

dialect, suggesting it was intermediary between Timucua and

Muskogean Muskogean (also Muskhogean, Muskogee) is a Native American language family spoken in different areas of the Southeastern United States. Though the debate concerning their interrelationships is ongoing, the Muskogean languages are generally div ...

. This opinion has been the subject of significant scholarly debate, with some such as Julian Granberry considering it a dialect of Timucua, others arguing it was a distinct language in the Timucua family, and yet others such as John Hann doubting that Lamhatty was a Tawasa at all. The language shows significant

influence, including the Muskogean same-subject suffix ''-t''.

Evidence

In 1707 an Indian named Lamhatty arrived in the British colony of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, eventually arriving at the estate of Colonel John Walker. Taking an interest in him, Walker introduced him to colonial historian Robert Beverley. Through an interpreter, Lamhatty explained that he was from the village of ''Tawasa'' near the Gulf of Mexico. He had been captured and enslaved by the

Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following: First nations and Native American people and culture * Tuscarora people **''Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960) * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people * ...

, who transported him eastward and sold him to the Savannah people. He escaped and traveled north to Virginia. Walker recorded the 60-word lexicon he learned from Lamhatty on the back of a letter, while Beverley wrote an account of Lamhatty's story. According to Beverley, Walker began treating Lamhatty like a slave once he learned other Tawasa were enslaved. Lamhatty escaped and went into the woods, never to be heard from again. There has been scholarly debate about the place of Tawasa among languages. Studying the word list in the early 20th century,

noted the similarity with the

Timucua language Timucua is a language isolate formerly spoken in northern and central Florida and southern Georgia by the Timucua peoples. Timucua was the primary language used in the area at the time of Spanish colonization in Florida. Differences among the ...

, and suggested Tawasa was an intermediary with

. Linguist Julian Granberry identifies it as a dialect of Timucua. Others, such as John Hann, are skeptical of the accuracy of Beverley's account. He questions whether Lamhatty was a Tawasa at all.

Vocabulary

Tawasa words are a bit difficult to make out, due to English respellings. For example, ''oo, ou'' corresponds to Timucua ''u'', ''ough'' to ''o'', ''eu'' to ''yu'', and often ''e, ee'' to Timucua ''i''. Tawasa ''w'' corresponds to Timucua ''b'', which was probably pronounced . Timucua ''c, q'' were ; ''qu'' was . Some of the following correspondences have a final ''t'' in Tawasa, which appears to be a Muskogean suffix. Others appear to have the Timucua copula ''-la''. Timucua forms are Mocama dialect. Correspondences with Muskogean and Timucua are, Although ''ássick'' 'moon' appears to be an Alabama form, its compounds are Timucuan:

Notes

References

* * * {{refend Timucua language Indigenous languages of the North American Southeast Extinct languages of North America Native American history of Alabama Native American history of Florida Languages extinct in the 18th century