Native Life: Language(s) and Interpreters

As we've seen on this blog, there were a variety of tribes on the frontier, each speaking its own language.  Yet they managed to form alliances, conduct trade and function within the context of wider society, all without modern translating equipment.  While there were dozens of Native languages on the frontier, most could be grouped into broad languages families, including but not limited to, the following:

Algonquian: this is perhaps the largest language family, spoken by tribes in a wide swath of Canada, the Great Lakes, and Eastern Seaboard.  Sources suggest that the word Algonquian comes from a Maliseet word meaning friends or allies, and indeed often Algonquian groups were allied firmly against their nearest neighbors, Iroquoian-speaking tribes.  Speakers of Algonquian included the Abenaki, Cree, Lenape/Delaware, Fox, Kickapoo, Mahican, Menominee, Miami, Ojibwe, Massachussett, Mikmaq, Mohegan, Narragansett, Passamaquoddy, Potawatomi, Powhatan, Sauk and Shawnee.

Iroquoian: these languages were not as far-flung as the Algonquian, but still spoken by some powerful tribes, including Cayuga, Cherokee, Erie, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca, Susquehannock, Tuscarora and Wyandot.  Iroquoian speakers were clustered in the Great Lakes, Quebec and New York areas, and ranged throughout the backcountry through to the Southeast, which was the domain of the Cherokee.

Muskogean: most of these languages were clustered in the Southeast, and included Alabama, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Koasati, Miccosuki and Seminole.  Some Muskogean languages are now extinct, including Apalachee.  Modern Miccosuke may be an off-shoot of an older language, Hitchiti. 

Siouan:  associated with the Plains and the Mississippi River basin, the Catawba language is from this family.  Sources indicate there may have been other Siouan languages along the Eastern Seaboard, but have since become extinct.

The extent to which languages within a language family are mutually intelligible depends on the language and the speakers in question.  Some Natives were proficient in several languages, usually from having spent time with the tribe(s) in question or from frequent contact.  These weren't written languages and the only immersion course available was finding oneself suddenly with another tribe who didn't speak the same language and having to learn in a hurry to survive.  Add to this mixture the need to communicate with settlers who spoke Dutch, English, French or Spanish and the situation becomes more complicated.  For this reason, interpreters who could speak several languages were highly valued.  For example, John Norton, whom we've already run across, could speak several Native languages, as well as English, French and Spanish in addition to his Native Scots and Cherokee.  He first came to Joseph Brant's attention as an interpreter for the British Indian Department, later working directly for Brant and become a Pine Tree Chief of the Mohawk.

Circumstance and consensus often dictated that one prevailing language serve as a common language for trade, diplomacy and other communication.  Among the Six Nations, Mohawk filled this need.  Shawnee was a common trade language in the Ohio Valley.  Creek and Cherokee served the same purpose in the Southeast.  Men who by talent or circumstance could speak several languages were also in demand.  Simon Girty was said to speak eleven different languages, most notably Shawnee and Seneca, the tribes with whom he'd spent much time as a young man.  Working for the British Indian Department brought several important benefits besides steady pay.  Men who served as interpreters often carried military rank, received regular clothing allowances, and were viewed by the tribes as having some authority. 

The United States government also made use of interpreters, both working directly for trading companies, the military or the various Indian Agencies.  These could be men who had returned to White society from captivity as youngsters, but more often were mixed-race.  George Drouillard, profiled in a previous post, spoke French and English as well as Shawnee and other dialects.  He was a valuable interpreter for Lewis and Clark, who couldn't say enough about him in their journals.  Paddy Carr, whose father was Irish and Mother was Creek was one example.  Moreover, many leaders of the Southeastern tribes, whether mixed-race or not, were fluent in several languages.  Several Cherokee leaders were mixed-race and may have spoken Creek in addition to English and Cherokee.  Several Seminole, including Coacoochee and Tiger Tail, spoke English.  Osceola was known to be fluent in Spanish.