Mobilian Jargon

Mobilian Jargon (also Mobilian trade language, Mobilian Trade Jargon, Chickasaw–Choctaw trade language, Yamá) was a pidgin used as a lingua franca among Native American groups living along the Gulf of Mexico around the time of European settlement of the region. The name refers to the Mobile Indians of the central Gulf Coast.

Mobilian Jargon facilitated trade between tribes speaking different languages and European settlers. There is continuing debate as to when Mobilian Jargon first began to be spoken. Some scholars, such as James Crawford, have argued that Mobilian Jargon has its origins in the linguistically diverse environment following the establishment of the French colony of Louisiana. Others, however, suggest that the already linguistically diverse environment of the lower Mississippi basin drove the need for a common method of communication prior to regular contact with Europeans.

Distribution

Mobilian was used from the Florida northwest coast and area of the current Alabama-Georgia border westward as far as eastern Texas and in the north from the lower Mississippi Valley (currently south and central Illinois) to the southern Mississippi River Delta region in the south. It is known to have been used by the Alabama, Apalachee, Biloxi, Chacato, Pakana, Pascagoula, Taensa, and Tunica.

Origins

Mobilian is a pidginized form of Choctaw and Chickasaw (both Western Muskogean) that also contains elements of Eastern Muskogean languages such as Alabama and Koasati, colonial languages including Spanish, French, and English, and perhaps Algonquian and/or other languages. Pamela Munro has argued that Choctaw is the major contributing language (not both Choctaw and Chickasaw) although this has been challenged by Emanuel Drechsel.

Grammar

It has a simplified syllable and sound structure and a simplified grammar as compared to Choctaw, its primary parent language.

Bibliography

• Munro, Pamela (1984). "On the Western Muskogean source for Mobilian". International Journal of American Linguisics 50 (4): 438–450. doi:10.1086/465852. 
• Drechsel, Emanuel (1987). "On determining the role of Chickasaw in the history and origin of Mobilian Jargon". International Journal of American Linguisics 53: 21–29. doi:10.1086/466040. 
• Drechsel, Emanuel. (1997). Mobilian Jargon: Linguistic and Sociohistorical Aspects of a Native American Pidgin. Oxford University Press
• Crawford, J. M. (1978). The Mobilian Trade Language. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.

References

External links

v t e    Mississippian and related cultures List of Mississippian sites Mound builder (people) Timeline of Mississippi valley Middle Mississippian American Bottom and Upper Mississippi Aztalan Big Eddy Site Cahokia Cloverdale archaeological site Dickson Mounds Emmons Cemetery Site John Roy Site Kuhn Station Site Mitchell Site Monks Mound Orendorf Site Sugarloaf Mound Steed-Kisker culture Lower Ohio River and Confluence area Adams Site Kincaid Mounds Marshall Site Millstone Bluff Rowlandton Mound Site Towosahgy Turk Site Twin Mounds Site Wickliffe Mounds Middle Ohio River Angel Mounds Angel Phase Annis Mound Site Bone Bank Site Caborn-Welborn culture Hovey Lake Murphy Archaeological Site Prather Site Slack Farm Tolu Site Welborn Village Archeological Site Tennessee and Cumberland Beasley Mounds Site Brentwood Library Site Brick Church Mound and Village Site Castalian Springs Dunbar Cave Fewkes Group Archaeological Site Mound Bottom Sellars Indian Mound Obion Mounds Old Town Archaeological Site Swallow Bluff Island Mounds Central and Lower Mississippi Belle Meade Phase Boyd Mounds Site Campbell Site Chucalissa Eaker Site Menard-Hodges Site Murphy Mound Archeological Site Parkin Site Nodena Phase Nodena Site Tipton Phase Tunica Walls Phase South Appalachian Mississippian Avery Site · Beaverdam Creek Site · Bell Field Mound Site · Bessemer Site · Bussell Island  · Chauga Mound · Chiaha · Chota · Citico · Coosa chiefdom · Dallas Phase · Dyar site · Etowah Mounds · Garden Creek site · Hoojah Branch Site · Irene Mound Site · Jere Shine Site · Joara · Joe Bell Site · King Archaeological Site · Lamar Mounds and Village Site · Lamar Phase · Liddell Archeological Site · Little Egypt · Mabila · Mandeville Site · Moccasin Bend · Moundville Site · Mouse Creek Phase · Mulberry Site · Muscogee (Creek) · Nacoochee Mound · Nikwasi · Ocmulgee · Pisgah Phase · Punk Rock Shelter · Rembert Mounds · Roods Landing · Rucker's Bottom Site · Savannah Archaeological Site · Shiloh Indian Mounds Site · Sixtoe Mound · Summerour Mound Site · Toqua Site · Town Creek Indian Mound · Waddells Mill Pond Site · Wilbanks Site Fort Walton culture Anhaica · Apalachee · Apalachee Province · Cayson Mound and Village Site · Corbin-Tucker Site 8CA142 · Fort Walton Mound · Lake Jackson Mounds · Leon-Jefferson Culture · Letchworth Mounds · Velda Mound · Yon Mound and Village Site Pensacola culture Bottle Creek Indian Mounds · Dauphin Island · Fort Walton Mound · Hickory Ridge Cemetery Site · Naval Live Oaks Cemetery · Pensacola people Plaquemine Mississippian Anna Site · Emerald Mound Site · Fitzhugh Mounds · Flowery Mound · Foster's Mound · Ghost Site Mounds · Grand Village of the Natchez · Holly Bluff Site · Jaketown Site · Jordan Mounds · Julice Mound · Mangum Mound Site · Mazique Archeological Site · Medora Site · Mott Mounds · Natchez · Pocahontas Mounds · Routh Mounds · Scott Place Mounds · Sims Site · Taensa · Transylvania Mounds · Venable Mound · Winterville Site · Caddoan Mississippian Battle Mound Site · Belcher Mound Site · Bluffton Mound · Caddo · Caddoan Mounds · Gahagan Mounds · Ka-Do-Ha Indian Village · Spiro Mounds Upper Mississippian cultures Oneota Beattie Park Mound Group Blood Run Site Hartley Fort State Preserve Roche-a-Cri Petroglyphs Fort Ancient culture Alligator Effigy Mound Clover Site Dodge Site Leo Petroglyph Serpent Mound SunWatch Indian Village Languages Caddoan languages · Central Algonquian languages · Cherokee language · Mobilian Jargon · Muskogean languages · Natchez language · Siouan languages · Timucua language · Tunica language · Yuchi language Religion Ballgame Black drink Calumet (pipe) Chunkey Earth/fertility cult Emmons mask Green Corn Ceremony Horned Serpent Long-nosed god maskette Mississippian stone statuary Mississippian copper plates (Rogan plates, Wulfing cache, Spiro plates) Platform mound Shell gorget Southeastern Ceremonial Complex Thunderbird Underwater panther Related topics  · Chevron bead · Clarksdale bell · Maize · Mississippian culture pottery · Mill Creek chert · de Soto Expedition · Stone box grave

v t e    Pre-Columbian North America Archaeological cultures North American pre-Columbian chronology – Adena – Alachua – Ancient Pueblo (Anasazi) – Baytown – Belle Glade – Buttermilk Creek Complex – Caborn-Welborn – Calf Creek – Caloosahatchee – Clovis – Coles Creek – Deptford – Folsom – Fort Ancient – Fort Walton – Fremont – Glades – Glacial Kame – Hopewell (List of Hopewell sites) – Hohokam – Leon-Jefferson – Mississippian (List of Mississippian sites) – Mogollon – Monongahela – Old Cordilleran – Oneota – Paleo-Arctic – Paleo-Indians – Patayan – Plano – Plaquemine – Poverty Point – Prehistoric Southwest – Red Ocher – Santa Rosa-Swift Creek – St. Johns – Steed-Kisker – Tchefuncte – Tocobaga – Troyville Archaeological sites Angel Mounds – Bandelier National Monument – The Bluff Point Stoneworks – Cahokia – Chaco Canyon – Casa Grande – Coso Rock Art District – Eaker – Effigy Mounds National Monument – Etowah Indian Mounds – Eva – Folsom Site – Fort Ancient – Fort Center – Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument – Holly Bluff Site – Hopewell Culture National Historical Park – Kincaid Mounds – Kolomoki – Manitou Cliff Dwellings – Marksville – Meadowcroft Rockshelter – Mesa Verde – Moorehead Circle – Moundville – Mummy Cave – Nodena Site – Ocmulgee National Monument – Old Stone Fort – Parkin Park – Pinson Mounds – Portsmouth Earthworks – Poverty Point – Pueblo Bonito – Rock Eagle – Rock Hawk – Salmon Ruins – Serpent Mound – Spiro Mounds – SunWatch – Taos Pueblo – Toltec Mounds – Town Creek Indian Mound – Winterville Miscellaneous Ballgame – Black drink – Buhl woman – Calumet – Chunkey – Clovis point – Container Revolution – Eastern Agricultural Complex – Eden point – Effigy mound – Falcon dancer – Folsom point – Green Corn Ceremony – Horned Serpent – Kennewick man – Kiva – Metallurgy – Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing – Medicine wheel – Mound builders – N.A.G.P.R.A. – Norse colonization of the Americas – Piasa – Pueblo dwellings – Southeastern Ceremonial Complex – Three Sisters agriculture – Thunderbird – Underwater panther Related: Genetic history · Indigenous Portal of North America · Pre-Columbian era