Hello Tom. Thanks for this info.  I have a Narragansett and Lenape Turkey Clan ( Unalachtigo) ancestors.  What have you learned about the Miquon of PA, MD, and VA?  Some mistakenly referred to them as the Susquehanna since they lived along the mighty Susquehanna... but they called themselves Miquon.  These were the giant fearless giant warriors that were often encountered along the Susquehanna.  Lancaster PA area was their Summer quarters and Conshohocken was their Winter quarters. 

Thanks.
Dolores Phifer

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Apple" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 6:30 AM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Recovering Virginia Algonquian
On Mon, 6 Mar 2006 23:15:19 -0500, Jurretta Heckscher wrotw

> Dear colleagues:
> Tomorrow's New York Times--and the Times Web site tonight,
> http://www.nytimes.com/--contains a valuable article on scholarly
> efforts to recover and reconstruct the Virginia Algonquian language,
> which has not been spoken since 1785, in connection with the movie "The
> New World."

Interesting article. Not to revive the "New World" movie debate but in the
article it states:  "...the paramount Indian chief Powhatan asks Capt. John Smith where his people came from. The sky? Responding to the question, translated by an Indian whose smattering of English probably came indirectly from the earlier
failed Roanoke colony in North Carolina..."
It's my understanding that it was Smith who had the smattering of Algonquin
derived from John White's (Roanoke Colony) writings rather than the Indians
knowing English from the Roanoke colonists.
It is good that there is more linquistic study in the Powhatan Algonquin
dialect. While it does not exist as a spoken language on its own today, it
does survive as being the primary contributor of Indian words in the English
language. As an amateur in such studies, I've done some comparisons of the
Powhatan dialect with other Algonquin dialects such as the Delaware (Lenape)
Unami dialect, and the Narraganset (New England region) dialects. I found the
most commonality between the dialects was with words for various foods such
as "fish". Curiously the Virginia dialect was closer to the New England
region dialect rather than the much closer southern Delaware dialect.
Another curious phenomena about the Virginia Powhatan dialect was the use of
the "R" consonant sound which does not exist in most other Algonquin dialects.
The impact of Powhatan and his people still resonates today with our everyday
speech.
Regards,
Tom Apple



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