Tawasa language
Encyclopedia
Tawasa is an extinct Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...

. Ostensibly the language of the Tawasa people of what is now Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

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

John Swanton studied the Lamhatty word list and identified the language as a Timucuan
Timucua language
Timucua is a language isolate formerly spoken in northern and central Florida and southern Georgia by the Timucua people. Timucua was the primary language used in the area at the time of Spanish arrival in Florida. Linguistic and archaeological studies suggest that it may have been spoken from...

 dialect, suggesting it was intermediary between Timucua and Muskogean
Muskogean languages
Muskogean is an indigenous language family of the Southeastern United States. Though there is an ongoing debate concerning their interrelationships, the Muskogean languages are generally divided into two branches, Eastern Muskogean and Western Muskogean...

. 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 shows significant Alabama
Alabama language
Alabama is a Native American language, spoken by the Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Texas. It was once spoken by the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town of Oklahoma, but there are no more Alabama speakers in Oklahoma. It is a Muskogean language, and is believed to have been related to the Muklasa and...

 influence, including the Muskogean same-subject suffix -t.

Evidence

In 1707 an Indian named Lamhatty arrived in the British colony of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, 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, and had been enslaved by Tuscaroras and transported eastward, where he was sold to Savannahs. He subsequently escaped and came 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 also enslaved, leading a despondent Lamhatty head to the woods, never to be heard from again.

Studying the word list, John Swanton noted the similarity with the Timucua language
Timucua language
Timucua is a language isolate formerly spoken in northern and central Florida and southern Georgia by the Timucua people. Timucua was the primary language used in the area at the time of Spanish arrival in Florida. Linguistic and archaeological studies suggest that it may have been spoken from...

, and suggested Tawasa was an intermediary with Muskogean
Muskogean languages
Muskogean is an indigenous language family of the Southeastern United States. Though there is an ongoing debate concerning their interrelationships, the Muskogean languages are generally divided into two branches, Eastern Muskogean and Western Muskogean...

. Linguist Julian Granberry identifies it as a dialect of Timucua. Victor Golla (2007) argues that it is best considered a separate language. Others, such as John Hann, are skeptical of the accuracy of Beverley's account, and calls into question 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 β. Timucua c, q were [k]; qu was [kʷ]. 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
Copula
In linguistics, a copula is a word used to link the subject of a sentence with a predicate . The word copula derives from the Latin noun for a link or tie that connects two different things.A copula is often a verb or a verb-like word, though this is not universally the case...

-la. Timucua forms are Mocama dialect.
Tawasa Timucua gloss
effalàh efa-la dog
písso pesolo bread
soúa soba meat
pítcho-t picho knife
ocoò-t ucu drink
heă-t hiyaraba cat
yáukfah yaha 1
eúksah yucha 2
hóp-ho hapu 3
checúttah cheqeta 4
márouah marua 5
mareékah mareca 6
pekétchah piqicha 7
pekénnahough piqinaho 8
peétchcuttah peqecheqeta 9
toómah tuma 10
tomo-eúcha tuma-yucha 20
foóley hue-le hand
hewéenou hinino tobacco
ocut-soúa ucuchua door
ho I
he you
uēkqūah ca here
uēkheth heqe there
hĕmèh hime come
héwah hiba sit down
loókqŭy (a)ruqui boy
néăh nia woman
wiedōō biro man
colúte colo bow
wiéo-tt ibi water
wiéo-tt opù-t ibi-api salt water
yōwe yayu great
chicky, chiéky chiri, qichi little
sōquàh chuca how many


Correspondences with Muskogean and Natchez are,
TawasaMuskogeanTimucuagloss
chesapà Alabama: časi tapola maize
hássey Alabama: haši ela sun
ássick Alabama: nila haši acu moon
chénah, chénoh Natchez: ičina oqe he
tútcah Creek: tó'tka taca fire

Although ássick 'moon' appears to be an Alabama form, its compounds are Timucuan:
TawasaTimucuaglossnotes
ássick hóomah acu homa full moon homa 'finish'
ássick-toúquah ela-toco east toco 'rise'
ássick-eachah ela-echa west echa 'set'

Reference

  • Julian Granberry, 1993. A grammar and dictionary of the Timucua language, pp 10–11.
  • Hann, John H. (1996) A History of the Timucua Indians and Missions, Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1424-7
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