Beothuk language

Beothuk
Beothukan
Native to Canada
Region Newfoundland
Ethnicity Beothuk people
Extinct 1829, with the death of Shanawdithit (Nancy April)
unclassified (Algonquian?)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 bue
bue
Glottolog beot1247[1]
Pre-contact distribution of Beothuk language

The Beothuk language (/biːˈɒtək/ or /ˈbeɪ.əθʊk/), also called Beothukan, was spoken by the indigenous Beothuk people of Newfoundland. The Beothuk have been extinct since 1829 and there are few written accounts of their language, so little is known about it.

Attestation

Beothuk is known only from four wordlists from the 18th and the 19th centuries. They contain more than 400 words but no examples of connected speech. However, the lack of any systematic or consistent representation of the vocabulary in the wordlists makes it daunting to establish the sound system of Beothuk, and words that are listed separately on the lists may be the same word transcribed in sundry ways. Moreover, the lists are known to have many mistakes. That, along with the lack of connected speech leaves little upon which to build any reconstruction of Beothuk.

Classification

Claims of links with the neighbouring Algonquian language family date back at least to Robert Latham in 1862. From 1968, onwards John Hewson has put forth evidence of sound correspondences and shared morphology with Proto-Algonquian and other better-documented Algonquian languages. If this is valid, Beothuk would be an extremely divergent member of the family.[2]

Other researchers claimed that proposed similarities are more likely the result of borrowing than cognates.[3] The limited and poor nature of the documentation means there is not enough evidence to draw strong conclusions.[4] Owing to this overall lack of meaningful evidence, Ives Goddard and Lyle Campbell claim that any connections between Beothuk and Algonquian are unknown and likely unknowable.[5]

In 1910 American anthropologist Frank Speck recorded a 74-year-old native woman named Santu Toney singing a song purported to be in the language. The recording resurfaced at the very end of the 20th century. Some sources give the year 1929, but the 1910 date is confirmed in Speck's book Beothuk and Micmac (New York 1922, p. 67). The words are hard to hear and not understood. Santu said she had been taught the song by her father, which may be evidence that one person with a Beothuk connection was alive after the death of Shanawdithit in 1829 since Santu Toney was born about 1835). Contemporary researchers have tried to make a transcription of the song and to clean up the recording with modern methods. Native groups have learned the song.[6]

Mr. James P. Howley, Director of the Geological Survey of Newfoundland, who for more than forty years was interested in the history of the Beothuk, doubted (in 1914) the truthfulness of Santu Toney.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Beothuk". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. ↑ Hewson, John ((1971) pp 244-249 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1264516). "Beothuk Consonant Correspondences". International Journal of American Linguistics Vol. 37, No. 4. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ↑ Voegelin, C.F.; Voegelin, E.W. (1946). "Linguistic considerations of northeastern North America". In Johnson, F. Man in Northeastern North America. Andover, MA: Philip's Academy. pp. 178–194.
  4. ↑ Mithun, Marianne (2001). The Languages of Native North America (First paperback ed.). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 368. ISBN 0-521-23228-7.
  5. ↑ Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford University Press. p. 290. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
  6. ↑ Perry, SJ (2008-09-10). "Santu's Song: Memorable day for Beothuk Interpretation Centre". Porte Pilot. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
  7. ↑ Santu’s Song | Hewson | Newfoundland and Labrador Studies
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