| Also Known As: Bethuck,Newfoundland,Beothuc,Red Indians,Bethuk,Beothuk language
Description:
The Beothuk language (pronounced /biːˈɒtɨk/ or /biːˈɒθɨk/; also called Beothukan) was spoken by the indigenous Beothuk people of Newfoundland. As the Beothuk are extinct and few written accounts of their language exist, little is known about it. It is sometimes assumed to be part of the neighbouring Algonquian language family, but there is insufficient evidence to draw any strong conclusions, and this theory has not gained general acceptance. What evidence there is suggests a connection to Central Algonkian rather than Eastern Algonkian. The few words of the language which are known were provided by captives such as Demasduwit and Shanawdithit.
A recording of the Beothuk language in song, as performed by a 75-year old native woman named Santu, was made in 1910 by the American anthropologist Frank Speck and resurfaced at the very end of the twentieth century. The text is uncertain and not understood. Some sources give the year 1929, but the 1910 date is confirmed in Speck's book Beothuk and M'kmac, New York 1922, p. 67.
Beothuk has the ISO 639-3 code bue...... full article at Wikipedia |
