| Also Known As: Mahican Language
Description:
Mahican (also known as Mohican) is an extinct language of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family, itself a member of the Algic language family.
Aboriginally, speakers of Mahican lived along the upper Hudson River in New York State, extending as far north as Lake Champlain, east to the Green Mountains in Vermont, and west near Scoharie Creek in New York State. Conflict with Mohawks and European encroachment triggered displacement of the Mahicans. After a series of dislocations some Mahicans were forced to relocate to Wisconsin in the 1820s and 1830s, while others moved to several communities in Canada where they lost their Mahican identity.
Mahican became extinct in the early twentieth century, with the last recorded documentation of Mahican made in the 1930s.
Two distinct Mahican dialects have been identified, Moravian and Stockbridge. These two dialects emerged after 1740 as aggregations arising from the dislocation of Mahican and other groups. The extent of Mahican dialect variation prior to this period is uncertain.
The Stockbridge dialect emerged at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and included groups of New York Mahicans, and members of other linguistic..... full article at Wikipedia |
