Post by Larry Koschkee on Oct 19, 2004 15:27:27 GMT -5
I have been examining the role of language interpreters and their impact in successful or non-successful communications and treaty negotiations. This examination is presently limited to the time parameters upon which this message board was founded -- 1820s - 1830s.
One of the questions I ask in my examination is... other than some form of physical sign language was there a common language, that at the very least, could facilitate a reasonable amount of understanding throughout the frontier of Illinois and Michigan Territory?
On the surface it appears the French language could be a reasonable candidate for both non-Indian and Indian.
Secondly, another language candiate came to light while reading Margaret Beattie Bogue's article As She Knew Them, Juliette Kinzie and the Ho-Chunk, 1830-1833 Wisconsin Magazine of History Winter 2001-2002.
Bogue referenced a well respected interpreter among the Winnebago...(oops! Ho-Chunk) Madame Four-Legs
This is the passage in Kinzie's book.
It must not be inferred that the grief of the poor little widow was not sincere. On the contrary, she was greatly attached to her husband, and had had great influence not only with him but with the nation at large. She was a Fox woman, and spoke the Chippewa, which is the court language among all the tribes, so that she was often called upon to act as interpreter, and had, in fact, been in the habit of accompanying her husband, and assisting him by her counsels upon all occasions. She was a person of great shrewdness and judgment, and, as I afterwards experienced, of strong and tenacious affections.
The language of the Chippewa was Algonquin.
COURT LANGUAGE Interesting in that it may have been universal among the tribes, but perhaps not universal between non-Indian and Indian.
Larry
One of the questions I ask in my examination is... other than some form of physical sign language was there a common language, that at the very least, could facilitate a reasonable amount of understanding throughout the frontier of Illinois and Michigan Territory?
On the surface it appears the French language could be a reasonable candidate for both non-Indian and Indian.
Secondly, another language candiate came to light while reading Margaret Beattie Bogue's article As She Knew Them, Juliette Kinzie and the Ho-Chunk, 1830-1833 Wisconsin Magazine of History Winter 2001-2002.
Bogue referenced a well respected interpreter among the Winnebago...(oops! Ho-Chunk) Madame Four-Legs
This is the passage in Kinzie's book.
It must not be inferred that the grief of the poor little widow was not sincere. On the contrary, she was greatly attached to her husband, and had had great influence not only with him but with the nation at large. She was a Fox woman, and spoke the Chippewa, which is the court language among all the tribes, so that she was often called upon to act as interpreter, and had, in fact, been in the habit of accompanying her husband, and assisting him by her counsels upon all occasions. She was a person of great shrewdness and judgment, and, as I afterwards experienced, of strong and tenacious affections.
The language of the Chippewa was Algonquin.
COURT LANGUAGE Interesting in that it may have been universal among the tribes, but perhaps not universal between non-Indian and Indian.
Larry
