Mohawk Dutch

Mohawk Dutch
Native to	New Netherland
Region	North America
Extinct	possibly late 19th to early 20th century
Language family	Dutch-based creole with Mohawk Mohawk Dutch
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None

Mohawk Dutch is a now extinct Dutch-based creole language mainly spoken during the 17th century west of Albany, New York, in the area around the Mohawk River, by the Dutch colonists who traded with or to a lesser extent mixed with the local population from the Mohawk nation.

At the height of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands's North American colony of New Netherland, there were 18 languages spoken within Dutch-controlled territory.^{[1][citation not found]} Dutch settlers frequently married indigenous women, most commonly from the Mohawk, with whom they were strong allies.^[2] The resulting children often drifted between the territory of the Iroquois Confederacy and New Netherland, forming among themselves a creole taking elements from both languages.

One lullaby purported to be in Mohawk Dutch was recorded as part of the research for the Dictionary of American Regional English;^[3] it is mostly German with one Dutch diminutive suffix (whose German equivalent also occurs), one Dutch word and one word ("baby") that probably comes from a local language.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Jersey Dutch
• Michif
• Mohawk language
• Pidgin Delaware

References

1. Pearson, Jonathan; MacMurray, Junius W. (1883). A History of the Schenectady Patent in the Dutch and English Times. Albany, NY: Joel Munsell's Sons.
2. Nellis, Milo (1951). The Mohawk Dutch and the Palatines: Their Background and Their Influence in the Development of the United States of America. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
3. Russom, Geoffrey (fieldworker) (1969). Primary Informant NY194 (MP4) (Fieldwork recording) (in English and Mohawk Dutch). Canajoharie, NY: Dictionary of American Regional English. 4:27 minutes in. Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries.