Historical Importance of this Language

Lingua Franca—Mississippi River

During the early 1700s, there was a lingua franca spoken in the Mississippian homelands, featuring aspects of several Muskogean languages as well as words from the Algonquin language family.  The possibility exists that this lingua franca was in use prior to European contact, but there are no written records to support this idea (Drechsel, 1983).  It makes sense for there to have been a trade language throughout the Mississippian area since the tribes who inhabited those areas spoke a variety of languages.  This lingua franca came to be known as the Chickasaw/Choctaw trade language or Mobilian jargon (Drechsel, 1983; Sturtevant, 2005).  According to Drechsel (1987), “there can be no doubt … that Chickasaw once played a significant role in the history of Mobilian jargon” (p. 25).  The last known speakers of this pidgin were interviewed in the 1970s and were living in Louisiana and Texas (Sturtevant, 2005).

The Mobilian jargon had several interesting features in its own right.  First, there is no evidence that it was ever learned by children as a first language.  Rather, it was acquired later in life to be used as a communication aid for traders and travelers.  Next, the Mobilian jargon was used as a socially acceptable means of communication between groups of Native people and later Europeans for at least two hundred years (Drechsel, 1983).  Over the course of time, the Mobilian Jargon shifted and changed in accordance with the needs of the users.