Atakapa is an extinct language isolate native to southwestern Louisiana and nearby eastern Texas.

Geographic variation

There were two varieties of Atakapa (i.e. dialects):

1. Eastern
2. Western

The Eastern Atakapa dialect is known from a word list of 287 entries recorded in 1802 by Martin Duralde. This dialect appears to be the most divergent of the three. These speakers lived around Poste des Attackapas (Saint Martinville) which is now Franklin, Louisiana.

The Western Atakapa dialect is the best known with words, sentences, and texts recorded from 1885, 1907, and 1908 by Albert Gatschet. The main language consultant was recorded in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The last speakers were Louison Huntington, Delilah Moss, Teet Verdine, and Armojean Reon. An older vocabulary is in a list of 45 words recorded in 1721 by Jean Béranger. These speakers were captured around Galveston Bay.

Although John Swanton claimed that Béranger vocabulary was an Akokisa dialect spoken by the Akokisa, there is no real evidence to support this connection.

Genealogical relations

Sounds

Grammar

See also

• Atakapa

Bibliography

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Gatschet, Albert S., and Swanton, John R. (1932) A Dictionary of the Atakapa Language. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Athnology, bulletin 108. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
• Goddard, Ives. (2005). The indigenous languages of the Southeast. Anthropological Linguistics, 47 (1), 1-60.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Swanton, John R. A sketch of the Atakapa language. International Journal of American Linguistics. 5 (2-4), 121-149.

External links

• A Dictionary of the Atakapa Language by

Albert S. Gatschet and John R. Swanton, hosted by the Portal to Texas History