N Carolina Tribe Evolved Unique Native - English Hybrid Language

by Pam Smith

Current research by Wolfram and a team of researchers from North Carolina State University indicates that while the Lumbee lost their ancestral tongue generations ago, they have developed a unique Lumbee English dialect. They look to history as the primary force that shaped a dialect characterized by particular patterns of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.

The Lumbee English dialect, Wolfram says, bears the imprint of the early colonization by the English, Highland Scots, and Scots-Irish. Moreover, Lumbee Native Americans' speech is distinctly different from their Anglo-American and African American neighbors.

Though research findings reveal some similarities in Lumbee and Outer Banks speech, the isolated examples aren't strong enough to support the popular theory that links the Lumbee with the Lost Colony. In pronunciation, for example, both use hoi toiders (high tiders); in vocabulary, both try not to mommuck, or make a mess of it; and in the grammatical use of weren't, both might say "She weren't here."

"We were surprised to find examples of dialectal affinity to the Outer Banks," says Wolfram, "but they are isolated examples." He suggests that more likely, both speech communities shared a common Scots-Irish English dialect influence, which also is apparent in Appalachian speech.

Wolfram and a team of graduate students have been conducting community-based language studies in Robeson County since 1993 as part of his North Carolina Language and Life Project. The goal of the Lumbee study is to promote dialect awareness and a sense of language heritage among the Lumbee Native Americans and the broader community.

Early on, the researchers collaborated with the late Adolph Dial, a revered Lumbee elder, scholar and author. The linguistic analysis has included studying of the voices on Dial's Lumbee oral history tapes recorded from 1969 to 1971; interviewing more than 150 Lumbee and their Anglo-American and African-American neighbors; studying early American history books and documents; and learning sociohistorical facts about the tri-racial community.

Last year, Wolfram and his students transferred Dial's fragile tapes onto 35 compact discs and presented them to the Native American Resource Center in order to preserve the literary, historical and linguistic treasure. A CD with dialect samples also is in the works.

Additionally, Wolfram co-authored "Ethnic Identity and Grammatical Restructuring: Be(s) in Lumbee English" in The Journal for American Speech. In it, they discuss the unique use of bes in the Lumbee dialect, a feature that sets them apart from other ethnolinguistic groups. For example: It bes really crowded; The train bes running; Babies bes born like that. The authors note that the verb form probably could be attributed to the influence of early inhabitants of English, Welch and Scots-Irish extraction.

Wolfram, along with members of the Robeson County community, are producing a documentary video about Lumbee English, and will construct an interactive museum exhibit to informally educate residents and the general public about the historical and current role of language among the Lumbee.

"We hope the video and exhibit will demonstrate how the Lumbee, the largest Native American group east of the Mississippi, have moved from the loss of their ancestral language to the development of a distinctive English variety that plays an integral role in shaping a unique, cultural ethnolinguistic identity," Wolfram says. The video will follow the model of his previous successful The Ocracoke Brogue documentary, which was both entertaining and instructive.

Wolfram says that dialect awareness and pride may be a hard sell among the Lumbee. "Unfortunately, the Lumbee have suffered from a kind of linguistic double jeopardy. They gave up their ancestral language heritage to accommodate the political and economic pressures of colonial encroachment -- an accommodation that has severely hindered their pursuit of full federal recognition as a Native American group. And, the language they molded is rejected as bad English."

But Wolfram and company are in it for the long haul. A major research book and a popular book are in progress. And, they are developing a school enrichment curriculum that will celebrate the Lumbee language as a genuine -- and legitimate -- cultural heritage.