Map of SE United States languagesThe noted linguist James M. Crawford studied how Native American languages came together to form the Mobilian trade language, also known as Yamá. Crawford’s research shows that this indigenous lingua franca came into being shortly after the French formed the colony of Louisiana in 1682. Because of the linguistic diversity in the area and the robust trade that occurred along the Mississippi River, this language was spoken by Europeans and Native Americans south from where the Ohio intersects with the Mississippi River, westward into what is now Texas and eastward into the Florida panhandle. During the 18th and part of the 19th centuries, Mobilian was spoken by blacks, whites, and Native Americans of all tribes in Louisiana.

Although the Mobilian language is now considered extinct, in 1970 Crawford was able to locate elders living in the vicinity of Elton, Louisiana and on the Alabama-Coushatta Reservation in Texas who had once spoken Mobilian and still remembered some of it. The four clips featured here reflect Crawford’s interest in studying the intersections between Mobilian and other local languages such as Koasati, Choctaw, and Alabama.

James Crawford, 1965Two of the recordings featured here were made with Leonard Lavan, who was of mixed descent (Native and African American) and who had been adopted by the Koasati at a young age. When Crawford visited Elton, he recorded Mr. Lavan and his cousin, Arzelie Langley, who Crawford described as “a very old lady (a Choctaw who had married a Koasati) and...who spoke no English.” The Yamá-Koasati-Choctaw word list was recorded with Esther Thomas and Phoebie Celestine at the Alabama-Coushatta Reservation. The Alabama story was given in 1973 by Matthew Bullock and recorded by Mary McCall.

In The Mobilian Trade Language (1978), Crawford described his findings about the various languages that came together to form Mobilian. “Except for a single word from an Algonquian language and a few from French and English, all of the words and phrases seem to have come from Choctaw and Alabama, with those of apparent Choctaw origin by far the more numerous” (4). Crawford’s book received the James Mooney Award, sponsored by the Southern Anthropological Society, in 1977.

The APS holds Crawford's Recordings of Native American languages (1953-1973) as well as extensive related manuscript material in the James M. Crawford papers.