Report.
The Mobilian trade jargon was not unique of its kind. In America, as in other
parts Of the world, the common necessities of intercommunication have resulted in
the format] f several such mongrel dialects, prevailing sometimes over wide
area-. In some cases, also, the language of a predominant tribe serves as the com-
mon medium for all the tribes of a particular region. In South America we find the
lingoa geral, based upon the Tupi' language, understood tor everyday purposes by
all the tribes of the immense central region from Guiana to Paraguay, including
almost the w hole Amazon basin. On the northwest coast w> find the well-known
"Chinook jargon," which take> it- name from a -mall tribe formerly residing at the
mouth of the Columbia, in common use among all tie- tribes iron. California far up
MYTHSOF THE CHEKOKEE
[ETH. ANN. 19
into Alaska, and eastward to the great divide of the Rocky mountains. In the
southwest the Navaho-Apache language is understood by nearly all the Indians of
Arizona and New Mexico, whil i the plains the Sioux language in the north and
the Comanche in the south hold almost the same position. In addition to these we
have also the noted "sign language," a gesture system used and perfectly understood
as a fluent means of communication among all the hunting tribes of the plains from
the Saskatchewan to the Rio Grande.
(3) Dialects (page 17): The linguistic affinity of the Cherokee and northern
lroquoian dialects, although now well established, is not usually obvious on the
surface, but requires a close analysis of words, with a knowledge of the laws of pho-
netic changes, to make