Woccon

About

Woccon is a dormant Eastern Siouan language that is currently being revived by the Cape Fear Band of the Skarure and Woccon Indians (who reside in the Cape Fear coastal region of North Carolina, USA). They are a tribal nation with a long, rich history concentrated in and around Brunswick, Bladen, Columbus and Pender Counties of Cape Fear. Their tribe is also known by the name "Skarure Woccon of the Cape Fear." The Woccon language closely resembled Catawba, and was considered one of two Catawban languages, which are part of the Siouan language family. Woccon itself is attested only in a vocabulary of approximately 140 words, originally published in John Lawson's "A new voyage to Carolina" in 1709. However, there are many Catawba sources to investigate that will help shed light on this language. Project Background At Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages as of 2020, we have been working closely with Chief Lovell Eagle Elk and Teneia Blue Feather of the Skakure Woccon Nation to help bring awareness to the Woccon language by uploading these words online create the first-ever Woccon Living Dictionary. Linguistic anthropologist Anna Luisa Daigneault and linguist Gregory D. S. Anderson from Living Tongues Institute have both helped lead efforts to process data and obtain all available archival materials that can inform this ongoing work in the coming years. The next phase of work will include working with Siouan linguistics specialists to determine the correct pronunciation of the Woccon terms. In October 2021, we obtained drafts of unpublished, in-depth linguistic analysis on Catawba from the Smithsonian that will help inform future work on Woccon, seeing as Catawba is a closely related language. Broader Impacts We live in a pivotal time for language documentation and language revitalization, and most people in the broader American public have no idea what’s at stake when indigenous languages are lost, and what it takes to revive them. Many dedicated…

Grammar

List of References