Taensa language

rdf:langString Taensa language

rdf:langString Taensa

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rdf:langString Taensa

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rdf:langString The Taensa language was an attempt at creating a fake Natchez language-variant, supposedly spoken by the Taensa people originally of northeastern Louisiana, and later with historical importance in Alabama. The language is was created by two young co-conspirators who published purported studies of the Taensa language in 1880-1882 that were later proven fraudulent, unequivocally in 1908-1910 by John R. Swanton. Some French missionary priests reported that they learned Natchez in order to speak to the Taensa; Mooney's summary of the people and missionary efforts describes the Taensa language as a variant of the Natchez. The language has received academic attention in largest part for the fact that two young men, one a clerical student named Parisot, published purported "material of the Taensa language, including papers, songs, a grammar and vocabulary" in Paris in 1880-1882, reports which led to considerable interest on the part of philologists and linguists of the time. The work proved to be a "fraudulent invention... of some one... from whom the manuscripts had originally come" or perhaps of the student Parisot. The fraudulently invented language was unrelated to the actual language variant spoken by the Taensa people; the invention was unique enough in its grammar to arouse the interest referred to above. Several eminent scholars were taken in by the materials, but by 1885, Daniel Garrison Brinton and Julien Vinson had reported the work to be fraudulent. Later, Swanton exposed the work as a clear hoax, and the matter of the Parisot fraud continues to receive historical and linguistic attention to modern times.

rdf:langString American

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rdf:langString spurious

rdf:langString taen1234

rdf:langString Taensa

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