what is the original american language?

Question

what is the original american language? most people say that it's english but how can it be? english comes from england, isn't english considered a foreign language in america?

what happened to the american aborigines, the native americans like some people call it what language they spoke
why we european took over other people's land and forced other to speak our european language, why should everyone have praise and listen to what pale man says

and what is up with the strict rules that only english should be spoken, english comes from england not america.

before you start calling me racist i am from sweden

Answer 1

The most widely accepted classification of Native American languages has arranged the numerous linguistic groups in six major unrelated linguistic stocks, or families.

Eskimo-Aleut
Algonquian-Wakashan
Nadene
Penutian
Hokan-Siouan
Aztec-Tanoan

Algonquian-Wakashan

The Algonquian-Wakashan language family of North America was one of the most widespread of Native American linguistic stocks; in historical times, tribes speaking its languages extended from coast to coast.

The Algonquian branch of the family once had some 50 distinct tongues, among them Algonquin, Arapaho, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Cree, Delaware, Kickapoo, Menomini, Micmac, Ojibwa (or Chippewa), Penobscot, Sac and Fox, Shawnee, and Yurok.

Two other important branches of the Algonquian-Wakashan stock are Salishan and Wakashan.

Among the tribes speaking Salishan languages are the Bella Coola, Klallam, Coeur d'Alene, Colville, Nisqualli, Okanogan, Pend d'Oreille, Puyallup, Salish or Flathead, Shuswap, Spokan, and Tillamook.

Tribes speaking Wakashan languages include the Nootka, Nitinat, Makah, Kwakiutl, Bella Bella, and Kitamat.


My language....Anishnabemowin, belongs to the Algonquian language family
http://www.native-languages.org/ojibwe.htm#language
http://www.lacduflambeautribe.com/Tribal_Programs/Ojibwe_Language/Ojibwe_jan_05.htm
.

Answer 2

Every country in the world was founded upon land originally occupied by someone else. For example, if you go far enough back in time, the original inhabitants of your own country, Sweden, were Sami (Lapps) and Finns.

Therefore, the American Indian languages are the original languages of America in about the same sense that Sami (Lappish) and Finnish are the original languages of Sweden.

However, it would be impractical to expect most Americans or Swedes to give up English and Swedish respectively for any of the earlier languages of their countries.

Most of the time in history, colonists and conquerors impose their own languages and religions on conquered peoples.

One of the few exceptions were the French, they had a strong tendency to go native everywhere there colonists went - intermarrying extensively with the locals - whether it was fur traders in Canada, spice traders in India, occupation troops in Saigon or Huguenots in Boston, Charleston and Capetown.

Had the French and Indians been victorious over the British in the French & Indian War (1757 - 1763) it is very likely that Americans today would be living in a country run by Indians and speaking an Indian language, possibly Huron or Cherokee.

However, the English won instead and they just didn't have the same penchant for assimilating into native cultures that the French had.

Answer 3

Talk to some people from England and they will tell you that what is spoken in America in no way comes close to what they speak throughout the British Isles!
That said (and I've had that said repeatedly to me!), the official language of the United States became English when the U.S. became a country.
Sweden didn't do nearly as much colonizing as most of the rest of Europe, so maybe it's harder for you to understand. I live in Belgium where, despite only some 10 million people total, there are THREE official languages: Dutch, French and German. There is NO Belgian language, just as there is no one European language .(Are you sure you're from Europe? You should have learned this in primary school!)
There are still native Americans throughout North America (Canada has them too) who still speak their original languages -- of which there were many!

Answer 4

there's no such thing as ORIGINAL american language. If there is such, it would be from the first settlers in the americas, the american indians. My hypothesis is that when pilgrims left England because they were not permitted to worship as they wanted. Landing in Massachusetts from their ship, the Mayflower, they built homes and planted crops and settled there. They had the first Thanksgiving there for a good harvest with their Indian friends. Well, since thy had Indian friends, maybe they taught the Indians the English language.

American English is some other kind of English, aside from British english. Some differences are these:

American British
TV telly
Apartment flat
color, harbor colour, harbor


I'm not an etymologist nor an historian, but I can assure you, eventhough I'm just 12 years old, I read a lot of books about the English language and also I'm Best in English four years running. I'm also the champion in the Spelling in our school.

Answer 5

I suppose there were many other languages, not just one. The US is a huge area, almost a continent, and in ancient times, people in different areas were most likely to have different languages. Today in Mexico the anthropologists talk about something between 56 and 67 "living" indigenous languages. I say "living" because some of them are spoken by very few people and are on their way to extinction. The interesting thing, is that the culture in Mexico looks down at the indigenous languages and even calls them "dialects" as if they do not deserve to be called languages. Some people are made to feel ashamed of talking in their original languages, so they abandon them in favor of Spanish.

Why is it interesting? Because when they immigrate to the US, they are under pressure to abandon Spanish in favor of English, and now Spanish is looked upon as a 2nd degree language!

What happened to the American aborigines? I think they probably were exterminated because they "hated the American values of freedom and democracy!" :)

Peace/salaam.

Answer 6

Americans speak English. Native Americans spoke their own languages depending on their tribe.

Answer 7

I personally believe that some people...

There are some dumb people here in America who don't know that ENGLISH was originally spoken in ENGLAND. I can just imagine a redneck telling a Brit "by the way you speak our language really well for a foreigner".

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Some people here can't even speak English (1st language) correctly (like myself and my president) yet they demand other to learn a second language (English) or starve (not given jobs). The way I see it, if my president can get by with just cursory understanding of English so should everybody else.

By the say, his mother (Mrs. Bush) once said that one of her husband's opponent was a demagogue. When asked what she meant by that, she paused for few seconds and she said "I don't know what I meant by that."

The Bush apple don't fall far from that tree.
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By the way I would have no problem making ENGLISH the official language. But then I would also mandate that EVERYBODY speaks English properly (to graduate high schools).

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By the way what does that mean "before you start calling me racist i am from sweden". I sure there are bigots all over the world.

Good Luck.


P.S. Your English is pretty good. You should come here and teach English to our immigrants (and maybe to some people born here too).

Answer 8

There were hundreds, if not thousands, of aboriginal languages in North and South America in 1492.

Answer 9

English itself is mainly composed of words from other languages, mainly French, Latin and the German languages

Answer 10

do you have an official language in Sweden? We at the moment do not have an official language and many would like it to be English as it is the language of world commence.