MultiTree:

Name: Natchez Type: Language Alternate Name: Na'htchi Once Spoken in: USA Code: ncz Code Standard: ISO 639-3 Documentation: LINGUIST List Families: Gulf Parent Subgroup: Gulf (gulf) Brief Description: "Natchez was spoken in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries by the Natchez Indians, who lived on the Mississippi River in the vicinity of present-day Natchez, Mississippi. It was also spoken by the Taensa, who lived across the river, probably in a form that was not too different from what the Natchez spoke. Two nicknames learned among the Colapissa of southern Mississippi and eastern Louisiana suggest that these people also spoke a closely similar language. The Natchez tribe was destroyed by the French in a series of wars that ended in 1731, and many of the survivors took refuge with the Creeks and the Chickasaws, moving with them to Oklahoma in the 1830s, where they also intermarried with the Cherokees. Four Natchez wordlists were collected in Oklahoma during the nineteenth century, but the most important documentation was made during the twentieth century, by Swanton in 1907-15 and by Haas in 1934-36, who between them worked with all the surviving speakers; much of this material remains unpublished. The last known speaker died in 1965." Victor Golla, Atlas of the World's Languages 2007 pg. 19

Endangerment Status

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Linguist List Status: Extinct UNESCO Status: Extinct Ethnologue Status: Extinct Sutherland's Red List: Not listed