Mohawk Dutch

Mohawk Dutch is a now extinct Dutch-based creole language mainly spoken during the 17th century west of Albany, New York in the area around the Mohawk River, by the Dutch colonists who traded with or to a lesser extent mixed with the local population from the Mohawk nation.

At the height of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands's North American colony of New Netherland, there were 18 languages spoken within Dutch-controlled territory.[1] Dutch settlers frequently married indigenous women, most commonly from the Mohawk, with whom they were strong allies.[2] The resulting children often drifted between the territory of the Iroquois Confederacy and New Netherland, forming among themselves a creole taking elements from both languages.

The language disappeared in the 20th century.[3] One lullaby purported to be in Mohawk Dutch was recorded as part of the research for the Dictionary of American Regional English;[4] it is mostly German with one Dutch diminutive suffix (whose German equivalent also occurs), one Dutch word and one word ("baby") that probably comes from a local language.