Algonquian–Basque pidgin

{{Short description|Pidgin language last attested in 1711, in Canada}}

{{distinguish|Belle Isle Pidgin}}

{{expand language|topic=|langcode=eu|otherarticle=Algonkin-euskara pidgina|date=July 2014}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Algonquian–Basque pidgin

| altname = Souriquois

| region = Gulf of St. Lawrence

| era = 16th to 18th century

| ref =

| familycolor = pidgin

| family = Basque-based pidgin

| iso3 = none

| glotto = basq1252

| glottorefname = Basque-Amerindian Pidgin

| map = Basques Newfoundland.gif

| mapcaption = Basque and Breton fishing sites in 16th and 17th centuries.

| ethnicity = Basques, local Algonquian peoples

| linglist = qba

}}

Algonquian–Basque pidgin, also known as Souriquois,{{cite book |last1=Mithun |first1=Marianne |title=The Languages of Native North America |date=7 June 2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107392809 |page=VII}} is a Basque-based pidgin proposed by linguist Peter Bakker to have been spoken by Basque whalers and various Algonquian peoples. It was spoken around the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It was in use from at least 1580 until 1635, and was last attested in 1711.{{cite journal |last=Bakker |first=Peter |date=Fall–Winter 1989 |title="The Language of the Coast Tribes is Half Basque": A Basque-American Indian Pidgin in Use between Europeans and Native Americans in North America, ca. 1540-ca. 1640 |journal=Anthropological Linguistics |publisher=Trustees of Indiana University |volume=31 |number=3/4 |pages=117–147 |jstor=30027995}}{{page needed|date=November 2022}}

There were three groups of First Nations that the Basque people distinguished. The ones with which they had good relations were the Montagnais and the St. Lawrence Iroquoians. They also knew of the Inuit, whom they considered hostile. The Basque people referred to them as the Montaneses, the Canaleses, and the Esquimoas, respectively.{{Cite web |url=http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/expositions-exhibitions/echo/html/e-echos-0702.html |title=Echoes from the Past |access-date=2012-07-06 |archive-date=2012-09-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929214838/http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/expositions-exhibitions/echo/html/e-echos-0702.html |url-status=dead }}