Mohawk Dutch

{{Short description|Extinct language of North America}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Mohawk Dutch

| nativename =

| states = New Netherland

| region = North America

| extinct = possibly late 19th to early 20th century

| familycolor = Creole

| fam1 = Dutch-based creole with Mohawk

| iso3 = none

| glotto = none

| notice = IPA

}}

{{Dutch dialects}}

Mohawk Dutch is an 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.{{cite book |last1=Pearson |first1=Jonathan |last2=MacMurray |first2=Junius W. |title=A History of the Schenectady Patent in the Dutch and English Times |date=1883 |publisher=Joel Munsell's Sons |location=Albany, NY |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RQCAAAAYAAJ |author1-link=Jonathan Pearson}}{{Citation not found|date=January 2023}} Dutch settlers frequently married indigenous women, most commonly from the Mohawk, with whom they were strong allies.{{cite book |last1=Nellis |first1=Milo |title=The Mohawk Dutch and the Palatines: Their Background and Their Influence in the Development of the United States of America |date=1951 |url=http://threerivershms.com/mohawkdutch.htm |access-date=23 September 2021}} 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.

One lullaby purported to be in Mohawk Dutch was recorded as part of the research for the Dictionary of American Regional English;{{cite AV media |last=Russom |first=Geoffrey (fieldworker) |author-link=Geoffrey Russom |date=1969 |title=Primary Informant NY194 |type=Fieldwork recording |language=en, Mohawk Dutch |url=https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/PJXBX7UY5HODA8C |access-date=23 September 2021 |format=MP4 |minutes=4:27 |location=Canajoharie, NY |publisher=Dictionary of American Regional English |via=University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries}} 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.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}