Re: Another language candidate for the VMS

[RSRICHMOND@xxxxxxx]

Jacques Guy notes the Mingo Web site:
http://www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/egads/mingo/

This is a strange story, its facts somewhat in dispute. Thomas McElwain, 
about 50 years old, at least a few years ago was the ONLY known speaker of 
this obscure Iroquoian language, whose speakers supposedly hid out in the 
West Virginia hills after the Civil War. He is the informant for Jordan 
Lachler, a graduate student in linguistics.

An Algonkianist I know (who did his Ph.D. studies with the legendary Mary 
Haas) who has some competence in Iroquoian (the language groups are not 
related to each other, though they are geographically adjacent) has told me 
that he believes that this whole story may be a fabrication.

Bob Richmond
Knoxville TN