Re: Another language candidate for the VMS

[RSRICHMOND@xxxxxxx]

I'll ask the Algonkianist if he'll tell us what he knows about Mingo as a 
possible fabrication.

The lack of labials suggests that the language is indeed Iroquoian, since 
Iroquoian languages characteristically lack labials. The only language in 
this group I know anything about is Cherokee (because I live near their 
eastern tribal lands), and it lacks them. Thus our well known Qualla Boundary 
derives its name from the English woman's name Polly, as loaned into a 
language without labial stops.

A well known example of a fabricated language in the Austronesian area was 
the supposed language of the alleged "Stone Age" isolate people called 
Tasaday in the Philippines. The press went wild over this - I don't remember 
the details, but their language was fabricated out of the nearby Hiligaynon 
language.

Bob Richmond
Knoxville, Tennessee