This volume collects valuable fragments of linguistic data and accounts of Native language as used among the Algonquian and Iroquoian tribes of New France. Volume 1 documents not only observations on the languages themselves, but also on the mutual intelligibility and geographical extent of various dialects, the various pidgins and jargons which came into use as a result of cultural contact, and the use of European languages such as French and Basque in native North America. This volume also includes several extended tracts in various Native American languages, including Bribeuf's 1636 description of Huron grammar, Lalemant's interlinear translation of a Huron prayer, Vimont's letter in Algonquin, Le Jeune's description of Montagnais, and many others. A map showing the location of the various missions and the approximate distributions of the Native languages is also included, as well as three useful appendices.

When the first European missionaries arrived on other continents, it was decided that the indigenous languages would be used as the means of christianization. There emerged the need to produce grammars and dictionaries of those languages. The study of this linguistic material has so far not received sufficient attention in the field of linguistic historiography. This volume is the first published collection of papers on missionary linguistics world-wide; it represents the insights of recent research, containing an introduction and papers on methodology, meta-historiography, the historical and cultural background. The book contains studies about early-modern linguistic works written in Spanish, Portuguese, English and French, describing among others indigenous languages from North America and Australia, Maya, Quechua, Xhosa, Japanese, Kapampangan, and Visaya. Topics dealt with include: innovations of individual missionaries in lexicography, grammatical analysis, phonology, morphology, or syntax; creativity in descriptive techniques; differences and/or similarities of works from different continents, and different religious backgrounds (Catholic or Protestant).

The focus of this study is the exciting period of French overseas exploration directly following the stagnation caused by the Wars of Religion. The book examines the early period of French involvement in Northeastern America through readings of key texts, principally travel and missionary accounts. Among the works examined are travel writings by Marc Lescarbot (Histoire de la Nouvelle-France) and Samuel de Champlain (Voyages), and missionary works by Gabriel Sagard (Dictionnaire de la Langue Huronne, Histoire du Canada), Jean de Brébeuf, and Paul le Jeune (early Relations de Jésuites). Through a careful examination of these texts, the author discerns a French "rewriting of the self" in relation to the American other, represented by both land and people. America, Brazeau argues, allowed a consolidation of past markers of identity, and forced a radical rereading of others, due to the difficulties presented by the Canadian wilderness and its natives. Writing a New France, 1604-1632 sheds fresh light on a significant moment in French colonial history while providing an innovative contribution to the understanding of early modern French identity and cultural contact.

Unscripted America reconstructs an archive of indigenous language texts in order to present a new and wholly unique account of their impact on philosophy and US literary culture.