In the 1880s, Hamilton McMillan claimed that the Lumbee descended from Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony, abandoned on Roanoke Island in 1587.  One of the pieces of evidence to support that allegation is that the language of the Lumbee held very unique Elizabethan words that were also found along the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the area where the colonists, if they survived, would have likely assimilated with the Native people.

Seeing lists of words and hearing the Lumbee dialect is two entirely different experiences.  The North Carolina Language and Life project has documented a number of unique dialects, producing documentaries that can be seen at www.talkingnc.com.  Indian by Birth: The Lumbee Dialect focused on the Robeson County Lumbee and their unique cultural way of speaking.

Indian By Birth: The Lumbee Dialect excerpt

Lumbee English 1

Lumbee English 2

The documentary film, “Indian by Birth: The Lumbee Dialect” is available at this link:

http://ncsu.edu/linguistics/talkingnc/products/indianbybirth.php

Information about the film is available here:

http://ncsu.edu/linguistics/talkingnc/presskits/IndianbyBirthInfo.pdf

Hat tip to John for these video links.