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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Photo: "New World" Film Revives Extinct Native American Tongue


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Colin Farrell (left) as Captain John Smith and Raoul Trujillo as Tomocomo play a game of strength in this studio still from New Line Cinema's The New World, which was released today.

Linguist Blair Rudes reconstructed Virginia Algonquian, a language that no one had spoken for about 200 years, to help give the film's dialogue an authentic sound.

Listen to an audio clip Rudes created to teach Virginia Algonquian to the actors. The scene being read involves Englishman John Smith speaking to the Native American chief Powhatan through the tribe's interpreter, Tomocomo

Photograph copyright 2005 Merie Wallace, SMPSP/New Line Productions