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The Mobilian language was a trade language used as a lingua franca among Native American groups living along the Gulf of Mexico around the time of European settlement of the region. The name refers to the Mobile Indians of the central Gulf Coast.
Mobilian was used from Florida westward as far as Texas to facilitate trade between tribes speaking different languages. European exploring parties, such as that of de Soto, often had Mobilian-speaking guides along as interpreters.
Mobilian is a pidginized form of Choctaw and Chickasaw that also contains elements of Algonquian and colonial languages including English, Spanish, and French. It has a simplified syllable and sound structure and a simplified grammar as compared to Choctaw, its primary parent language.
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