James Evans (linguist)
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- This article is about the Canadian missionary. For other people by this name, see James Evans.
James Evans (January 18, 1801 – November 23, 1846) was a Canadian Methodist missionary and amateur linguist. He is best remembered for his creation of writing systems for several Aboriginal languages, including Ojibwe, Cree, and indirectly Inuktitut.
Evans was born in Kingston-upon-Hull in England, but emigrated with his parents to Lower Canada in 1820, where he worked as a teacher. He later moved to Rice Lake and continued his teaching work.
In 1833 he was ordained as a Wesleyan (Methodist) minister, and in 1840 he was given authority over the local district in Norway House in Manitoba. It was during this time that Evans did his greatest work - the development of the Ojibwe and Cree syllabaries. Evans had a flair for languages and had picked up Ojibwe during his work among the people in Upper Canada. He created the Ojibwe syllabary after first trying to apply a Roman script to their language. Later, he modified the syllabary slightly and applied it to Cree, a related language. Both syllabaries are based on Pitman Shorthand. They are both easy to learn, and led to almost universal literacy among the Canadian Ojibwe and Cree native populations within a few years.
Evans's other missionary work was scarred by controversy. Evans clashed several times with the Hudson's Bay Company, mostly over their treatment of the native population. After the accidental shooting at Evans's hand of his friend and co-worker Thomas Hassall in 1844, Evans became increasingly unstable. He was accused of sexual misconduct with native girls under his care. Although he was acquitted, he was sent back to London to defend himself again. The stress took a toll on his health, and he died of a heart attack in 1846.
