History Main / TontoTalk

* In ''The Sign of the Beaver,'' a children's [[HistoricalFiction historical novel]] by Elizabeth George Speare, an Indian character named Attean is portrayed speaking in a stereotyped pidgin dialect ("What for I read? My grandfather mighty hunter, he not read"), [[ValuesDissonance to the dismay of some modern teachers]] teaching a [[UsefulNotes/NewberyMedal Newbery Honor]] wining book.

* On ''Series/TheBradyBunch'' three-part episode where they went to the Grand Canyon, at one point Bobby and Cindy get lost in the canyon. When they encounter a Native American boy about their age, Bobby opens with Tonto-like "How!" while putting his hand up. The Indian boy is only confused by that and replies "How, what?" with an American accent. Bobby quickly says, "How are you?" The boy's grandfather shows up to take him home, played by Jay Silverheels (Tonto) himself!

* In an episode of ''Series/JeevesAndWooster'', Bertie Wooster (as part of a ZanyScheme) is persuaded to disguise himself in {{blackface}} as an African chief to retrieve a tribal artifact. He naturally assumes that as the "chief" he should speak in Tonto Talk. The [[UpperClassTwit poor dolt]] only succeeds in making everything think he's gone insane. Then to make matters even worse, the ''real'' chief shows up-- speaking the Queen's English in a flawless Oxford accent due to [[MajoredInWesternHypocrisy his university education]].
* As the TropeNamer, both invoked and subverted in ''Franchise/TheLoneRanger'' TV show from the fifties. Jay Silverheels' Tonto regularly speaks like this in conversation with any white character, including his friend the Ranger...but one episode showed Tonto negotiating with another Native American chief, and the two of them spoke perfect, if rather stilted, formal, and contraction-less, English. Most likely meant to be a {{TranslationConvention}} to show that the two were speaking their native language to each other.

* Tonto from ''Radio/TheLoneRanger'' is the TropeNamer and possibly the trope codifier. Language aside, he was portrayed as highly intelligent (actor John Todd's "Hmmm..." could speak volumes), often coming across as smarter than the Lone Ranger. Jay Silverheels in interviews and comedy skits used to make fun of the "him say" stuff and used the term "Tonto talk." Modern versions, such as the 1981 film and the Dynamite comic series, did away with this, due to the creators wanting to portray Tonto more respectfully. The 2013 film, however, brought it back.

** Chief Scalpem[[note]]Wigwam, depending on the version[[/note]], who is an obvious Native American, also speaks this way, saying "Me ready for Pow-wow," and "Me Pow-wowed out" before and after his boss fight, respectively[[note]]in the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendo port, his subtitles are reworked to "''get'' ready for a pow-wow" and "''I'm'' pow-wowed out", and his voice files are likewise edited to remove the "me" at the start[[/note]]. His sister, who appears after he's defeated to beg the main characters not to kill him, speaks perfect English.

A variation of YouNoTakeCandle, but one which applies specifically to Native Americans. For decades (if not centuries) Native Americans were portrayed in fiction speaking a form of pidgin English characterised by the phrases "heap big," "ugh," and "how," and verbs conjugated with "um." Trains are referred to as "iron horses," guns as "thundersticks," white people as "palefaces" (who speak with forked tongue), a baby as a "papoose," the tribal leader as "Big Chief," money as "wampum," and whiskey as "firewater."[[note]]In Spanish -in humoristic depictions- there's something similar too (the YouNoTakeCandle style), with them conjugating verbs just in infinitive as well as knowing stuff as trains or whiskey as mentioned before.[[/note]]

* Averted in ''Film/TheMissing'', where all the Native tribes do speak realistically, though with accents.

'''Pronto:''' Me go Harvard. Me [[IncrediblyLamePun Boston brave.]]

* As the {{TropeNamer,}} both invoked and subverted in ''Franchise/TheLoneRanger'' TV show from the fifties. Jay Silverheels' Tonto regularly speaks like this in conversation with any white character, including his friend the Ranger...but one episode showed Tonto negotiating with another Native American chief, and the two of them spoke perfect, if rather stilted, formal, and contraction-less, English. Most likely meant to be a {{TranslationConvention}} to show that the two were speaking their native language to each other.

* A middle-aged couple traveling through New Mexico were in a cafe and couple of Zuni nearby overheard them talking about becoming forgetful with age. The younger one said "Getting old doesn't have to mean you lose your memory. My great-grandpa is close to 100 and he remembers everything. Just ask him." So the husband says "What did you have for breakfast on this day in 1944?" The old guy says "Bacon and Eggs." Twenty years later, the couple stop at the same cafe and Grandpa is still sitting there. So the husband goes up to his table and says "How!" And Grandpa says "Fried."

* ''Literature/AbleTeam''. Downplayed when the team encounter Nate, a Vietnam veteran living with an indigenous tribe in the mountains of Guatemella. He's GoneNative and hasn't spoken English in decades, so he keeps pausing to remember the words.

* In an episode of ''Series/JeevesAndWooster'', Bertie Wooster (as part of a ZanyScheme) is persuaded to disguise himself in {{Blackface}} as an African chief to retrieve a tribal artifact. He naturally assumes that as the "chief" he should speak in Tonto Talk. The [[UpperClassTwit poor dolt]] only succeeds in making everything think he's gone insane. Then to make matters even worse, the ''real'' chief shows up-- speaking the Queen's English in a flawless Oxford accent due to [[MajoredInWesternHypocrisy his university education]].

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* Spoofed in ''Film/{{Assassination}}'' (1987) when a Native American is apparently speaking like this, but is actually a TerseTalker. When Creator/CharlesBronson's character responds in kind, he delivers a long tirade over the idea that an American can't speak good English.

* Chief Screaming Chicken talks like this in the ''Series/Batman1966'' episode he appears in.

A variation of YouNoTakeCandle, but one which applies specifically to Native Americans. For decades (if not centuries) Native Americans were portrayed in fiction speaking a form of pidgin English characterised by the phrases "heap big," "ugh," and "how," and verbs conjugated with "um." Trains are referred to as "iron horses," white people as "palefaces" (who speak with forked tongue), a baby as a "papoose," the tribal leader as "Big Chief," money as "wampum," and whiskey as "firewater."[[note]]In Spanish -in humoristic depictions- there's something similar too (the YouNoTakeCandle style), with them conjugating verbs just in infinitive as well as knowing stuff as trains or whiskey as mentioned before.[[/note]]

Straight usages of this trope have fallen out of favor due to racial sensitivity (and due to the language barrier that AIPE was meant to bridge simply not being there anymore, since the vast majority of Natives are raised with actual, fluent English these days; unfortunately [[https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/saving-americas-endangered-languages most of the old languages]] [[https://hir.harvard.edu/the-death-and-revival-of-indigenous-languages/ are dead or dying]], [[http://www.native-languages.org/revive.htm although there are efforts]] to preserve/[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_revived_languages#Native_American_languages revive them]]), although it is parodied. A common gag involves a white (or otherwise non-indigenous) character speaking to a Native American in this manner on the assumption that this is how all Native Americans talk, only to receive a bemused response in perfectly articulate English.

See also ElectiveBrokenLanguage, for when a Native American can speak English perfectly and just fakes this trope, either for making fun of white people's stereotypes or for ObfuscatingStupidity.

* ''ComicBook/OmpaPaTheRedskin'': Ompa-pa and the other indians speaks that way.

* In an episode of ''Series/JeevesAndWooster'', Bertie Wooster (as part of a ZanyScheme) is persuaded to disguise himself in {{Blackface}} as an African chief to retrieve a tribal artifact. He naturally assumes that as the "chief" he should speak in Tonto Talk. The [[UpperClassTwit poor dolt]] only succeeds in making everything think he's gone insane. Then to make matters even worse, the ''real'' chief shows up-- speaking the Queen's English in a flawless Oxford accent due to his university education.

* In the Australian current affairs show ''Real Life'', indigenous reporter Stan Grant, while interviewing an American actor, showed an OldShame clip of the actor in BlackFace portraying an indigenous Australian (with the genuine article as literal {{Spear Carrier}}s in the background) talking exactly like this.

* Tonto from ''Radio/TheLoneRanger'' is the TropeNamer and possibly the trope codifier. Language aside, he was portrayed as highly intelligent (actor John Todd's "Hmmm..." could speak volumes), often coming across as smarter than the Lone Ranger. Jay Silverheels in interviews and comedy skits used to make fun of the "him say" stuff and used the term "Tonto talk." Modern versions, such as the 1981 film and the Dynamite comic series, did away with this, due to the creators wanting to portray Tonto respectfully. The 2013 film, however, brought it back.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'' visit an Indian village where the guide subverts this while breaking the fourth wall. From the episode "Little Child."

* In the Australian current affairs show ''Real Life'', indigenous reporter Stan Grant, while interviewing an American actor--showed an OldShame clip of him in BlackFace portraying an indigenous Australian (with the genuine article as literal {{Spear Carrier}}s in the background) talking exactly like this.

* In the Australian current affairs show ''Real Life'', indigenous reporter Stan Grant showed an OldShame clip with an American actor in BlackFace portraying an indigenous Australian (with the genuine article as literal {{Spear Carrier}}s in the background) talking exactly like this.

'''Ten Bears:''' [[{{Beat}} ...]] I ''[[SubvertedTrope am]]'' Ten Bears.

* Completely averted in [[Literature/BloodMeridian Blood Meridian]]. No native characters speak in English; either they have no dialogue, their conversation is in their native language but not recorded in the text, or they speak in reasonably fluent Spanish, as is the case with the Yuma chief [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Caballo en Pelo]].