FW: [NativeNews] Language key to preserving native culture (fwd)

[Beverly Flanigan]

An interesting sidenote is the fact that the greeting quoted contains an
"Indianized" (i.e., nativized) French borrowing, "Bonjour"--not at all
unusual in Northern tribes with historical contact with French and French
Canadian  traders, explorers, etc.  A similar process occurs intertribally
too, of course, as in the spread of Algonquian words to non-Algonquian
languages.  I suspect the present-day teachers and students in these
revitalization programs are only dimly aware, if at all, that some of these
words are not "really" Potawatomie or Ojibwe or Lakota or whatever.

At 12:23 PM 2/11/01 -0700, you wrote:
>With all of the recent discussion of "Indian" vs "Native American", some
>of you-all might be interested in this.
>         Rudy
>
>----------
>From: Senior Staff <senior-staff at nativenewsonline.org>
>Subject: [NativeNews] Language key to preserving native culture
>Date: Sun, Feb 11, 2001, 9:22 AM
>
>Language key to preserving native culture
>February 10, 2001, 12:09 PM
>http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw28253_20010210.htm
>
>HANNAHVILLE, MICHIGAN . (AP) -- A dozen giggling third-graders introduce
>themselves to a visitor at the Hannahville Indian School. "Bo zho,
>Bodewadmi ndaw," they say, which translates as: "Hello, I am Potawatomi."
>
>These few words are the children's first steps toward what leaders of the
>Hannahville Indian Community hope will become a basic knowledge of their
>native language -- and, for some, fluency.
>
>"Sooner or later it's going to be a lost language if we don't preserve it,"
>says Marilyn Shawano, a school board member whose 18-year-old son, Shawn,
>is studying Potawatomi with others in the senior class.
>
>For tribal leaders in Michigan working to preserve native culture, nothing
>is more crucial than teaching the Indian language to younger generations.
>
>Scholars believe some 300 native languages were spoken in North America
>when European colonization began. That has dwindled to about 155 languages
>today.
>
>As economic growth has enabled tribes to fund education programs, language
>classes have become a fixture in tribal schools at Hannahville, Mount
>Pleasant and Sault Ste. Marie. Several other tribes provide access to
>instructors.
>
>Some tribal members call their historical language "Anishinaabemowin," or
>"language of the first people."
>
>"Culture is language, and language is culture. They are bound together,"
>says Kathy LeBlanc, cultural services director at Bay Mills Community
>College, the only tribal college in Michigan.
>
>Operated by the Bay Mills Indian Community, the college in the eastern
>Upper Peninsula village of Brimley offers courses in Ojibwe, one of three
>historical languages of the Great Lakes tribes. The others are Odawa and
>Potawatomi; all are dialects of the Algonquin tongue.
>
>Bay Mills also sponsors a summer immersion program for prospective Ojibwe
>teachers. "We're training people to get out in the streets and teach it to
>prevent it from dying out completely," LeBlanc says.
>
>One of the summer program graduates, Chris Gordon, is language instructor
>at the Bahweting School on the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians
>reservation, which runs from kindergarten through eighth grade.
>
>"Our goal is to have the kids be able to communicate by the time they
>leave," Gordon says. "They're concerned -- "Who do I talk to? My friends
>aren't talking the language.' We need to have community support, because
>it's attainable but it's a lot of hard work."
>
>For the Hannahville tribe, the task is particularly daunting. It has only
>about 700 members, 500 of whom live on the reservation in northern
>Menominee County. None is fluent in Potawatomi, Superintendent Tom Miller
>says.
>
>The school's language teacher, Don Perrot, says there are about 32,000
>Potawatomis scattered across Canada and the states of Michigan, Wisconsin,
>Indiana, Kansas and Oklahoma. He knows of only 58 people -- including
>himself -- who speak the language.
>
>The Hannahville school opened in 1975, but didn't start teaching Potawatomi
>until Perrot arrived in 1996 because no instructor was available. The
>school now offers the language in all 12 grades and adult education classes.
>
>The school also is developing books, visual aids and even a CD-ROM,
>evidence of how high-tech and ancient tradition coexist in many native
>schools. Seven books have been published since Perrot's arrival, two of
>which are available online -- a step that made some tribal elders uneasy.
>
>"They were a little afraid at first of ... making it too available to
>people who might not have the background to appreciate the sacredness of
>it," Perrot says. "But we convinced them that we were losing elders far too
>fast, and we needed to do this so as many people as possible can learn."
>
>Grasping a native language is no easy task, says Larry Martin, director of
>the Center for American Indian Studies at the University of Wisconsin at
>Eau Claire. "There's been a revival of interest for the past couple of
>decades, but relatively few speakers are being produced," he says.
>
>The colorful, spiritual character of Indian languages presents another
>challenge to would-be speakers.
>
>Natives often use descriptive phrases to identify objects that in English
>are labeled with a single noun. For example, the literal meaning of
>"maung," the Ojibwe word for "loon," is "thunder bird of the water."
>
>Similarly, the Potawatomi word for deer is "seski." But the word for
>whitetail deer, "wawashkesh," is a phrase whose literal translation is
>"flash like lightning indicating danger" -- a verbal portrait of the
>frightened deer streaking through the woods.
>
>Many such expressions have spiritual dimensions, LeBlanc says. That is why
>language and culture are inextricably linked, a point emphasized at the
>Hannahville school, where the school week includes ceremonies and
>instruction in native history and traditions.
>
>Molly Meshigaud, a senior, is an accomplished traditional dancer. She makes
>her regalia, including an elaborate "jingle dress," and takes part in
>competitions that require knowledge of language as well as culture.
>
>Sporting a "native pride" headband, Meshigaud says she's grateful to learn
>the language and customs of her ancestors without having to worry about
>government suppression as in the past. But plenty of stereotypes remain, she
>says.
>
>"If you say you're Indian, lots of people think it just means you work at
>the casino," she says.
>
>Classmate Aaron Donovan says he wants to teach Potawatomi someday.
>
>"I hope to be able to hold a conversation by the end of the year," he says.
>"Being a Native American is a special thing to me."
>
>Copyright © 2001 Detroit Free Press Inc.
>
>Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
>doctrine of international copyright law.
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_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm