Native peoples ask Jesuits to help preserve language (fwd link)

Rolland Nadjiwon mikinakn at SHAW.CA
Sat May 28 20:11:58 UTC 2011


Hi Richard...I have consulted the ‘sages’ of the ‘sweetgrass’ and, as I figured with ‘anishnabemowin’, there is no direct transference back and forth between our language and ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘forgive me’. 
The closest we could come is to say ‘ni mahnandum’ and which translates literally as, ‘I think negatively about.....’ and that ‘something’ has to be identifiable in the statement. We have no ‘blanket’ words equivalent to the panacea of ‘I’m sorry....’ Anishnabemowin is not an abstract language or abstractly speculative....

I’m sorry I couldn’t come up with more... I think I will cross post this to Netrez-L. It should interest a few people there and perhaps elicit more responses.

_______
wahjeh
rolland nadjiwon
------------------------------------------------------------------
"there was a time when we could list the problems...
not anymore...
the situation has outdistanced our ability to understand it...."

From: Richard Zane Smith 
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 10:20 PM
To:  
Subject: Re: Native peoples ask Jesuits to help preserve language (fwd link)

it would be an interesting study:
the anthropological cultural psychological apologetics of a culture of apologies.

what is the root of : "i'm sorry" , " forgive me" 
are there any indigenous cultures who use similar words.
Wyandot have a word that is translated as "I'm sorry"  a'yetate'
but honestly i don't really know what that means...
rzs




On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 4:34 PM, Rolland Nadjiwon <mikinakn at shaw.ca> wrote:

  I simply respond to people who ‘apologize’ to me or say, ‘I’m sorry....’ ‘Please don’t apologize to me or tell me you are sorry...just don’t do it again and/or fix it.’ Apologies, to me, are simply a license to repeat inappropriate action and I will not allow myself to be victimized by an apology. I see people repeatedly victimized by their willingness to ‘forgive’ perpetrators. 

    

  _______
  wahjeh
  rolland nadjiwon
  ------------------------------------------------------------------
  "there was a time when we could list the problems...
  not anymore...
  the situation has outdistanced our ability to understand it...."

  From: Dr. MJ Hardman 
  Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 2:27 PM
  To: 
  Subject: Re: Native peoples ask Jesuits to help preserve language (fwd link)

  Well said.  Some of us study the ‘apologies that aren’t apologies.’  MJ


  On 5/25/11 2:10 PM, "Richard Zane Smith" <wlmailhtml:rzs at WILDBLUE.NET> wrote:


    on a similar note:
    Public apologies are big media events and becoming "the in thing"
    Apologies ought to accompany a commitment to undo damage that's confessed to,
    not simply a time for the abuser to get a hug and made to "feel better".

    as much as apologies are nice...many tack on disclaimers in fine print at the end
    to make sure no one can legally hold them accountable to their admissions.

    a public apology puts Indigenous people ON THE SPOT.

    To refuse to accept a public apology makes indigenous people look "unforgiving" and mean,
    and the "apologizers" as the ones turned away for seeking to right a wrong.
    but
    to accept apology gives the abuser documentation of "a public forgiveness" 
    a freedom from guilt, a sigh of relief that they may be now free from prosecution.

    Either way,an apology without committment to work to heal or undo damage,
    is merely an emotional "feel good event" for the party with dirty hands.


    ske:noh,
    Richard Zane Smith
    Wyandotte Oklahoma




    On Wed, May 25, 2011 at 12:51 AM, Phillip E Cash Cash <wlmailhtml:cashcash at email.arizona.edu> wrote:

      Native peoples ask Jesuits to help preserve language

      May. 23, 2011
      By Michael Swan, Catholic News Service
      CA

      TORONTO -- As Canada's Jesuits remembered their first steps on North
      American soil and the welcome they received from Mi'kmaq people 400
      years ago, the Mi'kmaq asked for a favor.

      "Maybe it's time for the Mi'kmaq to ask for your help in preserving
      our language," Grand Keptin Antle Denny told three dozen Canadian
      Jesuits and about 100 guests who had gathered to mark the 1611 landing
      of two Jesuits at Port Royal in what is now Nova Scotia.

      Access full article below:
      http://ncronline.org/news/native-peoples-ask-jesuits-help-preserve-language





  Dr. MJ Hardman
  Professor of Linguistics and Anthropology
  Department of Linguistics
  University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
  Doctora Honoris Causa UNMSM, Lima, Perú 
  website:  http://grove.ufl..edu/~hardman/ 


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-- 

rzs at wildblue.net

richardzanesmith.wordpress.com


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