Linguist breathes life into ancestral language (fwd link)

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Linguist breathes life into ancestral language

By Samantha Balaban/Correspondent
GateHouse News Service
Posted Feb 23, 2011 @ 08:00 AM
USA

Lexington — “Sâpaheekanuhtyâtôh” — translated as “Let’s Make Soup”— is
a children’s story that Jessie “Little Doe” Baird wrote in Wampanoag,
the Algonquian language of her ancestors.

Wampanoag, or Wôpanâak, was spoken by tens of thousands of people in
southeastern New England until the middle of the 19th century. After
the fragmentation of Wampanoag communities in a land dominated by
English speakers, the language ceased to be spoken and was preserved
only in written records.

A linguist and 2010 MacArthur Fellow, Baird is reviving the
long-silent language of her Native American community through
children’s stories, educational programs and an 11,000-word
Wampanoag-English dictionary.



Read more: Linguist breathes life into ancestral language - Lexington,
MA - Lexington Minuteman
http://www.wickedlocal.com/lexington/archive/x1694031603/Linguist-breathes-life-into-ancestral-language#ixzz1EuzNQFS0