Technology provides Ojibwe language a lifeline (fwd link)

[Mary Hermes]

Last night the launch for the dictionary was fabulous!
It was like the Ojibwe Oscars....  Seeing everyone come together,
after so many years of hard work, really wonderful moment.

I am so grateful and appreciative of the work of Dr. John Nichols!


--------------------------------------------



Mary Hermes, PhD
Associate and Visiting Professor, 2011-12
Curriculum and Instruction
University of Minnesota





On Apr 2, 2012, at 2:03 PM, Phillip E Cash Cash wrote:

> Technology provides Ojibwe language a lifeline
> 
> Article by: JENNA ROSS , Star Tribune Updated: April 2, 2012 - 12:16 AM
> USA
> 
> The University of Minnesota is launching an online Ojibwe dictionary, with hopes it will help preserve the language few still speak.
> 
> This dictionary is no dusty old tome.
> 
> The online Ojibwe People's Dictionary features not just words but the voices of native speakers, not just drawings but historic photographs.
> 
> Professors and students at the University of Minnesota will launch the dictionary this week as their contribution to an urgent effort to preserve the Ojibwe language and spur a new generation of speakers.
> 
> Across the world, linguists and activists, often with the help of universities, are increasingly using digital technology to capture little-spoken languages before they are lost to dominant cultures. Ojibwe is the heritage language of about 200,000 people in the Great Lakes region and Canada, experts estimate, but just a few thousand speak it today.
> 
> "The language is where we turn for knowledge about medicines, culture, ceremony, philosophy," said Prof. Brenda Child, chairwoman of the U's Department of American Indian Studies. "We can communicate in English and still be native people, of course.
> 
> Access full article below:
> http://www.startribune.com/local/145715875.html