Anishinaabe language

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Anishinaabe language ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᒧᐎᓐ Anishinaabemowin
Pronunciation:	IPA: [ənɪʃɪnaːbeːmoɰɪn]
Spoken in:	Canada, United States
Region:	Ontario, Manitoba and into Saskatchewan, with outlying groups as far west as British Columbia; in the United States, from Upper Michigan westward to North Dakota
Total speakers:	55,000
Language family:	Algic  Algonquian   Anishinaabe language
Writing system:	Ojibwe syllabary
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	oj
ISO 639-2:	oji
ISO/FDIS 639-3:	variously: oji — Ojibwa (generic) ojc — Central Ojibwe ciw — Chippewa ojg — Eastern Ojibwe ojb — Northwestern Ojibwe otw — Ottawa ojs — Severn Ojibwe ojw — Western Ojibwe
Pre-contact distribution of the Nakawēmowin, Ojibwemowin and Omaamiwininimowin dialects of the Anishinaabe language
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.

The Anishinaabe language or the Ojibwe group of languages or Anishinaabemowin (ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᒧᐎᓐ in Eastern Ojibwe syllabics) is the third most commonly spoken Native language in Canada (after Cree and Inuktitut), and the fourth most spoken in North America (behind Navajo, Cree, and Inuktitut). It is spoken by the Anishinaabeg who are the Algonquin, Nipissing, Ojibwa (Chippewa), Saulteaux, Mississaugas and Odawa (Ottawa). Very closely related to Anishinaabemowin and often included in this group are the Anishininimowin language and the Potawatomi language. As their fur trading with the French increased the Ojibwas’ power, the Anishinaabe language became the trade language of the Great Lakes region, and was for hundreds of years an extremely significant presence in the northern United States.

Contents 1 Classification 2 Geographic distribution 3 Dialects 3.1 Anicinàbemowin (Omàmiwininimowin) 3.2 Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwemowin) 3.3 Anihšināpēmowin (Nakawēmowin) 3.4 Nishnaabemwin (Jibwemwin/Daawaamwin) 3.5 Neshnabémwen (Bodéwadmimwen) 3.6 Anishininiimowin 4 Phonology 5 Grammar 6 Vocabulary 7 Writing system 7.1 Double Vowel System 8 Examples 8.1 Text 8.2 Translation 8.3 Gloss 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Classification

Anishinaabemowin, often simply called as the "Ojibwe language," is an Algonquian language, of the Algic family of languages, and is descended from Proto-Algonquian. Among its sister languages are Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Cree, Fox, Menominee, Potawatomi, and Shawnee. The Algic family contains the Algonquian languages and the so-called "Ritwan" languages, Wiyot and Yurok. Ojibwe is frequently referred to as a "Central Algonquian" language; however, Central Algonquian is an areal grouping rather than a genetic one. Among Algonquian languages, only the Eastern Algonquian languages constitute a true genetic subgroup. This article deals primarily with the Southwestern Ojibwe dialect spoken in the northern United States, around Minnesota and Wisconsin. Therefore, some of the descriptions given here will not necessarily hold true for other dialects of the Anishinaabe language, unless an example is specifically given.

[edit] Geographic distribution

The Anishinaabe language is spoken by around 10,000 people in the United States and by as many as 45,000 in Canada, making it one of the largest Algic languages by speakers. The various dialects are spoken in northern Montana, northern North Dakota, northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, Michigan and northern Indiana in the United States, and north into eastern British Columbia, southern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba, Ontario, and west-central Quebec in Canada.

[edit] Dialects

The Anishinaabe language has quite a few divergent dialects. The primary ones are Nipissing and Algonquin, Plains Ojibwe (Saulteaux/Bungee), Eastern Ojibwe (Mississaugas), Northern Ojibwe (Northwestern Ojibwa/Ontario Saulteaux), Odaawaa (Ottawa), Severn Ojibwe (Oji-Cree/Northern Ojibwa), and Southwestern Ojibwe (Chippewa).

[edit] Anicinàbemowin (Omàmiwininimowin)

Ethnologue entries and SIL codes: ALQ (Algonquin)

Main article: Algonquin language

The Algonquin Language, also known as the Omaamiwininimowin Dialect of the Anishinaabe Language, was the first language of the Ojibwe language group in contact with the Europeans. It is the eastern-most form of Anishinaabemowin. Due to associated trade with the continent's interior, all languages similar in structure to the Algonquin Language were then described as being an Algonquian language. Omaamiwininimowin, due to cultural differences, are divided into two groups: Nipissing speaking the Anishinaabemowin (Omaamiwininimowin) language and the Algonquin speaking the Anicinàbemowin (Omàmiwininimowin) language. The Algonquin language proper, also known as Northern Omaamiwininimowin, is spoken along the Ottawa River valley of present day Quebec-Ontario border, centered around Lake Abitibi. The Nipissing language proper, also known as Southern Omaamiwininimowin, is located about Lake Nipissing in Ontario. Both divisions have little difficulties communicating with each other. However, Algonquin is considered by some to be a particularly divergent dialect of Anishinaabemowin, and by others to be a distinct language which is very similar to Anishinaabemowin, due to Northern Omaamiwininimowin often acting a transition language between the Ojibwe language group and Abnaki. Similarly, if the Algonquin language were treated as a fully separate language, Southern Omaamiwininimowin would then act as a transition between the Algonquin language proper and the rest of the Ojibwe group of languages. The Ojibwe often do describe the Nipissing as Omaamiwinini and their language as Omaamiwininimowin but calls the Algonquins instead as Odishkwaagamii and their language as Odishkwaagamiimowin. However, the Nipissing describe their language in English, not as being Ojibwa, but instead as Algonquin. Speakers of this dialect generally use the Algonquin Roman but some speakers will use the eastern Ojibwe syllabics, with either the a-finals or i-finals, with the exception of the northern-most communities showing some use of mixed-finals.

[edit] Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwemowin)

Ethnologue entries and SIL codes: CIW (Southwestern Ojibwe ("Chippewa")), OJC (Central Ojibwe), OJB (North(west)ern Ojibwe)

The Ojibwemowin dialect of the Anishinaabe language is commonly referred as the Ojibwa language, Chippewa language, or Anishinaabe language proper. Of all the dialects of the Anishinaabeg, this dialect is the most numerous in number of speakers. Depending on the sources, this dialect is generally broken down to three smaller sub-dialects, driven mainly by the differing political climate affecting Ojibwemowin, resulting in differences in some word usage. Ethnologue entries and SIL International generally will group all of the Ojibwemowin spoken in the United States as "Chippewa," Canada's Treaty No. 3 and western Robinson-Superior Treaty areas as the "Northwestern Ojibwa," and eastern Robinson-Superior and Robinson-Huron Treaty areas between Lake Nipigon and Lake Nipissing as "Central Ojibwa." However, The Linguasphere Register calls Ethnologue's "Central Ojibwa" as "Eastern Anissinapek" and extends the boundaries into Michigan. The Linguasphere Register also combines the other two Ethnologue dialects with the Anihšināpēmowin dialect and call this combination "Southwestern Anissinapek", but provides a third dialect spoken around Lake of the Woods as "Southern Anissinapek."

Speakers of this dialect do not have a set orthography to present the language in writing, thus varying from community to community, and even from one speaker to another. For the purposes of international communication, though, often the Double vowel spelling is used. Among educators, the Double vowel system is gaining popularity due to its ease of use. Syllabics are generally used in Canada and in areas adjacent to Canada in the United States. Roman spelling is found throughout the range of this dialect, but the Ojibwemowin speakers in Canada when using a Roman spelling, generally perfer either the Folk Spelling or the Hybrid spelling, though Double vowel system is gaining popularity. In the United States, Double vowel and the Folk systems are generally used.

[edit] Anihšināpēmowin (Nakawēmowin)

Ethnologue entries and SIL codes: OJW (Plains Ojibwe/Saulteaux ("Western Ojibwe"))

Known as Plains Ojibwe, Saulteaux or Bungee, these Western Ojibwe call themselves Nakawē and their form of Anihšināpēmowin as Nakawēmowin. This dialect is sometimes broken down by sub-regions as "Manitoba Saulteaux" (spoken in Manitoba and part of Saskatchewan) and "Western Saulteaux" (spoken in Saskatchewan and westward). Unlike Ojibwemowin where speakers often resist importing non-Anishinaabe words, Nakawēmowin often incorporates words from other languages. The Nakawēmowin dialect have higher instances of Cree, French and English word borrowings. While the Manitoba Saulteaux is more like their woodlands counterpart of Ontario Saulteaux, Western Saulteaux further incorporate words from other languages found in the northern Great Plains of Saskatchewan, Alberta and western British Columbia. The Bungee dialect or language, used by the Nakawē Métis population, further incorporates additional words from Scottish Gaelic. Many communities write using western Ojibwe syllabics, but others use the Saulteaux-Cree Roman. Another distinct feature of Nakawēmowin, when compared to the Ojibwemowin, is the variability in some communities between sh and zh with s and z, but more commonly where sh and zh have merged with s and z.

[edit] Nishnaabemwin (Jibwemwin/Daawaamwin)

Ethnologue entries and SIL codes: OJG (Eastern Ojibwe), OTW (Odaawaa)

A defining characteristic of many of the more northern and eastern dialects is that they exhibit a great deal of vowel syncope, the deletion of vowels in certain positions within a word. In these dialects, generally all unstressed short vowels are lost (see the article on Ojibwe phonology for a discussion of Ojibwe stress). For example, the name for the language itself in the Odaawaa language, also known as Daawaamwin, is Nishnaabemwin, where the unstressed vowels from Anishinaabemowin have been lost. The main difference between Jibwemwin (Eastern Ojibwe or Mississaugas) and Daawaamwin is the choice of words and expressions. Otherwise, both divisions of Nishnaabemwin have little or no difficulties understanding each other. This dialect is generally written with a modified Fiero-Nichols Double vowel system called Rhodes Double vowel system. Daawaamwin speakers sometime use the Great Lakes Aboriginal Syllabics when putting their language in writing. Ontario Ministry of Education calls this dialect Central Ojibwa.

[edit] Neshnabémwen (Bodéwadmimwen)

Ethnologue entries and SIL codes: POT (Potawatomi).

Main article: Potawatomi language

One of the traditional names for the Potawatomi language is Neshnabémwen, which like the Nishnaabemwin dialect, the name indicates this language or dialect exhibits a great deal of vowel syncope. Unlike the Nishnaabemwin, Neshnabémwen also reduces the quality of the unstressed short vowels not lost in syncope to a schwa. In addition, Neshnabémwen retains in some words a medial "y", which is no longer found in any of the other Ojibwe group languages. Because of the development of these differences and some vocabulary wording differences of significance since the contact period, such as retention of words more similar to those used by the Sac and Fox, though Potawatomi was at one time a full member of the Ojibwe language group, it is now considered a separate language. However, among the Anishinaabeg, many still consider the Potawatomi language as a dialect of Anishinaabemowin.

[edit] Anishininiimowin

Ethnologue entries and SIL codes: OJS (Severn Ojibwe)

Main article: Anishininimowin language

Called in English Oji-Cree, Cree-Saulteaux, Cree-Ojibwa, Severn Ojibwe or Northern Ojibwa, the Anishininiimowin language is spoken in northern northwestern Ontario and east-central Manitoba. It is a transition language that can be considered either a dialect of Anishinaabemowin or a dialect of Nēhināwēmowin (Cree Language), or an independent language in its own right. Anishininiimowin speakers generally prefer to write the language using Syllabics. Among vocabulary words not common between Anishinaabemowin and Nēhināwēmowin, Anishininiimowin draws equally from both. However, considering that Anishininiimowin language, contemprary Ojibwemowin dialect of Anishinaabe language and Swampy Cree dialect of the Cree language are all the n-dialect of each of their respective languages, often it is impossible to make a distinction of Anishininiimowin from either Anishinaabemowin or Nēhināwēmowin. In addition, Anishininiimowin vowel qualities are more in line with Anishinaabemowin, even with words drawn from Nēhināwēmowin. It has several dialects or sub-dialects, known by the region of its use: Winisk River, Severn River, Sandy Lake and Island Lake.

[edit] Phonology

Main article: Ojibwe phonology

Ojibwe group of languages generally have 18 consonants. Obstruents are often said to have a lenis/fortis contrast, where those written as voiceless are pronounced more strongly, significantly longer in duration, and often aspirated or pre-aspirated, while those written as voiced are pronounced less strongly and significantly shorter in duration. For many communities, however, the distinction has become a simple voiced/voiceless one.

There are three short vowels, /i a o/, and three corresponding long vowels, /iː aː oː/, as well as a fourth long vowel which lacks a corresponding short vowel, /eː/. The short vowels differ in quality as well as quantity from the long vowels, are phonetically closer to [ɪ], [ə]~[ʌ], and [o]~[ʊ]. /oː/ is pronounced [uː] for many speakers, and /eː/ is for many [ɛː]. There are also nasal vowels, which are comparatively rare.

With regards to stress, the Anishinaabe language divides words into metrical "feet," each foot containing a strong syllable and (if two-syllables long) a weak syllable. The strong syllables all receive at least secondary stress. In general, the strong syllable in the third foot from the end of a word receives the primary stress. In many dialects, unstressed vowels are frequently lost or change quality.

[edit] Grammar

Main article: Ojibwe grammar

Like many Native American languages, the Anishinaabe language is polysynthetic, meaning it exhibits a great deal of synthesis and a very high morpheme-to-word ratio. It is agglutinating, and thus builds up words by stringing morpheme after morpheme together, rather than having several affixes, each of which carry numerous different pieces of information.

There is a distinction between two different types of third person, the proximate (the third person deemed more important or in-focus) and the obviative (the third person deemed less important or out-of-focus). Nouns can be singular or plural, and one of two genders, animate or inanimate. Separate personal pronouns exist, but are usually used for emphasis; they distinguish inclusive and exclusive first person plurals.

Verbs constitute the most complex word class. Verbs are inflected for one of three orders (indicative, the default, conjunct, used for participles and in subordinate clauses, and imperative, used with commands), as negative or affirmative, and for the person, number, animacy, and proximate/obviative status of both its subject and object, as well as for several different modes (including the dubitative and preterit) and tenses.

[edit] Vocabulary

Although it does contain a few loans from English (gaapii, "coffee," maam(aa), "mom") and French (naapaane, "flour" (from la farine, "the flour"), ni-tii, "tea" (from le thé, "the tea")), in general, the Anishinaabe language is notable for its relative lack of borrowing from other languages. Instead, speakers far prefer to create words for new concepts from existing vocabulary. For example in Ojibwemowin, "airplane" is bemisemagak, literally "thing that flies" (from bimisemagad, "to fly"), and "battery" is ishkode-makakoons, literally "little fire-box" (from ishkode, "fire," and makak, "box"). Even "coffee" is called makade-mashkikiwaaboo ("black liquid-medicine") by many speakers, rather than gaapii.

[edit] Writing system

Main article: Ojibwe writing systems

Ojibwemowin is written using a syllabary, which is usually said to have been developed by missionary James Evans around 1840 and based on Pitman's shorthand. In the United States, the language is most often written phonemically with Roman characters. Syllabics are primarily used in Canada. The newest Roman character-based writing system is the Double Vowel System, devised by Charles Fiero. Although there is no standard orthography, the Double Vowel System is quickly gaining popularity among language teachers in the United States and Canada because of its ease of use.

[edit] Double Vowel System

The Double Vowel System consists of three short vowels, four long vowels, 18 consonants and 1 nasal, represented with the following Roman letters:

a aa b ch d e g ' h i ii j k m n ny o oo p s sh t w y z zh

This system is called "Double Vowel" from the fact that the long vowel correspondences to the short vowels <a>, <i> and <o> are written with a doubled value. In this system, the nasal "ny" as a final element is instead written as "nh." The allowable consonant clusters are <mb>, <nd>, <ng>, <n'>, <nj>, <nz>, <ns>, <nzh>, <sk>, <shp>, <sht> and <shk>.

[edit] Examples

This Ojibwemowin example text is taken, with permission, from the first four lines of Niizh Ikwewag, a story originally told by John Nichols, on Professor Brian Donovan of Bemidji State University's webpage.

[edit] Text

1. Aabiding gii-ayaawag niizh ikwewag: mindimooyenh, odaanisan bezhig.
2. Iwidi Chi-achaabaaning akeyaa gii-onjibaawag.
3. Inashke naa mewinzha gii-aawan, mii eta go imaa sa wiigiwaaming gaa-taawaad igo.
4. Mii dash iwapii, aabiding igo gii-awi-bagida'waawaad, giigoonyan wii-amwaawaad.

[edit] Translation

1. Once there were two women: an old lady, and one of her daughters.
2. They were from over there towards Inger. 47°33′15″N, 93°59′07″W
3. See now, it was long ago; they just lived there in a wigwam.
4. And at that time, once they went net-fishing; they intended to eat fish.

[edit] Gloss

Aabiding	gii-ayaawag			niizh	ikwewag:		mindimooyenh,	odaanisan			bezhig.
aabiding	gii-	ayaa	-wag	niizh	ikwe	-wag	mindimooyenh,	o-	daanis	-an	bezhig.
once	PAST-	be in a certain place	-3PL	two	woman	-3PL	old woman,	3SG.POSS-	daughter	-OBV	one.
Once	they were in a certain place			two	women:		old woman,	her daughter			one.

Iwidi	Chi-achaabaaning			akeyaa	gii-onjibaawag.
iwidi	chi-	achaabaan	-ing	akeyaa	gii-	onjibaa	-wag.
over there	big-	bowstring	-LOC	that way	PAST-	come from	-3PL.
Over there	by Inger (lit: by Big-Bowstring [River])			that way	they came from there.

Inashke

naa

mewinzha

gii-aawan,

mii eta go

imaa

sa

wiigiwaaming

gaa-taawaad

igo.

inashke

naa

mewinzha

gii-

aawan

mii

eta

go

imaa

sa

wiigiwaam

-ing

gaa-

daa

-waad

igo.

look

thus

long ago

PAST-

be

EMPH

only

EMPH

there

EMPH

wigwam

-LOC

PAST.CONJ-

live

-3PL.CONJ

EMPH.

Look

thus

long ago

it was,

only

there

so

in a wigwam

that they lived

just then.

Mii dash

iwapii,

aabiding

igo

gii-awi-bagida'waawaad,

giigoonyan

wii-amwaawaad.

mii

dash

iw-

-apii

aabiding

igo

gii-

awi-

bagida'waa

-waad,

giigoonh

-yan

wii-

amw

-aawaad.

EMPH

CONTR

that-

-then

once

EMPH

PAST-

go and-

fish with a net

-3PL.CONJ

fish

-OBV

DESD-

eat

-3PL/OBV

And then

then,

once

just then

that they went and fished with a net

those fish

they are going to eat those

Abbreviations:

3	gender/person
SG	singular
PL	plural
POSS	possessive
OBV	obviative
LOC	locative
EMPH	emphatic
CONJ	conjunct order
CONTR	contrastive
FUT	future
DESD	desiderative

[edit] See also

• Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics
• Algonquian languages
• List of languages
• Ojibwa
• Wiktionary

[edit] References

• Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: University Press.
• Nichols, John D. and Earl Nyholm. 1995. A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
• Picard, Marc. 1984. On the Naturalness of Algonquian ɬ. International Journal of American Linguistics 50:424-37.
• Rhodes, Richard A. 1985. Eastern Ojibwa-Chippewa-Ottawa Dictionary. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
• Valentine, J. Randolph "Randy". 2001. Nishnaabemwin Reference Grammar. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

[edit] External links

• Ojibwe Language Society
  • OLS Miinawaa — Yahoo Group extension of the Ojibwe Language Society
• Rand Valentine's introduction to Ojibwe
• Grammar, lessons, and dictionaries
• Freelang Ojibwe Dictionary — Freeware off-line dictionary, updated with additional entries every 6-10 weeks.
• Language Museum report for Ojibwe
• Aboriginal Languages of Canada — With data on speaker populations
• Language Geek Page on Ojibwe — Syllabary fonts and keyboard emulators are also available from this site.
• Ojibwe Toponyms
• Our Languages: Nakawē (Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre)
• Niizh Ikwewag — A short story in Ojibwe, originally told by Earl Nyholm, emeritus professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University.
• Ethnologue report for Ojibwe
• Native Languages: A Support Document for the Teaching of Language Patterns, Ojibwe and Cree
• The Linguasphere Register. 1999 / 2000 edition. Algic sector.