Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Dictionary

Passamaquoddy Tribe, Pleasant Point ME

Investigators

Abstract

The Passamaquoddy-Maliseet Dictionary project builds on the first phase of research, 1996 to 1999 (NSF Grant No. SBR-9601540), which produced a compilation of more than 16,000 words and the initial editing and elaboration of entries. During Phase II, the Principal Investigators will complete the entries and the other sections of the dictionary, which include a grammatical sketch, noun and verb paradigms, an index of noun and verb roots, sound-files, and textual and pictorial illustrations. Entries will be added to a dictionary website, and a print edition will be prepared. The Principal Investigators, along with participating linguists and community research assistants, will work closely with speakers in the communities where Passamaquoddy-Maliseet is spoken today to enhance and supplement dictionary entries, and to assure the usefulness and appropriateness of the dictionary, its accessibility, and its pedagogical value. A community survey will document variations in lexicon, usage, verb and noun inflections, pitch/stress, and other features of the language, for inclusion in the dictionary. The goal is a dictionary useful to the work of teachers and students, writers and researchers in Passamaquoddy and Maliseet communities and beyond.