Lenape Language Database Project

The Delaware Tribe, Bartlesville OK

Investigators

Abstract

Technology has created the potential for 'talking' dictionaries which have become very valuable resources to the study of indigenous languages. The Lenape (Delaware) talking dictionary was first presented online in 2006. There are currently over 14,000 words of which 5,525 have single word sound files. There are over 1,400 sentence sound filed. The current project extends work on this database by increasing the entries, specifically incorporating text files, which include stories and conversations with detailed morpheme-by-morpheme glosses, and improving the display and functionality of the existing language database funded initially under NSF #0214422. Since the death of the last native speaker in 2002, the website with its database and talking dictionary is the only link connecting Lenape people to their ancestral language. Moreover, given the significance of Lenape (Delaware) in the Algonquian language family, the linguistic analyses presented by the website constitute a useful reference and model for the scholarly community.