Collaborative Research: Expanding the Documentary Record for Two Algonquian Languages of the Great Lakes

Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College, Mount Pleasant MI

Investigators

Abstract

The documentation of a speech community records the linguistic practices of that community, for example, recording both male and female speakers and documenting indigenous knowledge about the natural world. By diversifying the pool of documenters and broadening participation of underrepresented groups, a more comprehensive record of linguistic behavior can result. This project will diversify and build corpora for two endangered Algonquian languages, by cultivating indigenous language specialists to record new documentation of these Native American languages, and to transcribe and translate archival recordings. In the United States, the Native American Languages Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1990, enacted into policy the recognition of the unique status and importance of these languages. The number of Native Americans documenting their own language is small, but growing. This project also has the potential to increase scholarly understanding of how a record's comprehensiveness can be addressed when heritage learners of the language lead the projects. It will record previously undocumented women's language, historical narratives from boarding school, and traditional knowledge of the natural world, plus make archival recordings usable through transcription. This will increase scholarly understanding of linguistic change in Algonquian languages and of scientific knowledge in ethnobotany and other areas. It will create publicly available corpora for testing linguistic hypotheses. Broader impacts include collaborative professional development opportunities in the language sciences for indigenous scholars and research opportunities for Native American undergraduates. It will also build capacity in linguistics and language documentation at two tribal colleges and result in materials usable in language revitalization in schools and regional communities. The project is co-funded by the NSF Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP). This project is a collaborative partnership between the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College and Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College. It will increase the use, documentation, instruction and research of two endangered Algonquian languages indigenous to the Great Lakes area: Chippewa, also known as Anishinaabemowin; and Menominee, also known as Mamaceqtaw. Menominee is the heritage language of only one community in Wisconsin while Chippewa is the heritage language of over 200 communities in the United States and Canada. Both languages are extremely endangered today with very few first-language speakers and no households using Chippewa or Menominee as the primary language. Each institution has tailored its project to local community needs, aimed at filling the gaps in the existing record and making archival materials usable through transcription. The merit and impact of this project lie in the kinds of information encoded in the recordings, as well as the creation of a corpora of transcriptions to conduct novel linguistic investigations. Results include the documentation of fluent women speakers of Chippewa on topics such as astronomy, ethnobotany and the geosciences, among others. Another component will record elders' historical recollections, including Chippewa narratives of boarding schools. Menominee archival recordings will be transcribed in collaboration with the Great Lakes Inter Tribal Council and new recordings will be made in partnership with Menominee teachers and students in the region.