Chippewa Grammar Project for Southwestern Chippewa Dialect

FAIN: FN-50011-06

Anton S. Treuer
Bemidji State University (Bemidji, MN 56601-2699)

This is a collaborative project between Dr. David Treuer (University of Minnesota) and Dr. Anton Treuer (Bemidji State University). Together they will record Chippewa language speakers from the St. Croix, Mille Lacs, Leech Lake, and Red Lake Reservations in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Creative recording protocols will be used in order to capture as many of the nuances of the major variants of Southwestern Chippewa and to ensure the recordings include the verb forms and inflections that one does not hear in everyday speech. Recording and translating will occupy the researchers for 12 months after which their findings will be compiled into a two-volume series. The first volume will be the first and only Chippewa language grammar, the second volume will include many of the original recordings and will function as a grammar companion, where researchers and language learners can see the grammar and syntax in play. The material will be made available as an Internet-based database and the grammar book will be the first of its kind for this threatened language. (Edited by staff)

Media Coverage

First Speakers: Restoring the Ojibwe Language (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Twin Cities Public Television
Publication: First Speakers: Restoring the Ojibwe Language
Date: 9/1/2010
Abstract: A language is lost every fourteen days. One of those endangered tongues is Minnesota’s own Ojibwe language. Now a new generation of Ojibwe scholars and educators are racing against time to save the language. Working with the remaining fluent-speaking Ojibwe elders, they hope to pass the language on to the next generation. But can this language be saved? Told by Ojibwe elders, scholars, writers, historians and teachers, this tpt original production is filled with hope for the future.
URL: http://www.tpt.org/?a=productions&id=3

Letter Men: Brothers Fight for Ojibwe Language (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Terry Gross
Publication: National Public Radio: Fresh Air With Terry Gross
Date: 4/23/2008
Abstract: Brothers David and Anton Treuer are members of the Ojibwe nation from the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. They are working to preserve the Ojibwe language, one of the few Native American languages in use. Anton Treuer is a professor of Ojibwe language and oral tradition at Bemidji State University. He is editor of the Oshkaabewis Native Journal and Omaa Akiing, a collection of Ojibwe tales by Leech Lake elders. Anton is also the author of Living Our Language: Ojibwe Tales and Oral Histories.
URL: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89851668

Preserving the Language: Treuer Receives Fellowship to Document Dialects of Ojibwe (Media Coverage)
Publication: Bemidji Pioneer
Date: 10/4/2006

Associated Products

Ojibwe in Minnesota (Book)
Title: Ojibwe in Minnesota
Author: Anton Treuer
Abstract: This compelling, highly anticipated narrative traces the history of the Ojibwe people in Minnesota,exploring cultural practices, challenges presented by more recent settlers, and modern day discussions of sovereignty and identity.
Year: 2010
Primary URL: http://shop.mnhs.org/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=2538&CFID=8640490&CFTOKEN=63152588
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 978-0-87351-76

Prizes

Minnesota's Best Read 2010
Date: 9/1/2010
Organization: The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress

The Assassination of Hole in the Day (Book)
Title: The Assassination of Hole in the Day
Author: Anton Treuer
Abstract: Explores the murder of the controversial Ojibwe chief who led his people through the first difficult years of dispossession by white invaders—and created a new kind of leadership for the Ojibwe.
Year: 2011
Primary URL: http://shop.mnhs.org/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=2713
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780873518437

Ezhichigeyang: Ojibwe Word List (Book)
Title: Ezhichigeyang: Ojibwe Word List
Author: Rose Tainter
Author: Nancy Jones
Author: Gordon Jourdain
Editor: Keller Paap
Editor: Anton Treuer
Abstract: Ezhichigeyang is an Ojibwe language word list comprised of terminology for traditional fishing practices and wigwam building.
Year: 2011
Primary URL: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/ezhichigeyang/15347614
Publisher: Waadookodaading Ojibwe Immersion Charter School
Type: Multi-author monograph
ISBN: 978-1-257-0439

Awesiinyensag: Dibaajimowinan Ji-gikinoo'amaageng (Book)
Title: Awesiinyensag: Dibaajimowinan Ji-gikinoo'amaageng
Author: Heather Fairbanks
Author: Nancy Jones
Author: Eugene Stillday
Author: Rose Tainter
Author: Anna Gibbs
Author: Marlene Stately
Author: Anton Treuer
Author: Keller Paap
Author: Lisa LaRonge
Author: John Nichols
Author: Lucia Bonacci
Abstract: Awesiinyensag presents original stories, written in Anishinaabemowin, that delight readers and language learners with the antics of animals who playfully deal with situations familiar to children in all cultures. Suitable for all ages, this book can be read aloud, assigned to classes, shared at language tables, gifted to elders, and enjoyed by those curious about the language and all who love Anishinaabemowin.
Year: 2010
Primary URL: http://birchbarkbooks.com/wiigwaas-press/awesiinyensag
Publisher: Wiigwaas Press
Type: Multi-author monograph
ISBN: 9780983002505

Prizes

Minnesota's Best Read 2011
Date: 9/1/2011
Organization: The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress

Aaniin Ekidong: Ojibwe Vocabulary Project (Book)
Title: Aaniin Ekidong: Ojibwe Vocabulary Project
Author: Nancy Jones
Author: Lawrence Moose
Author: Mary Moose
Author: Gordon Jourdain
Author: Marlene Stately
Author: Leona Wakonabo
Author: Rosemarie DeBungie
Author: Anna Gibbs
Author: Eugene Stillday
Editor: Keller Paap
Editor: Anton Treuer
Abstract: For the Ojibwe language to live it must be used for everything every day. While most Ojibwe people live in a modern world, dominated by computers, motors, science, mathematics, and global issues, the language that has grown to discuss these things is not often taught or thought about by most teachers and students of the language. A group of nine fluent elders representing several different dialects of Ojibwe gathered with teachers from Ojibwe immersion schools and university language programs to brainstorm and document less-well-known but critical modern Ojibwe terminology. Topics discussed include science, medicine, social studies, geography, mathematics, and punctuation. This book is the result of their labors.
Year: 2009
Primary URL: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/aaniin-ekidong/5332273?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/2
Publisher: Minnesota Humanities Center
Type: Multi-author monograph
ISBN: 9780578034645

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