Ojibwe (language)

Ojibwe ( Anishinaabemowin, ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᒧᐎᓐ )
Spoken in	Canada , USA
speaker	63,868 in Canada ; 14,710 in the US
Linguistic ; classification	Algonquian languages Central Algonquian languages Ojibwe ;
Official status
Official language in	-
Language codes
ISO 639 -1	oj
ISO 639 -2	oji
ISO 639-3	oji ( macro language )

The language of the Ojibwe or Anishinaabe ( ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᒧᐎᓐ Anishinaabemowin ) belongs to the Algonquin language family and is spoken by almost 80,000 people in several regional variants in large parts of Canada and in the north of the USA .

distribution

Traditional language area of the Ojibwe

Ojibwe is spoken in Canada in southwest Québec , in Ontario , in southern Manitoba and parts of southern Saskatchewan , in the USA in northern Michigan , in northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota , and in smaller groups in northern North Dakota and in northern Montana .

According to the Canadian statistics agency, the number of speakers for Oji-Cree increased from 5,480 to 5,610 people from 1996 to 2001, i.e. by 2.4%, while that of the Ojibway variants by 6% (and that of the Cree by 3, 1%) decreased.

According to Census data from the USA from 2000 and Canada from 2006, there are 56,531 speakers of all variants, 8,791 of them in the USA (7,355 of them Native Americans ) and 47,740 in Canada .

Regional variant	Canada	United States	All in all	Ethnic population (according to Ethnologue)
Algonquin	2,680	0	2,680	8,266
Oji-Cree	12,600	0	12,600	12,600
Ojibwe	24,896	8,355	33,251	219.711
Ottawa	7,564	436	8,000	60,000
All groups	47,740	8,791	56,531	300,577

Regional variants (dialects)

Ojibwe is a dialect continuum , to which the variants West-Ojibwe (Saulteaux), Southwest-Ojibwe (Chippewa), Northwest-Ojibwe, Severn-Ojibwe (Oji-Cree), Ottawa (Odawa), East-Ojibwe and Algonquin (in the narrower sense ) belong.

ISO 639-3	dialect	Language area	Proper name	Reflex of * r / * l	Reflex of * k	Word for "human", "Indian" ← * elenyiwa	Word for “you” ← * kīla	Number of speakers
(crk)	Plains-Cree (for comparison)	Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories	Nēhiyawēwin ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ	y / ⁠ j ⁠ /	k / ⁠ k ⁠ /	iyiniw / iyiniwak	kīya	(29,900)
ojs	Oji-Cree (Severn-Ojibwe)	Ontario, Manitoba	Anishininiimowin ᐊᓂᐦᔑᓂᓃᒧᐏᐣ	n / ⁠ n ⁠ /	k / ⁠ k ⁠ /	inini / ininiwak	kīn	11,800
ojb	Northwest Ojibwe	Ontario, Manitoba						6,000
ojw	West Ojibwe (Saulteaux)	Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia	Nakawēmowin ᓇᐦᑲᐌᒧᐎᓐ					6,558
ojc	Central Ojibwe	Ontario						750
otw	Odawa	Ontario, Michigan, Oklahoma	Nishnaabemwin, Daawaamwin	n / ⁠ n ⁠ /	g / ⁠ g ⁠ /	nini / ninwag (nini / ninwak)	gii (kī)	5,759
ojg	East Ojibwe	Ontario	Nishnaabemwin, Jibwemwin					1,200
alq	Algonquin	Quebec, Ontario	Anicinàbemowin, Anishinàbemiwin	n / ⁠ n ⁠ /	k / ⁠ k ⁠ /	irini / irinìk inini / ininìk (inini / ininīk)	kìn (kīn)	2,100
ciw	Southwest Ojibwe (Chippewa)	Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana	Anishinaabemowin, Ojibwemowin	n / ⁠ n ⁠ /	g / ⁠ g ⁠ /	inini / ininiwag (inini / ininiwak)	giin (kīn)	8,000
pot	Potawatomi	Ontario, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma	Neshnabémwen	n / ⁠ n ⁠ /	k / ⁠ k ⁠ /	neni / nenwek (nəni / nənwək)	ki	50

Phonology

Consonants

A characteristic of many Ojibwa dialects is the occurrence of the voiced consonants b, d, g, j (dž), z, zh (ž), whereas in other Algonquin languages the unvoiced p, t, k, ch (č), s , sh (š) stand. The following consonants can occur in the various Ojibwe dialects taken together:

	labial		Alveolar		Postalveolar and Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Plosive and Affricates	p [pʰ]	b [p ~ b]	t [tʰ]	d [t ~ d]	ch [tʃʰ]	j [tʃ ~ dʒ]	k [kʰ]	g [k ~ ɡ]	' [⁠ ʔ ⁠]
Fricative			s [sʰ]	z [s ~ z]	sh [ʃʰ]	zh [ʃ ~ ʒ]			( H [⁠ h ⁠] )
nasal	m [⁠ m ⁠]		n [⁠ n ⁠]
Approximant					y [⁠ j ⁠]		w [⁠ w ⁠]

Vowels

All Ojibwe dialects have seven vowels, to which there are nasal equivalents.

Of the seven simple vowels, three are short and four are long:

Simple vowels
	Before the	Central	Behind
Closed	iː			oː ~ uː
Almost closed	ɪ		o ~ ʊ
center	eː	ə	o ~ ʊ
Open		aː

There are four long nasal vowels:

Nasal vowels
	Before the	Central	Behind
Closed	ĩː		õː ~ ũː
center	ẽː		õː ~ ũː
Open		ãː

The long nasal vowels are written iinh [ĩː] , enh [ẽː] , aanh [ãː] and oonh [õː] . The letter combination nh expresses that the previous vowel is nasalized. These nasal vowels occur most often at the end of nouns with a diminutive ending . Word examples from Southwest Ojibwe are: -iijikiwenh- "brother", -noshenh- "father's sister", -oozhishenh- "grandson", bineshiinh "bird", asabikeshiinh "spider", awesiinh "wild animal".

font

In the USA, but also in most parts of Canada, Ojibwe is now usually written with Latin letters, with Charles Fiero's system being preferred, in which long vowels are expressed by doubling the letter. The Cree script is still used in northern Ontario and Manitoba , a syllabary script developed by the Methodist missionary James Evans between 1840 and 1846 in collaboration with indigenous people of the Cree and Ojibwe at Norway House on Hudson Bay .

Ojibwa literature

As with many indigenous languages in North America, translations of portions of the Bible make up a large part of the text corpus of the Ojibwe language. The New Testament has been translated three times, once in 1833 by Edwin James, a second time in 1844 by Henry Blatchford (reprints 1856 and 1875) and finally in 1854 by Frederick O'Meara (reprints 1874). O'Meara also translated the Psalms (1856) and the Torah (1861), while Robert McDonald translated the Twelve Minor Prophets in 1874 . A translation of half of the Old Testament including a revision of the New Testament by Jim Keesic in collaboration with Bob Bryce and Henry Hostetler was published in August 2008 by the Canadian Bible Society.

In the Odawa dialect there is a translation of the Gospels of Matthew and John by Jonathan Meeker from 1841 to 1844 and a translation of Genesis by P. Jones from 1835.

There is little original Ojibwe literature. The American writer David Treuer , who was born in Minnesota in 1970 and has published four English-language novels, plans to compile a first “practical” grammar in this language, his mother tongue. In addition, he makes sound recordings of stories on Ojibwe with speakers in his home region, where the language is mostly only spoken by the elderly.

Sample text: Two women who went fishing

Ojibwe shares its linguistic structure and complex grammatical structures with the other Algonquian languages (see there: grammar) .

A sample text from the cultural context of the Ojibwe can give an impression of this. This text from Bemidji State University - Niizh Ikwewag (Two Women) - is recorded in the Southwestern Ojibwe dialect and comes from Minnesota, USA.

Wording in Ojibwe

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

German translation

Once upon a time there were two women: an old lady and one of her daughters.
They were over at Inger's from there .
See now, it was a long time ago; they just lived there in a house .
And at that time they went fishing once because they wanted to eat fish.

Interlinear

Aabiding	gii-ayaawag			niizh	ikwewag:		mindimooyenh,	odaanisan			bezhig.
aabiding	gii-	ayaa	-wag	niizh	ikwe	-wag	mindimooyenh,	O-	daanis	-on	bezhig.
once	PRAET -	be in a certain place	- 3PL	two	woman	- 3PL	old woman,	3SG.POSS -	daughter	- OBV	a).
once	(they) were in a certain place			two	Women:		old woman,	her daughter			a.

Iwidi	Chi-achaabaaning			akeyaa	gii-onjibaawag.
iwidi	chi-	achaabaan	-ing	akeyaa	gii-	onjibaa	-wag.
over there	big-	Bowstring	- LOC	there long	PRAET -	come from	- 3PL .
Over there	at the Great Bowstring [river] (today: Inger, Minnesota )			there long	came (they) 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.
please refer	now	a long time ago	PRAET -	be	so	just	EMPH	there	EMPH	House	- LOC	PRAET.CONJ -	Life	- 3PL.CONJ	EMPH .
Please refer	now	a long time ago	(it was,		just			there	so	in a house		that (they) lived			right 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.
So	CONTR	the-	- by the time	once	EMPH	PRAET -	go to -	fish with a net	- 3PL.CONJ	fish	- OBV	DESD -	eat	- 3PL / OBV.CONJ
And at that time		back then,		once	right then	that they went and fished with a net				those fish		to eat those.

Abbreviations:

3	Third person (he / she / it ...)
SG	Singular (singular)
PL	Plural (plural)
POSS	Possessive prefix (my [e], your [e], his [e], her [e] etc.)
OBV	Obviative : marking a person / thing according to its relationship to the topic
LOC	Locative : in, on, on
EMPH	Empathic
PRAET	Past tense (past)
CONJ	Conjunctor (verb form with subordinate clause function)
CONTR	Contrastive (comparative)
DESD	Desiderative (intent)

vocabulary

ikwe = woman
inini = man
ikwezens = girl
gwiiwizens = boy
mitig = tree
miskwi = blood
doodooshaaboo = milk
doodoosh = chest
giigoonh = fish
miskwimin = raspberry
gookookoo'oo = owl
bemaadizid = person
makizin = shoe
wiigiwaam = house
manoomin = wild rice
onjibaa = he / she is coming
izhaa = he / she goes
wiisini = he / she eats
minikwe = he / she drinks

Individual evidence

↑ Statistics Canada: Aboriginal peoples of Canada, 2001 (archive) .
↑ US Census Bureau: Characteristics of American Indians and Alaska Natives by Tribe and Language: 2000 .
↑ Usefoundation: Ojibwa, Number of Speakers: 8,355
↑ Statistics Canada: Various languages spoken, 2006 (archive)
↑ Total: 42,217 native speakers; Source: UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (3rd ed. 2010) based on the Census data 2006 (Canada) and 2000 (USA)
^ David Treuer: A language too beautiful to lose . Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2008.
^ Niizh Ikwewag (Two Women). Told by Earl Nyholm. Bemidji State University, Brian Donovan's webpage., February 1, 2012, archived from the original on December 12, 2013 ; accessed on February 14, 2017 .

Web links

[1] Statistics Canada: Aboriginal peoples of Canada, 2001 (archive) .

[2] US Census Bureau: Characteristics of American Indians and Alaska Natives by Tribe and Language: 2000 .

[3] Usefoundation: Ojibwa, Number of Speakers: 8,355

[4] Statistics Canada: Various languages spoken, 2006 (archive)

[5] Total: 42,217 native speakers; Source: UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (3rd ed. 2010) based on the Census data 2006 (Canada) and 2000 (USA)

[6] David Treuer: A language too beautiful to lose . Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2008.

[7] Niizh Ikwewag (Two Women). Told by Earl Nyholm. Bemidji State University, Brian Donovan's webpage., February 1, 2012, archived from the original on December 12, 2013 ; accessed on February 14, 2017 .