The Current Status of the Menominee Language

ALAN CALDWELL College of the Menominee Nation MONICA MACAULAY University of Wisconsin-Madison

INTRODUCTION Menominee is spoken by a small number of people on the Menominee reservation in northern Wisconsin. The Menominee Indian tribe is the oldest continuous inhabitant of the state of Wisconsin. The Menominee tell in their stories that they have inhabited this area for 10,000 years. They once claimed an area that stretched from present-day Milwaukee, Wisconsin northwestward to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and to the Straits of Mackinac in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Their present reservation, located in northern Wisconsin, is a 234,000 square acre area, heavily forested by white pine and hemlock trees. The Menominee are one of the few American Indian tribes in the eastern United States that still have land holdings in their original land claim. Their forest is a large reason that the tribe has continued to maintain its culture, traditions, and language. The Menominee tribe has a current enrollment of approximately 7,800 members. The average age of tribal members is 21.8 years. It is estimated that there are 35 tribal members who are fluent in the Menominee language, but the precise number is unknown. A survey of the on-reserva- tion membership by the Menominee Historic Preservation Department in 1997 showed that there was no tribal member under the age of 50 who claimed Menominee as their firstlanguag e (see Appendix: Tables 1-4). In 1996 the Menominee Legislature passed a tribal ordinance requiring that the language be used in tribal business whenever possible, and be taught in all of the schools on the Menominee Reservation — from day care to the tribal college. This has led to a number of tribal programs implementing the ordinance. This paper discusses one such program which is currently underway at the College of the Menominee Nation as well as the role of linguists from the University of Wisconsin in that program and others. CURRENT STATUS OF THE MENOMINEE LANGUAGE 19

OMAEQNOWMENEW-KIKETWAN KAEKENOHAMOWEKOW MESEKNATAMO- WEKOWAK The College of the Menominee Nation (CMN), a tribal community college established in 1992, was given a charge by the Menominee Tribal Legislature in April 1997 to develop an institute to assist the tribe with the implementation of Menominee Tribal ordinance 96-22. The college was asked to submit a budget and plan to the tribal governing body to provide leadership, research, and technical assistance to the Tribe, the educational institutions located on the reservation and the Menominee Language and Culture Code Commission. (See Figure 1.) The college created the Menominee Culture Institute in the summer of 1998 with a director and administrative assistant as staff.

Figure 1. College of the Menominee Nation, Menominee Culture Institute. Roles and Functions: Interrelationships with Tribe and Community. 20 ALAN CALDWELL AND MONICA MACAULAY

The Menominee Language and Culture Code Commission was appointed by the Tribal Legislature. The membership of the commission consists of six elders or eminent persons fluent in the language and three other tribal members, preferably with a background in education and a familiarity with the Menominee language. The Commission's first effort was to publicize the tribal ordinance and begin the development of the various articles and directives contained in the language of the tribal ordinance. One of the firstarea s of concern identified was the shortage of Menominee language teachers. Though several of the schools on the reservation have had Menominee language instruction programs for years, there was a shortage of trained teachers. The Commission also identified the lack of a comprehensive and coordinated curriculum in the schools. Each of the three public schools — elementary, junior high and high school — and the Menominee Tribal School had curricula but there existed no coordination between the schools. Students and teachers at each of the schools were unaware of what was being taught at the other schools. Since the establishment of the Commission there has been an effort to begin development of a comprehensive curriculum. The educational institutions located on the reservation — Day Care, Headstart, a K-12 public school system, a K-8 Bureau of Indian Affairs school and two colleges — serve approximately 2,000 students. There is a high student-to-teacher ratio in the regular classrooms of these institutions, but in their Menominee language classrooms there is a 241:1 student-to- teacher ratio (see Appendix: Table 5). It is the opinion of most that a bona fide native language program cannot adequately develop a pool of native language speakers with a ratio that high. One other area the Commission focused its efforts on in the initial years was the establishment of a teacher licensing program whereby the Menominee Indian Tribe would issue its own teacher licenses for Meno­ minee language and culture. The CMN Menominee Culture Institute provided the research and development of the initial drafts of a teacher licensing program for the tribe. In 1997-98 the Menominee Historic Preservation Department received a $65,000 grant from the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to tram four Menomi­ nee language teachers. Three trainees completed the program in the CURRENT STATUS OF THE MENOMINEE LANGUAGE 21 summer of 1998 and were granted teacher licenses by the tribe. Currently two of the three are teaching language classes at the Menominee Tribal School (a B.I.A. K-8 grant school) and at the Menominee Headstart Program. CMN's Culture Institute submitted a two-year Menominee language training grant to ANA in November 1997 to tram five Menominee language teachers. The College received notice in April 1998 that their grant had received approval by the ANA. The College was funded at $95,000 for two years to implement the goals and objectives contained in the grant proposal. The language training approach in the College's grant application was based upon the mentor-apprenticeship model used by Leanne Hinton, a California linguist who has worked with a number of tribes in that state to revive and preserve their tribal languages. Five Menominee elders were hired as Omaeqnomenew-Kiketwan Kaekenohamowekow, or Menominee language teachers. Each mentor was paired with a Natamowekowak, or helper. Each pair of mentors and apprentices then established a schedule of hours in which they would spend time together, and the mentor would teach the apprentice everything they could of the Menominee language. Each apprentice was given a tape recorder with blank tapes, folders, Menominee lexicons, Menominee language manuals, and other resources that would supplement the oral teachings they received from their mentor. The mentors and apprentices meet on a weekly basis for group lan­ guage sessions in addition to their individual lessons. At these group sessions they discuss the pronunciation and meaning of Menominee words which some of the elders may have forgotten. Several of the elders have stated that because they no longer use the language on a daily basis they sometimes forget how certain Menominee words are spoken, or the meaning of the words. These sessions also give the apprentices the opportunity to listen and hear the elders speaking the language together. The apprentices participate in some of the conversations as they grow more comfortable with their speaking ability and understanding in the language. The late Steve Askinette, a prominent Menominee elder and speaker of the Menominee language, who taught the language in many of the schools on the reservation, pointed out on numerous occasions the need to keep the Menominee language alive. He believed that one of the solutions to the myriad of problems the community faces due to alcohol, drugs, 22 ALAN CALDWELL AND MONICA MACAULAY violence, and youth gangs is the Menominee language. He stated that within the language are the moral imperatives that our children need to learn that will help them to define who they are and how to develop their individual character, and further that many of the traditional stories cannot be told other than in the Menominee language. A number of the Menominee people are reviving their ceremonies, such as the sweat lodge and marriage ceremonies. There is a growing interest on the part of many Menominees to learn the language so that when the ceremonies are conducted they are done in the way in which the Creator instructed the people in their own language. The goal of the College of the Menominee Nation through the Meno­ minee Culture Institute is to continue the service and technical assistance to the community to keep the Menominee language alive, and a vibrant part of the community. The technical assistance the Institute provides to the

Figure 2. Concentric Circle Model: Native Language Learning CURRENT STATUS OF THE MENOMINEE LANGUAGE 23

College faculty to help them infuse their curriculum and course instruction with Menominee values, language, and traditions will continue through the efforts of the elders and the program staff. The current language trainees go before the Menominee Language and Culture Code Commission in the summer of 2000 to be assessed on their knowledge and speaking ability in the native language. Each Natamoweko- wak will then be recommended by the Commission to the tribal governing body for issuance of a tribal teacher license. Each Natamowekowak will then be eligible for employment with one of the tribal educational institutions as a trained Menominee language teacher. When these Natamowekowak enter the classroom the Menominee Indian Tribe will have five more well-trained, fluent Menominee speakers to teach the other tribal members their language. The outer circle of the concentric model will have shrunk and the inner circle of fluent speakers will have been enlarged (see Figure 2). The Creator, Maec-Awatok, will be pleased by the efforts of his children to remain the original people of Wisconsin.

THE LINGUISTS' ROLE The second author (Macaulay) starting visiting the Menominee Reservation in mid-1998. Since then a number of students — both graduate and undergraduate - - have joined the project, and are involved in numerous projects of their own. Our role is divided between our own research and our involvement in the tribe's programs. We follow Leap (1982) in his recommendation that linguists approach their role with a tribe "from the self-determination philosophy"; that is, from an understanding that the tribe sets its priorities and the linguists are available to function as a resource team when asked. Nonetheless, in practice the two types of goal - - research and resource team - - are intertwined to a great degree. For that reason, our projects are described below without trying to separate them out according to the dual roles we play. One problem that we have faced is fairly common these days: I was trained to be the kind of linguist who does research on a language, writes it up and publishes it -- this rather than having been trained in second language acquisition, pedagogy, curriculum design, or any of the skills that a tribe really needs from a linguist. So to resolve this, we have looked for 24 ALAN CALDWELL AND MONICA MACAULAY projects that try to bridge the gap — projects that we are competent to do that will also be of use to the tribe. We do believe that scholarly research on a language can ultimately be of use in language preservation, but the immediate needs of people with a threatened language are much more practical in nature. Following is a description of some of the projects that we have been involved with: We started learning about Menominee by working on glossing and retranslating a long text called "Red Swan," from Bloomfield's (1928) Menomini Texts. This gave us a way to better understand what we were reading in Bloomfield's (1962) grammar of Menominee, and taught us about the structure of the language. Several research topics have arisen during this project, including the paper on Menominee vowel harmony by Marianne Milligan in the present volume. We have two outcomes in mind for this retranslation project. First, we plan to publish the text, fully glossed and retranslated using an ethnopoetic approach. Second, we plan to produce a version for members of the Meno­ minee Nation. This version would not include interlinear glosses, but would have Menominee on one page and English on the facing page. This small book would make a powerful traditional story accessible to the population. We have run across a few people who have a copy of Bloomfield's texts, but the way that they are translated is a barrier to use of the book in this day and age. His translations — like most of those published in his time — are filled with terms like "thee" and "thou"; "hither" and "thither"; and our favorite: "Fie!" Our translation would put the text into language that was more accessible to the modern reader, as well as more true to the form of the original. Another project that is helping us with the firsti s our creation of a Menominee language database using SIL's Shoebox program. We are inputting our glossed version of Red Swan as well as Bloomfield's lexicon, and creating related lexicons and other electronic resources from it. This will provide us with a highly useful tool for our research, but when done will also be given to the College for use in their language teaching programs. A second computer project which is underway is digitization of Bloom­ field's Menominee Texts. The University of Wisconsin library has scanned the texts in for us, and they are currently working on putting the results into CURRENT STATUS OF THE MENOMINEE LANGUAGE 25 a searchable text format. A searchable version of the texts will, of course, make looking for data on a particular topic much easier and more convenient. We will also have copies of the CD made for the tribe so that people who do not own a copy of the book can get an electronic copy. A minor project has been to write a short text titled "Why Should We Save the Menominee Language?" Two versions will be produced: a poster, which will be put up all around the reservation, and a flier, which can be handed out at various gatherings. This grew out of discussion with tribal members who told us that not everyone on the reservation is in agreement that it is a good idea to try to preserve the language. We were asked for arguments that could be made in support of revitalization. The poster, currently being designed, lists such points as the state of endangerment of the language, the notion that language preservation aids cultural preserva­ tion, the idea that cultural and linguistic knowledge is invaluable and irreplaceable, the fact that bilingualism is actually beneficial to children, and so on. Finally, our current major project involves videotaping elders and language learners in various contexts. The videotapes will have three uses: first, they will provide data for research; second, they will document the language and various aspects of the culture; and third, they will be developed for use as pedagogical materials. For the pedagogical videos, we will transcribe and translate the language used, and then produce several different versions of the tapes. One set of tapes will have Menominee subtitles, another will have English subtitles, and some may have no subtitles at all. Such tapes will be useful both for language teaching and for disseminating general cultural informa­ tion. Learning everything we needed to know to make the videotapes has been quite a process (and one which is certainly not over yet). I discuss here some of the problems that we have faced. We started by just letting the elders and apprentices talk about whatever they wanted, but an immediate problem that presented itself was that many of them prepared a written text and read it. The resulting lack of spontaneity of course was problematic. We have had better luck since then in getting spontaneous stories and conversation, but it remains an issue. A better approach has been to provide the group with a topic ahead of time, and then encourage them to discuss it with the camera running. 26 ALAN CALDWELL AND MONICA MACAULAY

The potential quality and production of the videos has been another concern. We are competent enough (although not highly skilled) at pointing a video camera at people and letting it run. But the production — including scripting, editing, and subtitling — is something that we do not have the expertise, the time, or the money for. This problem has been solved by bringing two Communication Arts majors into the picture, who are doing video production for us as a project for credit. They are also able to improve the quality of the filming, since they know about things like lighting, backgrounds, camera angles, and so on. At first I was concerned that so much of what we have filmed so far has not really been of that much interest. But our two video experts have told me that the ratio of unuseable to useable footage is generally something like 50 to 1, so we plan to just continue shooting videos, and then pull out the really nice moments from what we get. For example, the group decided that it would be fun to film a meal. The idea was that people could bring traditional foods, and talk in Menominee about those foods, their prepara­ tion, cooking and eating in general, and topics like that. We had quite a meal, but everyone spoke English most of the time (despite their best intentions to speak only Menominee). What we did get out of it was some dialog in Menominee, and numerous shots of the food, which have been developed into a short sample lesson by the Communication Arts majors. The names for each item of food are repeated, and shown on the screen in subtitles. We have recorded some paradigms with words like 'eat' and 'cook', and these can be added as well. In addition, at a later session we taped some of the elders talking about topics related to food, this time in the language, and these can be spliced in where appropriate. We are in the process of planning one major video project, on the annual pow-wow. Footage from the pow-wow will be interspersed with segments in Menominee (with subtitles) discussing the types of dances the components of the regalia used, the music, the dancers, and so on. The goal will be not only general language teaching, but preservation of specific terminology about this important cultural event. This project will be done entirely by the undergraduates who are part of our group. They have applied for a fellowship that the University provides, designed for outreach projects. Then they will script, shoot, and edit the video. They will have to do research on the cultural aspects of the pow-wow, and elicitation and transcription of the language used. It is a major project, but it will be CURRENT STATUS OF THE MENOMINEE LANGUAGE 27 spectacular when finished. I mention this last project because I want to point out the many roles that a linguist plays in working on projects like these. I have a role as a researcher, as a consultant to the tribe, and as a teacher. In addition to the obvious roles that a linguist has to play in working on an endangered Native American language, there is the less-obvious role of training students (both graduate and undergraduate) to be responsible fieldworkers , dedicated to advancing the goals of the people with whom they work at the same time that they advance their research, data analysis, writing, and other professional skills.

CONCLUSION

The Menominee language is severely endangered, and all who are involved in this project are aware of the fact that it is not easy to save a language. This paper has addressed a number of projects, from the major (like the mentor-apprentice language teaching project) to the minor (like the poster). Despite the large number of obstacles that have been and doubtless will continue to be encountered, there is a solid core of people - most importantly the teachers and the learners — who have the passion necessary for undertaking such a daunting task. And as we all know, this is precisely the critical ingredient for the success of such a project. Eneq, waewaenen.

APPENDIX Table 1. Menominee as a First Language

Ages Male Female 80-90 3 8 70-80 8 11 60-70 3 3 50-60 3 0 0-50 0 0 Total 17 22 28 ALAN CALDWELL AND MONICA MACAULAY

Table 2. Menominee as a Second Language

Ages Male Female 70-80 6 2 60-70 9 4 50-60 4 1 Total 19 7

Table 3. Menominee Language from Specialized Training

Ages Male Female 40-50 6 5 30-40 1 3 Total 7 8

Table 4. Basic Understanding of Language

Ages Male Female 60+ 0 2 50-60 4 5 40-50 13 6 30-40 3 7 20-30 3 7 Total 23 27

Table 5. Number of Language Teachers and Students Name of Institution Language Teachers Number of Currently Students Taught Employed Menominee Tribal Daycare 0 60 Menominee Indian Headstart 0 210 Tribal School 1.0 271 MISD Primary 2.0 424 MISD Intermediate 1.0 179 MISD Junior/Senior H.S. 1.0 458 NAES College 1.5 25 College of Menominee Nation 1.0 34 Total 7.5 1,661 CURRENT STATUS OF THE MENOMINEE LANGUAGE 29

REFERENCES

Bloomfield, Leonard. 1928. Menomini texts. Publications of the American Ethnological Society 12. . 1962. The Menomini language. Charles F. Hockett (ed). New Haven: Yale Univer­ sity Press. Leap, William. 1982. Roles for the linguist in Indian bilingual education. Language renewal among American Indian tribes: issues, problems, and prospects, ed. by Robert St. Clair and William Leap (Rosslyn, Virginia: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education), 19-30.