Algonquian Languages in Oklahoma
OLIVIA N. SAMMONS University of Alberta
INTRODUCTION
The state of Oklahoma is home to several Algonquian languages, including Delaware, Shawnee, Sauk-Fox-Kickapoo, Miami-Illinois, Ottawa, Potawa- tomi, Cheyenne, and Arapaho (Linn 2004).1 These languages represent all three branches of the Algonquian language classi¿cation: Eastern, Central, and Plains. The original homeland for speakers of these languages reach- es from the Northeast coast of the United States to the Great Lakes area (Goddard 1999). However, these groups have been in Oklahoma (formerly Indian Territory) since the mid-nineteenth century as a result of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Oklahoma deserves linguistic attention for a number of reasons. It exhibits a high degree of typological diversity within a relatively small geographic area and has recently been identi¿ed as a language “hotspot” due to extremely high endangerment levels.2 Furthermore, it is the only place in the world in which Algonquian languages from each of the three branches are represented. Oklahoma is unique on a sociolinguistic level as well. Native Ameri- can tribes share a common history of removal and an awareness of language loss that is not found elsewhere. These circumstances have contributed to the growth of organizations such as the Oklahoma Native Languages Associa- tion and Intertribal Wordpath Society, as well as events such as the Okla- homa Native American Youth Language Fair and Oklahoma Breath of Life Workshop. These endeavors promote intertribal communication and a sense
1. I would like to thank the following people for their help: Daryl Baldwin, Marcellino Berardo, George Blanchard, Andrew Cowell, Christopher Cox, Tracy Hirata-Edds, Terri Jordan, Mary Linn, Jim Rementer, Sauk Language Department, Gordon Whittaker, Akira Yamamoto, Gordon Yellowhead. 2. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/enduring-voices/
230 ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES IN OKLAHOMA 231 of mutual support, while also facilitating resource sharing, training, and exchange of ideas in the areas of language documentation, revitalization, teaching, and programming. In this article, I present an overview of the Algonquian languages represented in Oklahoma with respect to existing documentation, speaker population estimates, and levels of endangerment. I also provide reports of ongoing language revitalization work by pro¿ling selected language pro- grams. Finally, I describe the Native American Languages collection at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and its role in contributing to the documentation and revitalization of Native languages in Oklahoma. In summarizing the current linguistic situation, this work is intended to be of use to Native language advocates and members of the communities discussed by providing references to relevant information and resources. This article may also be of interest not only to linguists, but also to scholars in history, anthropology, and Native American Studies, especially those interested in responses to language endangerment across historically related groups.
WHY OKLAHOMA?
Oklahoma has more Native languages spoken today than any other state in the United States (Linn 2007). Among the groups that were present prior to European contact are the Arapaho, Caddo, Comanche, Jicarilla Apache, Kiowa, Osage, Plains Apache, and Wichita. As shown in Figure 1, apart
Figure 1: Oklahoma prior to European contact. 232 OLIVIA N. SAMMONS from a small portion of Arapaho speakers in the upper northwest corner of the state, no Algonquian speakers were present in Oklahoma prior to Euro- pean contact. Rather, these groups were mainly located along the northeast coast of North America and surrounding the Great Lakes area. Oklahoma was previously Indian Territory, an area of land set aside for the relocation of Native American tribes. This land allotment originally consisted of present-day Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and a portion of Iowa, but was gradually reduced to the boundaries of present-day Oklahoma. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 resulted in the forced resettlement of many Native American tribes to Indian Territory, thus signi¿cantly shaping the present demographic and tribal constitution of Oklahoma. The resulting linguistic diversity in Oklahoma can be seen in Figure 2. Of the 38 feder- ally recognized tribes in Oklahoma today, 18 have no Àuent speakers of their ancestral languages, while language endangerment continues to be a pressing concern for the remaining tribes.3
Figure 2: Oklahoma Native American Languages (Maps courtesy of Mary S. Linn, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History)
3. http://www.ncsl.org/?tabid=13278 ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES IN OKLAHOMA 233
Members of all three branches of the Algonquian language family are present in Oklahoma. The branch representation is as follows:
(1) Eastern Algonquian: Lenape Delaware (2) Central Algonquian: Shawnee, Sauk-Fox-Kickapoo, Miami-Illinois, Potawatomi, Ottawa (3) Plains Algonquian: Cheyenne, Arapaho
Each of these languages will be discussed below in more detail. Sec- tions provide recent speaker estimates for each language, brieÀy review existing documentation, note linguists who have pursued research on the language, and describe current language revitalization efforts, where appli- cable. A summary of this information can be found in the appendix.
METHODOLOGY AND DATA SOURCES
The information presented in this paper concerning estimated numbers of speakers, language programming, and revitalization efforts is drawn from a variety of sources. For each of the languages discussed, data was col- lected primarily through telephone and e-mail interviews conducted in the fall of 2010 with linguists and those af¿liated with tribal language pro- grams. These interviews drew upon personal contacts established through af¿liation with the Native American Languages Collection at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and the University of Okla- homa, involvement with the Oklahoma Native Languages Association, and research on language revitalization with the Sauk Language Department. Where no contact with either tribal language programs or linguists could be made, two recent surveys (Linn 2004; Intertribal Wordpath Society 2006) on Native languages in Oklahoma were consulted, as well as the online sources cited. In the remaining cases, speaker estimates were quoted from Mithun (1999). This latter source was also of considerable use in assessing the documentation available for each of the languages considered. Where possible, I have attempted to note additional documentation produced in the last decade. 234 OLIVIA N. SAMMONS
EASTERN ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES
Lenape Delaware
Lenape Delaware is the only Eastern Algonquian language found in Okla- homa. The Delaware languages are comprised of Munsee and Unami (or Lenape), which are mutually unintelligible (Mithun 1999:331). The three dialects of Unami are Northern Unami, Southern Unami, and Unalachtigo. These dialects were originally spoken along the Atlantic Coast near present- day New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware (ibid.). The headquarters for the Delaware Tribe of Oklahoma are located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Southern Unami was estimated in 1992 to have no more than ¿ve speakers in Oklahoma (Mithun 1999:332). There are no remaining speakers of any of these varieties today, in Oklahoma or elsewhere. Although the last speaker in Oklahoma passed away in 2002, individuals with some knowledge of the language may be called upon for prayers, dances, and games (James Rementer 2010, personal communication). Linguists who have conducted research on Delaware include Ives God- dard, Bruce Pearson, Frank Speck, and Carl Voegelin. One of the earliest pieces of documentation for Lenape is a religious translation (Blanchard 1837). Language work conducted in the 1930s and 1940s resulted in several text collections (Speck 1931, 1937; Voegelin 1945) and a grammar (Voege- lin 1946), while the 1970s saw the production of two additional grammars (Pearson 1972; Goddard 1979). The Lenape Tribe of Oklahoma has a language committee consisting of four members. They meet on an occasional basis when topics about the language arise that warrant discussion (James Rementer 2010, personal communication). Community language classes have also been held in the past. In 1999, a language learning audio CD entitled “Lsnapei Lixsswakàn” was produced for community distribution in conjunction with the Lenape Culture Committee and the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. Most recently, how- ever, efforts have been concentrated on the creation of an online talking dictionary, which will be discussed in more detail below.
CENTRAL ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES
Shawnee
Prior to their arrival in Oklahoma, the Shawnee people were located in the eastern United States, primarily along the Ohio River and in the Great Lakes ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES IN OKLAHOMA 235 region (Linn et al. 1998:67). The Shawnee are divided into three federally recognized tribes, formed as the result of different patterns of migration and removal: Absentee Shawnee, Eastern Shawnee, and Loyal (Cherokee) Shaw- nee. The Absentee Shawnee were formally recognized in 1854 (Callender 1978b:632). Today, Absentee tribal headquarters are located in the town of Shawnee, Oklahoma. It is estimated that there are less than 40 Absentee Shawnee speakers, all over the age of 55 (George Blanchard 2010, personal communication). This number differs substantially from the estimate of 200 speakers in 2004 (Linn 2004). The Eastern Shawnee were forced to relocate to Indian Territory in 1831. Their tribal headquarters are located in Miami, Oklahoma. There are no remaining Eastern Shawnee speakers (Marcellino Berardo 2010, personal communication). The Loyal (or Cherokee) Shawnee have been closely connected with the Cherokee since the nineteenth century and were incorporated into the Cherokee tribe in 1869 (Linn et al. 1998:67). They became an autonomous federally recognized tribe in 2000. Their tribal headquarters are located in Vinita, Oklahoma, just north of Tahlequah. There are presently four Loyal (Cherokee) Shawnee speakers (Marcellino Berardo 2010, personal communication). Documentation of Shawnee exists in several forms. Wordlists were produced as early as the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (cf. Pilling 1891). Substantial linguistic work was conducted by Carl Voegelin in the 1930s, resulting in publications on Shawnee verbs (Voegelin 1936 1938– 1940) and phonology (Voegelin 1935). Much attention was paid to Shawnee in the 1950s, during which time several text collections appeared (Voegelin 1953; Voegelin et al. 1953; Yegerlehner 1954), as well as academic publi- cations on phonology (Miller 1959) and phonetics (Hickerson 1958–1959). Publications on noun and verb inÀection (Goddard 1967; Parks 1975) and syntax (Boling 1981) followed in the next three decades. The early 1990s saw the production of a dictionary (Pearson 1991), a grammar (Andrews 1994), and a study of noun incorporation (Norcross 1993). More recently, work has been published on preverbs (Costa 2002) and noun and verb inÀection (Berardo 2000; Costa 2001, 2003a). Various efforts have been made recently to revitalize Shawnee within the different communities. In the case of the Absentee Shawnee, native speakers have taught community language classes for the last ¿ve years (George Blanchard 2010, personal communication). Among the Loyal Shawnee, an active interest in the language has been expressed by the ¿rst generation of non-speakers, leading many to seek out further training. Linguist Marcellino Berardo has led three four-month-long seminars with 236 OLIVIA N. SAMMONS interested tribal members over the last two years. Topics have included lin- guistics and Shawnee language, language teaching, and issues in language revitalization (Marcellino Berardo 2010, personal communication).
Sauk-Fox-Kickapoo
Sauk, Fox (Meskwaki), and Kickapoo were originally spoken around the Great Lakes area in the northern United States (Goddard 1999).4 Meskwaki, Kickapoo, and Sauk are all mutually intelligible with one another, and have thus commonly been considered to be dialects of the same language (Mit- hun 1999:333). Speakers and community members consider the three to be separate but related languages. The Sauk were located in the Saginaw Bay and River area of present- day eastern Michigan, prior to their removal to Indian Territory in 1867 (Whittaker 1996a:362). Though they maintain distinct identities and cul- tural traits, the United States government has historically grouped the Sauk together with the Meskwaki, and thus they are commonly referred to as ‘Sac and Fox’ (Callender 1978a:648). The Sauk are divided between the Missouri Band, who separated from the rest of the tribe in the early nine- teenth century, and the Oklahoma Band (Callender 1978a:648; Whittaker 1996a:362). The Missouri Band is currently located near Reserve, Kansas. No remaining Sauk speakers belong to this group. Sauk tribal jurisdiction is in central Oklahoma, with the heaviest concentrations of tribal members living in the towns of Stroud, Shawnee, and Cushing, Oklahoma (Sauk Language Department 2008:3). There are ¿ve to seven native Sauk speakers located in central Oklahoma, all of whom are over 65 years of age (Jacob Manatowa-Bailey 2010, personal communication). Today, the Meskwakis primarily reside in Tama, Iowa, where 200 Meskwaki speakers were report- ed in 1996 (Mithun 1999:333). Fox Texts, published by William Jones in 1907, is the earliest and larg- est source of text for any member of this dialect continuum and is valuable for its abundance of naturally occurring speech. A Fox lexicon based on Bloom¿eld’s manuscripts was published in 1994 (Goddard 1994). Studies of
4. While commonly known to outsiders as “Fox,” in this paper the term “Meskwaki” will be used as the preferred ethnonym. ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES IN OKLAHOMA 237
Meskwaki reduplication (Dahlstrom 1997) and obviation (Thomason 2003) have also been produced in recent decades. While a considerable amount of work has been published on Meskwa- ki, the Oklahoman varieties of Sauk and Kickapoo remain comparatively underdescribed. Linguistic documentation of Sauk was undertaken in the 1990s by linguist Gordon Whittaker. This work resulted in a phrase-book (Whittaker 1996b), grammatical notes (Whittaker 1996a), and a dictionary (Whittaker 2005), as well as a publication on orthography development (Reinschmidt 1994). More recently, a thesis on neologisms (Sammons 2009) and various pedagogical materials have been produced within the com- munity over the last decade. Although no full-length description of Sauk has been published to date, two grammars of Meskwaki are reportedly in preparation. Signi¿cant efforts are underway within the community to revitalize Sauk. The Sauk Language Department, located in Stroud, Oklahoma, was established in 2005 as a permanent infrastructure dedicated to the revital- ization of the Sauk language. Current revitalization activities include eve- ning community classes, preschool immersion camps, teacher training, and Master-Apprentice language learning to train future Sauk language teachers. These endeavors will be described in more detail below. As a result of a complex migration history, it is dif¿cult to be certain of the earlier location of the Kickapoo, although their presence in southern Wisconsin at the time of European contact is reported towards the end of the seventeenth century (Callender et al. 1978:656). The Kickapoo were eventually forced to relocate west of the Mississippi River, where they separated into different groups. One group settled in Kansas, while the other eventually came to be established in central Oklahoma. Many members of this group continued to move further south, with some settling just outside of Eagle Pass, Texas, and others in Nacimiento, Coahuila, Mexico. Members of these two groups continue to migrate frequently between Oklahoma and Mexico (Callender et al. 1978:656; Murdock et al. 1987:3). Kickapoo tribal headquarters in Oklahoma are located in the town of McCloud. An estimated 400–1,500 Kickapoo speakers reside in Oklahoma; esti- mates for Mexico are unknown (Linn 2004; Intertribal Wordpath Society 2006). Speakers can reportedly be found at every age level, and in at least some cases the language is still being learned by children as a mother tongue (Jacob Manatowa-Bailey 2010, personal communication). More 238 OLIVIA N. SAMMONS exact ¿gures regarding the number of children who speak the language are unavailable at this time. Documentation of Kickapoo exists in several forms. Jones and Michel- son (1915) present an early collection of Kickapoo traditional narratives. Later work by Paul Voorhis beginning in the 1960s includes a grammar (Voorhis 1967), academic publications on whistle speech (Voorhis 1971) and derivation (Voorhis 1977, 1983), a grammatical description (Voorhis 1974), and a dictionary (Voorhis 1988). Other publications include an intro- ductory grammatical description (Manuel-Dupont and Gathercole 1978), a community-produced reference grammar (Murdock et al. 1987), a dictionary (Ketakea 1988), and academic publications on tone (Gathercole 1983) and communicative strategies (Gómez de Garcia 1994). A bilingual Kickapoo-English preschool was established in central Oklahoma in the early 1990s due to growing concerns that children were beginning to shift to English (Mary S. Linn 2010, personal communication). Though this preschool is no longer in operation, the tribal education depart- ment reports that discussions have recently arisen about forming community language classes in the future (2011, personal communication).
Miami-Illinois
The Miami-Illinois language includes the dialects Miami, Peoria, Wea, Piankeshaw, and Illinois. The original homeland of the Miami people is in present-day Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. One group was forced to relocate to Kansas in 1846, while others remained in Indiana. In 1867, most of the Kansas group then had to relocate to Indian Territory. The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is located today in Miami, Oklahoma, while the Miami Nation of Indiana is located in Peru, Indiana. There have been no speakers of Miami since the early 1960s (Daryl Baldwin 2010, personal communication). Extensive contact with French Jesuit missionaries in the eighteenth century resulted in numerous historical records of the language, including two Illinois-French dictionaries produced in the early 1700s, as well as a wordlist produced in 1795 (Mithun 1999:334). Gatschet and Michelson also produced work on the language towards the end of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, with Hockett and Voegelin recording wordlists and texts in the late 1930s (ibid.). An overview of historical linguistic sourc- es on Miami can be found in (Costa 1991). Using these materials, linguist ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES IN OKLAHOMA 239
David Costa produced a grammatical description in his dissertation (1994), which was updated and later published as a book (Costa 2003b). In recent decades, interest has been renewed in reviving the Miami language, manifested by intensive language acquisition as well as the estab- lishment of the Myaamia Project. These efforts will be discussed in further detail below.
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi originally occupied the area around Lake Michigan, though they were eventually displaced to other areas, including Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. The present population remains geo- graphically dispersed. The Forest County Potawatomi reside in Wisconsin, the Prairie Band Potawatomi in Kansas, the Citizen Band Potawatomi in Oklahoma, and four additional bands are located in Michigan (Macaulay and Welcher 2010:3). The language is critically endangered in each of these communities. Some slight lexical differences exist between these groups, though they do not interfere with intelligibility (ibid.). Today, fewer than 15 Potawatomi speakers total can be found, all of whom are over 70 years of age (Macaulay and Welcher 2010:1). It is estimated that eight Forest County Potawatomi speakers and ¿ve Prairie Band speakers remain, and possibly a few other speakers residing outside of these communities. The present documentation of Potawatomi includes basic grammatical sketches, as well as some pedagogical materials and texts, but essentially no accessible published dictionaries or grammars. Hockett published sev- eral grammatical descriptions in the 1930s and 1940s (Hockett 1939, 1942, 1948). Marcellino Berardo prepared a grammar in the late 1990s, which is unpublished but available for use by community members. Buszard (2003) presents a study of Potawatomi discourse. All of the Potawatomi bands are involved in language revitalization to some extent. These efforts include community language classes, online classes, curriculum development, immersion teacher training, and increased documentation in both spoken and written forms. The Hannahville Indian Community in Michigan is particularly active in these efforts.5 The bands
5. http://www.potawatomilanguage.org/ 240 OLIVIA N. SAMMONS also gather annually to participate in a Potawatomi Language Conference. Finally, a Documenting Endangered Languages grant has recently been awarded to Monica Macaulay and Laura Welcher to create a lexical data- base and dictionary (2010–2013).6
Ottawa (Ojibwe)
Ottawa is a dialect of the Ojibwe language.7 Ojibwe is spoken by an esti- mated 50,000 individuals throughout Canada and the northern United States. (Mithun 1999:334). While Ottawa speakers can still be found in southern Ontario and northern Michigan, no remaining Ottawa speakers are located in Oklahoma (Linn 2004). The Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma is based in the town of Miami, Oklahoma. A great deal of scholarship exists on the Ojibwe language, although it appears that none of the linguistic work was undertaken with Ottawa speakers in Oklahoma. Among the extensive documentation can be found grammars (Todd 1970; Valentine 2001), dictionaries (Rhodes 1985; Nichols and Nyholm 1995), texts (Jones 1917; Nichols 1988; Bloom¿eld and Nich- ols 1991; Valentine 1994), and grammatical descriptions (Bloom¿eld 1958; Rhodes 1976; Nichols 1980), as well as various academic publications and pedagogical materials. While documentation continues in communities out- side of Oklahoma today, a more extensive survey of Ojibwe documentation prior to 1999 can be found in Mithun (1999). No Oklahoma-based language revitalization efforts are being pursued at the present time.
PLAINS ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES
Cheyenne and Arapaho are the two Plains Algonquian languages repre- sented in Oklahoma. The Cheyenne and Arapaho are two distinct tribes who share certain historical experiences. In Oklahoma, the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes have been united and of¿cially recognized as the Chey-
6. http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/del.html 7. An anonymous reviewer suggests an alternative grouping, with Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi understood as equal members falling under the larger grouping of Anishinaabemowin. While acknowledging a close relationship between these varieties, the present paper follows both Mithun (1999:327) and Valentine (2001:16, 1044) in treating Anishnaabemowin and Potawatomi as distinct, and Ottawa as a variety of the former. ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES IN OKLAHOMA 241 enne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, based in Concho, Oklahoma. Most descendants of this ancestry identify as ‘Cheyenne-Arapaho,’ rather than aligning themselves with one particular af¿liation over the other (Andrew Cowell 2010, personal communication).
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne people are from the Great Plains and have been allied with the Arapaho at various times throughout history. Around the time of the early nineteenth century, the tribe separated into northern and southern groups. Together with the Southern Arapaho, the Southern Cheyenne relo- cated to west-central Oklahoma, while the Northern Cheyenne eventually settled on a reservation in eastern Montana (Moore et al. 2001:863–865). The Northern Cheyenne reservation is located in Lame Deer, Montana. It is estimated that around 100 speakers were in Oklahoma in 2004 (Linn 2004), while approximately 2,000 speakers currently reside in Montana. It is also reported that the language is still being acquired by children as a ¿rst language in some areas (Mithun 1999:335). Cheyenne has been very well documented over the years. In the ear- ly twentieth century, Mennonite missionaries produced a dictionary (Petter 1913–1915) and grammar (Petter 1907, 1952). In the 1980s, linguist Wayne Leman published a two-volume reference grammar (Leman 1980a), a diction- ary (Glenmore and Leman 1985), and text collections (Leman 1980b, 1987). Various academic publications on the complex sound system also exist.
Arapaho
The Arapaho are divided into Northern and Southern groups. In the mid- nineteenth century, the Northern Arapaho settled on the Wind River Res- ervation in Wyoming, while the Southern Arapaho moved on to Indian Territory (Fowler 2001:840). The estimated number of Àuent speakers within Oklahoma ranges from 5 (Andrew Cowell 2010, personal communication) to 100 (Linn 2004). Cowell estimates that a handful of individuals in Okla- homa may retain some knowledge of the language, but have not had much opportunity to use it within the last several decades (2010, personal com- munication). The linguistic situation is very different in Wyoming, where there may be as many as 840 speakers (Mithun 1999:336). Documentation of Arapaho exists in the form of a grammar sketch (Salzmann 1963), a dictionary (Salzmann 1983), publications on neologisms 242 OLIVIA N. SAMMONS
(Salzmann 1951, 1954), and texts (Salzmann 1956a,b). Other publications include studies on nouns (Salzmann 1965), verbs (Salzmann 1967a,b,c), and historical phonology (Goddard 1974). More recently, Cowell and Moss have published a grammar (Cowell and Moss 2008), traditional narratives (Cowell and Moss 2005a,b), and several academic publications on verbs (Cowell 2002; Cowell and Moss 2002a,b), place names (Cowell and Moss 2003; Cowell 2004), and plant names (Cowell 2005). Current Cheyenne and Arapaho language efforts include an online Cheyenne dictionary produced by Chief Dull Knife College in Lame Deer, Montana.8 Additionally, Dr. Stephen Neyooxet Greymorning has been instru- mental in developing Arapaho language immersion programs and teaching methods, including the Arapaho Language Lodge in Ethete, Wyoming. Lisa Conathan received a grant in 2004 to produce an analytical Arapaho diction- ary and concordance.9 Finally, Andrew Cowell has been involved in various projects, including an Arapaho conversational database, text anthology, and Arapaho language archive. However, these projects primarily involve the Cheyenne and Arapaho communities outside of Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, long-distance learning classes are being held for both the Cheyenne and Arapaho languages (Gordon Yellowman 2010, personal communication). Most of the pedagogical materials for these classes have been developed outside of the state.
SPOTLIGHT ON LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION
Miami Language Reclamation
A language reclamation movement to revive what was once a dormant lan- guage is currently underway within the Miami community. Daryl Baldwin, a Miami tribal member and linguist, taught himself Miami. Together with his wife, they have introduced it to their family as a home language. Their youngest children have been raised as ¿rst language Miami speakers. Two other families have since joined them in their efforts to create a new speech community (Hinton 2001:416). Two dissertations (Rinehart 2006; Leonard 2007) have followed these reclamation efforts.
8. http://www.cdkc.edu/cheyennedictionary/index.html 9. http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~arapaho/ ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES IN OKLAHOMA 243
Additional language work is being carried out within the larger com- munity. Working in partnership, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma have established the Myaamia Project.10 Their goal is to promote the preservation of Miami language and culture. This is accomplished through language and cultural programs, as well as through academic research. The outcomes of the academic research are used to inform the development of the language and culture programs. Other lan- guage and cultural reclamation efforts include summer youth programs, home education, and college classes on the Miami University campus (Daryl Baldwin 2010, personal communication). They are heavily engaged in materials development, including an online dictionary,11 phrase books, a dictionary (Baldwin and Costa 2005), children’s multimedia resources, and more. They have also been working to apply Smartpen technology to their language reclamation efforts.
Sauk Master-Apprentice Learning
Since its inception in 2005, the Sauk Language Department has made sig- ni¿cant strides toward strengthening the language through documentation, instruction, and acquisition. In addition to producing audio and video record- ings and developing pedagogical materials, they have instituted adult lan- guage classes, community language events, and summer language camps. The department is also planning to open an immersion school in the future. Preparation involves training teachers in language instruction and general educational standards, as well as helping them to achieve Àuency in the lan- guage through Master-Apprentice language learning (see Hinton et al. 2002). The department’s goal is that three staff members would develop the Àuency to maintain a classroom immersion environment, and that an additional staff member would eventually serve as a master for second language (L2) learners in the future. They have adapted the prototypical Master-Appren- tice model to ¿t their needs and objectives. Rather than Master-Apprentice pairs, a single Master-Apprentice team consists of four apprentices and three masters. Any combination of these individuals may meet on a given day. Furthermore, they primarily meet in an of¿ce setting, rather than in a home or the community. Each apprentice spends approximately 20 contact
10. http://www.myaamiaproject.com/ 11. http://www.myaamiadictionary.org/ 244 OLIVIA N. SAMMONS hours per week with a master. In line with these goals, the future teachers have taught Sauk language classes in Head Start programs and carried out a number of pilot immersion preschools.
Lenape Talking Dictionary
The Lenape Delaware have recently completed a project funded by the National Science Foundation to create the Lenape Talking Dictionary,12 an online dictionary that is accessible both to Delaware tribal members and to scholars. Dictionary project team members collaborated with the Native American Languages archive at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natu- ral History to digitize audio recordings that were then linked to lexical entries. This user-friendly dictionary contains 14,000 Lenape words, 5,000 sound ¿les, and 1,000 example sentences (Rementer and Pearson 2009). The dictionary contains an English-Lenape search function, while the develop- ment of a Lenape-English search function is in progress. Both linguists and tribal members have offered positive feedback on the dictionary, indicating that it is a useful resource for both audiences.
ARCHIVING OF OKLAHOMA’S NATIVE LANGUAGES
Many Algonquian language materials can be found in the Native American Languages Collection at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.13 This archive, located in Norman, Oklahoma was created in 2002 with the goal of establishing a repository of materials on Oklahoma’s Native languages for use by both scholars and community members. The archive offers digitization, archiving, and recording services (both on-site and studio recording) to local tribes, as well as assistance with grant writing, training in audio and video digital documentation, linguistics, and language teaching. All Native-made materials are digitized without charge. The collection contains over 7,000 catalogued objects, including both audio (audio cassettes, reel-to-reels, vinyl records, aluminum records, ¿lm, VHS) and written materials (bound and unbound texts, ephemera) (Linn 2009). The catalogue is available online,14 and the collection is open to any interested individuals for on-site research.
12. http://www.talk-lenape.org/ 13. http://www.snomnh.ou.edu/collections-research/nal.htm ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES IN OKLAHOMA 245
The archive has collaborated with the Cheyenne, Lenape Delaware, Western Delaware, and Sauk Language Department to digitize language materials. The collection contains resources on Delaware, Shawnee, Sauk, Kickapoo, Miami, Potawatomi, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. Included among these are audio recordings of Cheyenne and Arapaho; the Gospels of Luke and John, printed in Cheyenne by Mennonite missionaries in 1902; and student papers from a Shawnee linguistic ¿eld methods class held at the University of Oklahoma in 1997. The collection also houses materials from various Native language classes around the state. This archive contains a growing collection of Algonquian language materials and is thus a valuable resource for both scholars and community members. Linguists who have worked in Oklahoma are strongly encouraged to consider archiving their collections, or at least copies of their collections, at the Sam Noble Okla- homa Museum of Natural History to facilitate local access to their work for the purposes of language revitalization.
CONCLUSION
The goal of this paper has been to draw attention to the presence and status of Algonquian languages in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is a state with an incredible amount of linguistic diversity, though it is quickly fading due to language shift towards English. Of the eight Algonquian languages represented, a great deal of variation can be observed in regard to the number of estimated speakers, linguistic documentation, and community responses to language endangerment. Some languages have been dormant for decades, while others are still being acquired by children and may have as many as 1,500 speakers. Nevertheless, even the most vital languages are severely endangered, and many others are barely hanging on by a thread. The languages also differ in terms of the amount of linguistic documenta- tion they have received. Many remain under-documented and are in need of urgent attention. Further, communities are working in various ways to bring new life to their languages, including increased documentation, language camps and classes, resource development, immersion teaching, and daily use of the language in the home. Through continued collaboration, communities and linguists can work together to revitalize and provide a richer record of these unique and valuable languages.
14. http://www.snomnh.ou.edu/db2/nal/index.php APPENDIX: SUMMARY OF ALGONQUIAN LANGUAGES IN OKLAHOMA
# Birth Language Speakers Source Documentation Community Efforts Delaware 0 Rementer, J. translation, texts, 3 grammars talking dictionary, language committee, community classes (on hold)
Shawnee • Absentee <40 Blanchard, G. wordlists, phonetics, phonology, language teaching and • Eastern 0 Berardo, M. dictionary revitalization seminars • Loyal 4 Berardo, M.
Sauk-Fox-Kickapoo • Sauk 5-7 SLD Sauk: dictionary, pedagogical Sauk: Master-Apprentice, • Kickapoo 400 IWS materials camps, Head Start, Kickapoo: grammars, lexicon, community classes academic materials
Miami-Illinois 0 Baldwin, D. grammar, dictionaries, texts, language reclamation, home pedagogical materials education, college classes, youth programs, resource development
Ottawa 0 Linn, M. grammar, texts, academic not active publications, dictionary
Potawatomi <15 Macaulay, M. basic description, some online classes, annual pedagogical materials and texts, conference, language essentially no accessible documentation grant (lexical dictionaries or grammars database and dictionary) 247 eh.gov/ guage classes classes distance texts, long-distance texts, materials publications, materials, 2 grammars, 3 text collections, long- online dictionary, IWS Cowell, J. pedagogical materials grammar, 400 <5 Cheyenne SLD = Sauk Lan Society (www.ahalenia.com/iws/status.html); Wordpath IWS = “Status of Indian Languages in Oklahoma,” Intertribal Department Native Languages,” Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Linn, Mary S. 2004. “Oklahoma’s
248 OLIVIA N. SAMMONS
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