Local man concerned about future of Anishinaabemowin language
KIRK WINTER Municipal Affairs
At least 85 Indigenous languages in Canada are either vulnerable to or facing outright extinction, according to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). One of those languages is Ojibwe, or Elders share that the Anishinaabemowin, the language spoken locally by the Nishnaabeg of Curve term Anishinaabemowin Lake First Nation. If D.J. Fife has his way, this ancient and complex language will acknowledges the not disappear without a fight, but the challenge is great. creation story of the “It is a dire time for the language today in Ontario. The language is seriously Ojibwe people: endangered at Curve Lake. I would say there are perhaps fewer than 20 profi“Anishinaabe” means cient Anishinaabemowin speakers left in our community,” Fife said. UNESCO “the spirit that is concurs, reporting that there may be fewer than 6,000 Ojibwe speakers left in lowered down from all of Canada. above,” “-mo” refers Fife, 30, and originally from Curve Lake, is by day a park warden at Petroglyphs Provincial Park, home to the historical and spiritually significant to expression through Kinomaagewapkong (the Teaching Rocks). speech and “-win” refers Fife studied Anishinaabemowin throughout elementary and high school, just to the life energy within, as many of his peers did, never with any intention of becoming an unofficial used to do so. Linguists spokesperson for language preservation. also explain that “-win” “I grew up in Curve Lake,” Fife told the Advocate in a series of telephone is a nominalizer that turns and email exchanges. “Most of the people born after 1960 in Curve Lake don’t the verb Anishinaabemo speak Anishinaabemowin fluently. Most knew some words but didn’t know the (“he/she is speaking the language. My mom’s generation forward could understand the language to an Anishinaabe language”) extent, but they could not speak it. Despite the fact it was taught in school, you had to pursue it on your own to get really good at it.” into a noun. Residential schools were one of ~ The Canadian the biggest contributors to the loss of Encyclopedia (online) Anishinaabemowin, also called the language, Fife said. “There were certainly active attempts made to deOjibwemowin and historically monize the language and culture. My known as Ojibwe/Ojibwa or grandparents’ generation was actively Chippewa, is an Indigenous punished for speaking the language at school, but the language remained language spoken from alive in the community. The problem was outside of that tightly knit comSaskatchewan to Quebec, munity the language was not seen as a positive asset.” concentrated around the Although there was an uptick of interest starting in the 1970s, Fife Great Lakes. It is the heritage added, “The overwhelming settler culture and not enough opportunity to language of more than 200,000 use the language as a tool for advancement impacts the interest in learning people in Canada and the Anishinaabemowin. You have to want it as a part of your identity. You have to make a point to learn it and many start, but not many have reached United States. a level of fluency.”
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