rendering of Sequoyah#10 Language
At the American Indian Science and Engineering Society's Conference in Minneapolis a couple weeks ago, I was very impressed by a Navajo elder who encouraged the participants to learn at least five other languages besides their own. He said that his mother told him that this would help him to understand other cultures, and appreciate them more. If others would do this, consequently, it would lead to more harmony among people. He spoke Navajo, Hopi, Spanish, English, Korean, Japanese and "enough Apache," he said, "to make jokes."
Being in Minnesota, the land of my ancestors, and hearing it spoken around me, I found my interest kindled in learning to speak Ojibwe. Loss of language is the loss of culture, and so there are many resources in Minnesota to learn the Ojibwe language. An Ojibwe friend here in Colorado sent me a message that there is now a listserver to learn the language.
Quick lesson in Ojibwe:
Aaniin - Greeting analogous to "Whats up?"
Anishinaabe - "(Spontaneous) Human Being" (term "Chippewa" people use to refer to themselves)
Mii gwetch -expression of gratitude "Thank You"
In looking at this year's "Notes" I noticed they are all contemporary, none historical. So here is a bit about Sequoyah of the Tsalagi people, commonly called Cherokee. Sequoyah developed a Cherokee alphabet and subsequently published a newspaper using it.
rendering of Sequoyah
Most agree that Sequoyah was born sometime in the 1770s in the Tsalagi village of Tuskegee on the Tennessee. His mother, Wurerth, belonged to the Paint Clan. Some argue that Sequoyah's father was a white man from Virgina named Nathaniel Gist (sometimes rendered "Guess"). Sequoyah is sometimes referred to as George Guess or George Gist. Others insist that Sequoyah was a full-blood.; that he let himself by portrayed as a half-blood to give more credence to his alphabet.
In any event, young Sequoyah was raised in the customs and traditions of the Tsalagi people. As a young man, Sequoyah was injured in a hunting accident and became partially lame. In about 1809, he began to plan his alphabet of the Tsalagi language. He took part in the War of 1812 as a warrior in spite of his physical handicap. During that service, Sequoyah became more than ever convinced that the Tsalagi needed writing. He set to work and discovered that there are 85 vowel and consonant sounds in the Tsalagi language. Sequoyah assigned a character to each of these. This was the core of the Tsalagi or Cherokee alphabet.
In 1821,Sequoyah demonstrated his alphabet before Tsalagi leaders who were amazed and impressed by the accomplishment. It was quickly adopted as the official written language of the Tsalagi. Because of the simplicity of Sequoyah's alphabet system, many Tsalagi became literate in a short time. In 1827, the Cherokee Phoenix--Tsa La Gilehisanunhi--was established. Funded by the Cherokee Council, this first Native American newspaper was published in New Echota, Georgia Elias Boudinot was the first editor and Reverend Samuel Worcester, a missionary, was director. On February 21, 1828, the first issue of the paper was printed. In time other works including the Holy Bible would be printed in Sequoyah's syllabry.
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Here is a link to a site that has downloadable software of the Cherokee, Cheyenne, Lakota, Chinook, and Shoshone languages.
http://www.intertribal.net/NAT/NATribes.htm
Enjoy, and I will be in contact with you again next November!
Mii gwetch;
Lori Windle
http://www.aipc.osmre.gov/
"A Nation is never conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground." Tsistsistas (Cheyenne) Proverb