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A Bemidji professor is on a quest to keep the Ojibwe language alive

startribune.com

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Re: A Bemidji professor is on a quest to keep the Ojibwe language alive

#21

Post by jl6 »

ivanbakel wrote: post #19
lopmotr wrote: post #11

Is there any evidence of this common claim that obscure languages "may contain some of the most critical solutions to the problems we face as humans"? What kind of problems is he talking about there? Has it ever happened before? So what that a monkey is a "lice hunter"? In English, an anteater is an anteater and a wood splitter is a wood splitter. It's not a very special way of naming things. Maybe this language has…

>Yes, and English does that job much better because you can actually communicate with the world and multiple generations. That's a misunderstanding of Treuer's point. English is able to define English nations and express the English cultural perspective. He's not arguing that language, generally, is a tool for communication - he's saying that specific languages each yield their own specific identities. To address the…

This is a sidetrack, but is “wel” like “do”, as per the examples on Wiktionary? Or simply like the English word “well”?

Re: A Bemidji professor is on a quest to keep the Ojibwe language alive

#22

Post by justusthane »

nkurz wrote: post #3

1) I was unable to get past the popups to read the article until I tried opening the link in a "private" window. If you are having trouble, that might work for you as well. Alternatively: https://archive.is/DUdqz . 2) Growing up in Northern Wisconsin, the only public radio station we reliably received was from the Ojibwe reservation ( https://www.wojb.org ) and featured a segment called "Ojibwe word of the day". I th…

Crazy, WOJB was also one of my home radio stations (although being close to Ashland we got others as well). My dad DJd occasionally on WOJB when I was really little.

Re: A Bemidji professor is on a quest to keep the Ojibwe language alive

#23

Post by 2snakes »

nkurz wrote: post #3

1) I was unable to get past the popups to read the article until I tried opening the link in a "private" window. If you are having trouble, that might work for you as well. Alternatively: https://archive.is/DUdqz . 2) Growing up in Northern Wisconsin, the only public radio station we reliably received was from the Ojibwe reservation ( https://www.wojb.org ) and featured a segment called "Ojibwe word of the day". I th…

Yeah, James Vukelich does Ojibwe Word of the Day too I think.

WOJB is available to stream online now on their website and through TuneIn.

Great programming.

Re: A Bemidji professor is on a quest to keep the Ojibwe language alive

#24

Post by ivanbakel »

jl6 wrote: post #21
ivanbakel wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Yes, and English does that job much better because you can actually communicate with the world and multiple generations. That's a misunderstanding of Treuer's point. English is able to define English nations and express the English cultural perspective. He's not arguing that language, generally, is a tool for communication - he's saying that specific languages each yield their own specific identities. To address the…

This is a sidetrack, but is “wel” like “do”, as per the examples on Wiktionary? Or simply like the English word “well”?

"wel" is basically nothing like the English "well", except in archaic speech. It is similar to "do", but you can't use "do" to positively affirm nearly as much as you could use "wel". There is simply no way to directly translate it, and it has no equivalent in English - though you can describe it, as the positive "not".

Re: A Bemidji professor is on a quest to keep the Ojibwe language alive

#25

Post by LatteLazy »

lopmotr wrote: post #11

Is there any evidence of this common claim that obscure languages "may contain some of the most critical solutions to the problems we face as humans"? What kind of problems is he talking about there? Has it ever happened before? So what that a monkey is a "lice hunter"? In English, an anteater is an anteater and a wood splitter is a wood splitter. It's not a very special way of naming things. Maybe this language has…

I'm with you, and frankly the other replies sort of prove your point. No one has given any example of what you asked for and everyone seems to think learning a language like that is easy and simple and won't displace more important activities...

Re: A Bemidji professor is on a quest to keep the Ojibwe language alive

#27

Post by 2snakes »

justusthane wrote: post #22
nkurz wrote: post #3

1) I was unable to get past the popups to read the article until I tried opening the link in a "private" window. If you are having trouble, that might work for you as well. Alternatively: https://archive.is/DUdqz . 2) Growing up in Northern Wisconsin, the only public radio station we reliably received was from the Ojibwe reservation ( https://www.wojb.org ) and featured a segment called "Ojibwe word of the day". I th…

Crazy, WOJB was also one of my home radio stations (although being close to Ashland we got others as well). My dad DJd occasionally on WOJB when I was really little.

My stepmom was a program director too! I still tune in sometimes.

Re: A Bemidji professor is on a quest to keep the Ojibwe language alive

#29

Post by 2snakes »

lopmotr wrote: post #11

Is there any evidence of this common claim that obscure languages "may contain some of the most critical solutions to the problems we face as humans"? What kind of problems is he talking about there? Has it ever happened before? So what that a monkey is a "lice hunter"? In English, an anteater is an anteater and a wood splitter is a wood splitter. It's not a very special way of naming things. Maybe this language has…

From what I gather from my Dad, who speaks a good amount of Ojibwemowin, the language has Nature conservation principles embedded in it.

Re: A Bemidji professor is on a quest to keep the Ojibwe language alive

#30

Post by mchaver »

lmm wrote: post #15
kiba wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any evidence of this common claim that obscure languages "may contain some of the most critical solutions to the problems we face as humans"? What kind of problems is he talking about there? Has it ever happened before? Does it need to? If a language interest a community, then it's reason enough to learn it. Anyway, if you're a deaf person, a sign language is going to be a hell lot more useful than a spoken…

> Does it need to? If a language interest a community, then it's reason enough to learn it. I've nothing against people voluntarily choosing to learn a language. But most language learning is done by children who are heavily pressured if not outright forced into it by their parents (who usually, hypocritically, do not put the same time into language learning themselves). That's cruel in my book.

I think it is cruel that their language was taken away from them, but I find it inspiring they are trying to rebuild their linguistics community. Not every child will like what they are taught, but if they can create an environment where the language is used, the kids are likely to follow. I hardly see how that is cruel.
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