Potawatomi

Potawatomi (Bode’wadmi)

Potawatomi is Algonquian language spoken by fewer than 100 mainly elderly
people in Ontario and the north-central United States. Efforts are currently
being made by various bands of Potawatomi to revitalise and revive their
language. The Potawatomi call themselves Nishnabek and there are about 28,000
of them.

For many generations the Potawatomi used a pictographic form of writing in
which each symbol represents ideas rather than words or sounds. The symbols
were carved into bark or wood with a knife or other sharp tool. Sometimes
charcoal or paint were used as well. This script was used for various purposes,
including ceremonies, keeping records, maps and illustrating stories.

Between 1830 and 1860 two Jesuit missionaries, Fr. Christian Hoecken and Fr.
Maurice Gailland, developed a spelling system for the Potawatomi using the
Latin alphabet. The system is syllabic in that combinations of consonants
and vowels are used to represent single syllables, e.g. ba, be, bi, etc. The
system was known as the “ba-be-bi-bo-bu” syllabary.

Another spelling system known as “Traditional Writing” also appeared for a
number of Native American languages during the 19th century. A version of this
system for Potawatomi was developed in about 1878 by Joe Ellick, a Wisconsin
Potawatomi to enable members of the tribe to write home when they were away.

During the 1970s a team of linguists, native speakers and second language experts
at the Wisconsin Native American Languages Program (WNALP) developed a new spelling
system for Potawatomi known as the Pedagogical writing system. This system was
designed to teach the Potawatomi to speak their language and is shown below.

Potawatomi pronunciation

Potawatomi pronunciation

Source: http://www.potawatomilang.org/Reference/Grammar/Phonology/sounds.html

Sample text (The Lord’s Prayer)

Nosinan wakwig ebiyin,
ape kitchitwawenitamag kitinosowin,
kitokumawin ape piyamikuk,
kitebwetako tipu wakwig,
apeke ichu tebwetakon chote kig.
Ngom ekijikiwok michinag wamitchiyak,
ponigitediwichinag kego kachikichiinakin,
echi ponigitediwiket woye kego kachikichiimidjin;
kinaimochinag ewi pwa patadiyak;
tchitchiyikwan nenimowichinag meyanuk waotichkakoyakin.
Ape iw nomikuk.
Source: http://www.ku.edu/~kansite/pbp/books/gailland/our_father.html

Other languages written with the Latin alphabet

Links

Potawatomi Language information and resources
http://www.native-languages.org/potawatomi.htm
http://www.neaseno.org/language.htm
http://www.potawatomilang.org
http://www.ku.edu/~kansite/pbp/talk/home.html

The Neshnabe Institute for Cultural Studies – promotes languages and culture of the
Potawatomi and others: http://www.neaseno.org/

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