Indigenous Languages

An Atikamekw Language Lesson

Lucien Ottawa
March 30, 2011
Manawan

"Onimiski is like thunder, electric current or lightning."

Lucien Ottawa, Nehirowisiw

Each language has its own vocabulary and unique way of arranging words to describe people or situations, to express ideas or emotions. The Atikamekw's is very colourful. It can name the Earth this "ember from a burst of sunlight", and the train, the "vehicle driven by fire". In one word, it can identify a man, his profession and his condition, but it requires many letters. It takes 32 to designate the "deceased bad little electrician", but everyone in the community knows who we’re talking about!

Transcript

In close-up, Lucien Ottawa is sitting at a desk in front of a computer screen. On the screen is a word written in the Atikamekw language.

Lucien Ottawa

So, uh, that's a word that contains 32, 32 letters.

Zoom out to see more of Lucien Ottawa's face. He’s wearing a yellow shirt.

Lucien Ottawa

And, to really, uh, say that language, the genius of language is still very, very important in, at the Atikamekw level, one can form a word to define specifically one person. Like this, here, there are 32 letters. And I’ve separated them to identify what’s, where it comes from, because here, when you say [onimiski], it’s like, like thunder, electric current or even lightning. [Ckote], that's the... exactly, lightning, eh. And [api], means the lines, or rather anything filigree, eh? The wires. And here, [ke] means, it identifies, work. And [rini], means “man”. [Ckic], is a pejorative term, which states something bad, eh. [Ici] it means the diminutive and [pan] is, uh, it's someone who, uh... It's a term, it's a... It's a suffix that, uh, identifies someone who's already, uh, deceased. So, if, uh, if I translated it into [English], uh, I could say, uh: “The, the deceased little bad electrician.”

[Laughter]

Interviewer

Yes, yes.....

Lucien Ottawa

You see?

Interviewer

Yes, it means that the bad...

Lucien Ottawa

Bad, means [ckic].

Interviewer

[Ckic], it's, it's someone whom, whom you didn't know was, was a nuisance, uh, yes?

Lucien Ottawa

Yeah. That's right, yes...

Interviewer

And, uh, [ici], is the diminutive, for...

Lucien Ottawa

[Ici]? [Ici], that's the diminutive.

Interviewer

What does it mean, “must be diminutive”?

Lucien Ottawa

Uh... It means: what's small.

Interviewer

Okay!

Lucien Ottawa

What’s... The smallness of something, a person. For example, uh, if I write, uh, if I write, uh... See, here, there, [irinicic]?

Interviewer

Yes!

Lucien Ottawa

Well the ending [irinicicic] means “a little man”.

Interviewer

And what about the [i] at the beginning? Because...

Lucien Ottawa

Well, that's, uh... That's, uh... That's really the word that starts to identify man: [irinew]. [Irinew], it's the...it’s much more, uh... Man and, uh, the other. It's, well, the other one. It's the... It's the...

Interviewer

So, electrician. In other words, you combine occupation with, uh, electricity, lightning, wires. All this to develop a complex idea.

Lucien Ottawa

Uh-huh, yes. So, uh, it's... It's a little, uh... It's just to show you an example that, that shows that we can make one word to identify someone...

Interviewer

Specifically...

Lucien Ottawa

Yeah, specifically...

Interviewer

And it's always about relationships between ideas.

Lucien Ottawa

Yes, yes!

Interviewer

Relationship is important, it seems. It's intertwined in the language.

Lucien Ottawa

Yes. That's right, yes.

Interviewer

Well, that's a good example. Thank you very much!

Lucien Ottawa

The example, the example that came to mind, when you wanted to identify the... like the genius behind the Atikamekw language.

Speaking our Mother's Language

Tobi Mitchell. Cynthia Lazore. Cheavie William
October 20, 2011
Akwesasne

"I think I'm lucky, my mother taught me the language."

Cynthia Lazore, Cheavie William, Mohawk

It took only a few decades for many Indigenous languages to lose their vitality. Assimilating measures, residential schools, intermixing and urbanization have contributed to restraining the use and transmission of this fundamental element of First Nation cultures. But this can change. More and more communities are devoting their energies to overcome this challenge: adult courses, youth activities, intensive learning in immersion schools, etc. Language is a fragile richness that must be shared with as many people as possible in order to preserve it.

Think Differently

Douglas Pictou
December 13, 2010
Listuguj

"In Mi'gmak, you see things from a wider angle!"

Douglas Pictou, Mi'qmaq

The day Douglas Pictou began learning Mi'gmaq, a new universe opened up for him. By coming into contact with the language of his ancestors, he inherited a powerful tool for self-discovery; each piece of knowledge added a stone to the construction of his identity. Through words, he became aware of a way of thinking that he hadn’t known before, a unique way of making connections, of describing the world. Gradually, his own approach to a situation changed. He knows that if he hits a wall, he’ll find a door to which he now holds the key, which he intends to give to his descendants.

Transcript

Indoors. Close-up of Douglas Pictou.

Douglas Pictou

Actually, for example, my teacher had, had said one time when she was trying to think of something, I can’t remember what it was exactly, but just to give you a situation they couldn’t figure how to solve it. And that’s because they were all speaking to each other in English at this point, OK? And they couldn’t think of how to solve that specific, uh, that specific situation.

Zoom in. Close-up of Douglas Pictou’s face.

They couldn’t figure out the solution. And they didn’t know what to do. So they ponder for minutes and minutes, and then they thought, “Let’s just speak in Mi’gmaq, let’s just speak in our language right now.” They spoke in their language, and right there, the solution was found.

Zoom out to a close-up.

Interviewer (voice-over)

Oh, yes?!

Douglas Pictou

I don’t know how the solution was found, or what the given problem was, but the idea of that they found it that fast was... I think it was remarkable because it was, and very optimistic. You know, how am I gonna get my hand in the other side of that glass, you know? When if there’s only one way is either break through it. But you know, if I use Mi’gmaq, I could have drilled the hole from the top and put my hand through, and my hand’s on the other side of the glass. That’s the way I think of it, you know? You gotta look at it very broad.

And when you got the Mi’gmaq, when you speaking in Mi’gmaq, and thinking in Mi’gmaq, it’s easier to place everything in a sense you’re like, “Whoa! Let’s just try that out”, it’s trial and error at that point. At least, this way you’re not feel like you stuck. We’re, like, if you’re thinking in English fashion, you may be like," Oh, I can’t do that ‘cause that don’t make any sense!”, “I can’t do that” or “What are we gonna do?”. You know, you feel like you hit a wall. In Mi’gmaq, you kind of, you realize that there are doors on the sides of the wall. [laughs]

Interviewer (voice-over)

Would you say that it was always been a part of you and that you discovered it after or?

Douglas Pictou

Yes, I would say that because there have been many occasions where I’ve been in situations with friends and we just you know, he’d be like, “What, how do I get this” or “How do I do that?”, and I was just, “Try it out”, it just came to me you know, it just felt natural. And you know, and they’d be like, “Whoa, I haven’t think of that”…

And to me I’m like, “Why didn’t you think of that like, that’s easy, I could do that in three different ways”, “Why could you do that?”… And they’d be like, “I don’t know, I just didn’t think of it”... I’m like, I don’t know. Maybe that is, that’s that is my culture, or possibly just simple logic. Yeah. But, I, you know, I’m Mi’gmaq, some are gonna say it’s Mi’gmaq! I’m gonna say it’s from that, you know. I feel it’s from that, and it really helps, especially when I’m learning my language. Because you know, I’m just amazed that the things we could do with our language, the way it’s understood, and I’m blown away at times, I’m just like… Yeah, English has got nothing on us. [laughs]

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An interview with young Mohawks

Tobi Mitchell

We find now too that a lot of the younger ones, like the young children now, are coming out fluent. We have the Akwesasne Freedom School which is a full-immersion, Mohawk immersion school, that goes up to grade 8. And then one of our schools has an immersion program up to grade 6. So you hear now that there are a lot more younger kids that are fluent speakers. My family, my grandparents are fluent, and I think two or three of their sons are. But the ones that are fluent only learned it when they were working, working with a lot of the older guys who communicated in Mohawk, so they had to learn it or, you know, you could potentially die.

My father is in the same situation as Marie: he was fluent and as he speaks Mohawk to us, we understand a little bit, but he thought it was bad. I asked him, “How come you put me in the English program? Why not the Mohawk one?” His answer was, “Well, we wanted you to succeed and at that time Mohawk wasn’t seen as something that would help you, something that would hinder you.” So that’s why I think a lot of loss of our language came from, that mindset that being Indian isn’t good, it’s going to hurt you, anything to do with it, you know, you need to be European, you need to be white to succeed. That’s just how our parents were, they wanted better for us than what they had, so they did what they thought was right. And now you see it’s going back, a lot more young families are putting their kids into Freedom school, into the Mohawk immersion programs.

(Unknown)

I feel lucky because my mom did teach me the language. But not until I was eleven and we got my father out of the picture… We didn’t kill him, they just divorced (laughs). Like I said, his family was hardcore Catholic, so it was when he was out of the house, or the room, that my mom would teach me, but when he came back, I knew I had to stay in English or he would punish us. And when he was finally out of the picture, I moved back to Freedom school from which he took me out when my mom tried to put me in the first place. My mom became a Mohawk language teacher there. And today, she has the responsibility of giving the Deer Clan names at the longhouse. And so, from her, until I went away to university, I was almost fluent, and I knew a lot of my culture, but being away for five years for a Bio Honours degree, I started to forget the language. But my mom always said, “It’s in your blood, even if you don’t know it, just clear your mind of all your other thoughts and you’re going to know what they’re saying.” Because now, when I talk, or speak, I feel that I’m lagging, it takes a while, but I see the picture of what they’re saying. I don’t hear words, I just see a picture. And that’s why I think the language helps with the environment, or anything too, because you’re not just saying this or that, you’re actually describing it, you’re seeing the whole bigger picture and how it connects.

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An Atikamekw Language Lesson

Tobi Mitchell

(Unknown)

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