Mildred Milliea has researched and developed the only Micmac language program in the Maritimes. The Micmac alphabet with equivalent sounds, the numerical system, and examples of new Micmac words are given. (NQ)

This document discusses the teaching of Indigenous languages. Immersion programs have become very popular over that past few years, and serve as an effective tool to teaching languages. In addition to language immersions, conferences and language revivals are also effective tools in teaching languages. This document provides an overview of these…

Many literary critics describe Native American written poetry as inspired by oral tradition (namely storytelling). This seems a vacuous claim unless one can set out the features of the oral genre (tradition) and the written form, and establish a baseline for comparative purposes. It is not enough to claim that poetry is storytelling based on oral…

The article discusses how Sinte Gleska University (SGU), South Dakota, has been promoting Lakota language since its inception. SGU is the first tribal-based university in the U.S. White Hat, a teacher from SGU, has been promoting Lakota language through his impressive style of teaching. The university requires every SGU student to opt for Lakota…

The study reported here was conducted in the Algonquian language of Odawa (a.k.a. Ottawa), with the goal of gaining new insight into the ways that conceptual accessibility affects human sentence production. The linguistic characteristics of Odawa are quite different from those found in the languages most often examined by psycholinguists. The data…

Proto-Siouan "one" is reconstructed in two versions from two separate cognate sets, both of which are defective in that each has been entirely lacking from one or another of the major Siouan subgroups. One of the sets for "one" is found in Mississippi Valley Siouan, and it contains the same root as the indefinite article that…

St. Clair's Comanche texts, collected in 1902, appear to exhibit a very uncharacteristic form of objective case marking along with "same subject" dependent clause types unknown elsewhere in the language. Proper interpretation of the materials and the circumstances in which they were transcribed leads to an analysis in which…

This paper examines spatial deixis in Chiwere (Siouan) in the framework of two theories of deixis. Denny (1978) attempts to define a set of distinctive features for spatial deixis, while Rauh (1983) uses spatial deixis as a template for organizing all deictic dimensions. Chiwere data suggest language and dimension specific expansion of both…

Proto-Algonquian had six or seven orders (morphological types) of verbs. The potential order had three modes, the subordinative two, and by one interpretation, the conjunct had four. By another, all conjuncts are participles in the protolanguage. Evidentials include an attestive suppositive dubitative, and perhaps a recollective. Only a few…

There was a time in the Americas when many different languages were spoken by the diverse native peoples. This situation changed rapidly as waves of Europeans arrived, containing and controlling the native peoples, often forcing them to forfeit language and culture. Today remnants of some Native American tribes are striving to find ways to…

This article discusses the role of boundaries in Yuman languages and gives a general idea of Yuman phonology. Basic units in the morphology and syntax are also delimited, as a result of the examination of boundaries. (CLK)

This paper analyzes the play language of Tzeltal children and their extensive use of metaphor. The ability to use figurative language early is significant for a child's ability to extend command of language and expression. (CHK)

Presents the results of field research into the extinct Cacaopera language of El Salvador. Data from two Spanish-speaking informants are given in broad phonetic notation. (RM)

Arikara is spoken by the Arikara Tribe on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. This textbook is designed for use in a beginninq language class or for independent study. It is intended to be a practical introduction to the language that will serve the need for a year-long course at either the secondary or postsecondary level. It is…