Have you ever taken a language course? If so, it was probably French, Spanish or maybe English. But if you live in Hannahville, Michigan, USA, the language you would learn is Potawatomi, a First Nation language that was almost extinct twenty years ago. The Potawatomi Indians live mostly in Michigan; however, in 1830, many were taken from their land and sent to Kansas and Missouri where many of the tribe live to this day. The word Potawatomi means “keepers of the fire.” There are about twelve bands of Potawatomi in the United States and Canada, with a total of over 28,000 members as of 1998.

     The Potawatomi language is very different from English, partly because it is almost eighty percent verbs, as opposed twenty percent in English. The students learn Potawatomi in a “language lab”, and are also encouraged to speak it as often as possible. The language lab is a computer course that teaches the students the language, including sentence structure, vocabulary and how to conjugate all those verbs!

     There are very few native speakers of Potawatomi, and almost no written material, so the language program had to be built from the ground up, capturing words, sentences and stories spoken by the few who knew them. Over time, the lessons were built around these recordings. The students are very excited about learning Potawatomi, and when they are asked what they would like more of, they always say they would like more language lessons!

     This language is taught not only to the students of the tribe, but also to adults in the community in cultural education classes. The most important part about learning Potawatomi, says Dawn DeVere Hill, the language coordinator for the Potawatomi tribe, is that the language is part of their identity. Having their own language helps to make them their own nation. The ultimate goal is to make Potawatomi a vibrant, living language, just like it once was.

Sources:

Hill, Dawn. Telephone interview by team member Hannah. 02 March 2009.

"Revitalization." Potawatomi Language. 2009. Hannahville Potawatomi Indian Community. Accessed 07 Mar 2009 . <http://www.potawatomilanguage.org/revitalization.php>

Picture Source:

Photograph used with permission of Dawn DeVere Hill. Potawatomi Language Students.yay
<http://www.potawatomilanguage.org/revitalization.php>