Native Languages of the Americas: Ojibwe (Ojibway, Anishinaabemowin, Chippewa, Ojibwa)
Language: Ojibwe--otherwise anglicized as Chippewa, Ojibwa or Ojibway and
known to its own speakers as Anishinabe or Anishinaabemowin--is an Algonquian
language spoken by 50,000 people in the northern United States and southern Canada. There are five main dialects of Ojibwe: Western Ojibwe,
Eastern Ojibwe, Northern Ojibwe (Severn Ojibwe or Oji-Cree), Southern Ojibwe (Minnesota Ojibwe or Chippewa), and Ottawa (Odawa or Odaawa).
Speakers of all five dialects, including Ottawa, can understand each other readily. Many linguists also consider the
Algonquin language to be an Ojibwe dialect, but it has diverged more and is difficult for
Western Ojibwe speakers to understand. As its name suggests, Oji-Cree has borrowed many elements from
Cree and is often written in the
Cree syllabary rather than the English alphabet. On the whole Ojibwe is among the
healthiest of North American languages, with many children being raised to speak it as a native language. Ojibwe is a verb-based polysynthetic language
with relatively free word order.
People: The Ojibwe are one of
the most populous and widely distributed Indian groups in North America, with 150 bands throughout the north-central United States
and southern Canada. Ojibwe and Chippewa are renderings of the same Algonquian word, "puckering," probably referring to their
characteristic moccasin style. "Chippewa" is more commonly used in the United States and "Ojibwe" or "Ojibway" in Canada, but the
Ojibwe people themselves use their native word Anishinabe (plural:Anishinabeg), meaning "original people." The Saulteaux and
Mississauga are subtribes of the Ojibwe; the Ottawa, though they are closely related
and speak the same language, have long held the status of a distinct tribe. Today there are 200,000 Ojibwe Indians living throughout their traditional territories.
History: The Ojibwe and Ottawa Indians are members of a longstanding alliance also
including the Potawatomi tribe. Called the Council of Three Fires, this
alliance was a powerful one which clashed with the mighty Iroquois
Confederacy and the Sioux, eventually getting the better of both.
The Ojibwe people were less devastated by European epidemics than their densely-populated Algonquian cousins
to the east, and they resisted manhandling by the whites much better. Most of their lands were appropriated by the Americans and Canadians,
a fate shared by all native peoples of North America, but plans to deport the Ojibwe to Kansas and Oklahoma never succeeded, and today nearly
all Ojibwe reservations are within their original territory.
Ojibway Vocabulary:
List of vocabulary words in the Ojibway language, with comparison to words in other Algonquian languages.
Ojibwe Pronunciation Guide:
How to pronounce Ojibwe words.
Anishinaabe Language Project:
Ojibwe language learning computer game (under development)
Christmas Story in Anishinaabemowin:
Text from an 1884 translation of the New Testament into the Ojibwe language.
America Miikawadad:
Translation of the song "America the Beautiful" into the Ojibwe language.
Chippewa Words in Longfellow's Hiawatha:
Chart of words used in Longfellow's epic poem, with their original Ojibway forms.
Ojibwe Animal Words:
Picture glossary of animal words in the Ojibwe language.
Ojibway Body Parts:
Online and printable worksheets showing parts of the body in the Ojibwe language.
Ojibwe Colors:
Worksheet with pictures of color words in the Ojibwe language.
Ojibwe Numbers:
Worksheet showing how to count in the Ojibwe language.
Ojibway Animate Nouns:
Lesson on Ojibway animate and inanimate nouns.
Ojibway Possession:
Lesson on the use of Ojibway possessive prefixes.
Ojibway Language Community and Tools
Ojibwe Forum:
Primarily English-language, but there are Ojibwe speakers and students to talk to here
Ojibwe Language Society Miinawaa:
Another active online Ojibwe language messageboard.
Ojibwemowin Zagaswe'idiwin (Ojibwe Language Society):
Organization offering Ojibwe lessons and resources in the Minnesota area.
Ojibwe Cultural Preservation Organization:
Organization working to maintain Ojibway language and traditions.
Neshnabe Institute for Cultural Studies:
Educational organization promoting the Ottawa, Potawatomi, and Ojibwe languages.
Anishnaabemowin Radio:
Information about Cree and Ojibwe radio broadcasts.
Freelang Ojibwe-English Dictionary:
Freeware dictionary program of Ojibway words and phrases, word roots, sound change patterns and grammatical affixes.
(The auto-generated dictionary is missing some entries for technical reasons; you can download the complete file here, and place it directly into your Program Files/Dictionary/language folder.)
UCAS for WindowsCree Font for Macintosh:
Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics (used for writing Oji-Cree and occasionally Ojibwe), available for free download.
CanTalk:
Canadian translation service specializing in English, French, Cree, and Ojibway.
Ojibway and Cree Cultural Center:
OCCC offers Ojibway and Cree translation, transcription, and interpretation.
Ojibway Language Lessons and Linguistic Descriptions
Native American Cultures
Ojibwe Language Resources
Ojibwe Language Resources
Ojibway Vocabulary:
Cree Font for Macintosh:
