The Language of the Algonquin Nation

Kwe and welcome to the language learning section of this resource. Kwe means hello in Algonquin.

The Algonquin Language and Its Linguistic Family

What language does the Algonquin tribe speak? They speak Algonquin! It is spoken by approximately 3000 people in Quebec and Ontario. The language is part of the Algonquian family of languages, also referred to as the Algic family to linguists. Among this family there are over 35 languages, along with a handful of others that may be related. One of the languages that shares ties to the Algonquin language is Ojibwe. Some are of the opinion that Algonquin is a divergent dialect of Ojibwe. the Ojibwe tribes and territories share many cultural features, traditions, and are close neighbors in their ancestral territories.

Why is the Algonquin Language Important?

The Algonquin language is a vital component of the Algonquin people’s culture. Language embodies a culture’s unique social understanding and guides its speakers on how to interact with the world. It’s not enough to have recorded the vocabulary and grammar: the language must be used for its value to be realized. In addition, scientists are now starting to recognize the potential of Indigenous language and culture as a source of scientific knowledge.

The Algonquin people lived in and understood the Ottawa Valley for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived. Their language and culture are therefore a resource for us to further our own understanding of the land and resources, and how to use them sustainably. It is therefore crucial that resources are available to make Algonquin language learning as accessible and relevant as possible. We cannot let the Algonquin language join the list of languages that will never be heard again.

Status of Algonquin Language

UNESCO defines four levels of language endangerment between "safe" (not endangered) and "extinct". With only 3000 speakers left, the Algonquin language falls under the “severely endangered” category of language at risk of extinction. There are many other aboriginal languages that are endangered, and many that have gone extinct. The Task Force Report on Aboriginal Languages and Cultures reported that close to half of the 60+ Aboriginal languages in Canada are considered endangered, and 10 languages have become extinct over the past 100 years.

The level of endangerment can be largely attributed to the purposeful attempt to assimilate indigenous populations into mainstream Canadian with residential schooling and historical prohibition of their languages. Many Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools, where they would be punished severely for speaking in their native language, and English or French eventually became many of the students’ dominant language. The separation from their families ensured that their language was not passed on to the next generations.

What are Some Features of the Algonquin Language?

Polysynthetic

Polysynthetic languages are those with sentences composed of long, highly structured words. For example, the word for the language itself: the Algonquin people call themselves Anicinàbe ("original people") and their language Anicinàbemowin ("original people's language.")

Verb-oriented

Verb-oriented languages have verbs that carry a lot of meaning. This means that verbs often carry meaning that in languages like English require additional words for prepositions, tense, etc. When a language is verb oriented, it is also relational. Verbs imply a relationship between person-to-person or person-to-subject.

Animate and inanimate nouns

The Algonquin language makes a distinction between animate and inanimate objects. Like with masculine and feminine in languages such as French, speakers must use different word forms depending on whether the object is animate or inanimate. All people and animals are animate, but the distinction can get tricky - for example, “feather” is animate and “river" is inanimate.

Toponymical

Language is often tied to location. For example, Pikwàkanagàn (the Golden Lake region in the Ottawa Valley) means "[beautiful] hilly country [covered] in evergreens" in Algonquin. Place names often tell a story and help pass traditions from one generation to the next. A current example is the naming of Pimisi station in Ottawa. The word Pimisi means eels. Eels used to be plentiful in the Ottawa river before the hydroelectric dams were installed. The Algonquin have worked campaigned to help re-establish the species, including by creating eel-friendly routes around the dams. The naming of Pimisi station therefore helps both remind Ottawa of the history of the region as well as call for increased ecological action to help protect the eel.

Algonquin and European Naming of Places

When Europeans first arrived in Canada, they adopted many of the same names for landmarks from the Indigenous people. It allowed a common understanding of locations as well as insights into the land. However, in the early 1900s, Quebec decided to standardize place names. This moved away from indigenous names, which were considered “very strange and bizarre” (as noted by Minister of Lands and Forests Jules Allard in 1913) and instead promote French history and culture. This re-naming of places was a sign of the supposed superiority of European languages and culture at the time.

That being said, there are still some places that remained the same as or similar to the original name. Below are some examples of colonial names. Try to spot the ones that were influenced by the original indigenous names.

Do you want to count from one to one hundred in Algonquin? This is from a useful linguistics website, https://www.omniglot.com/language/numbers/algonquin.htm

Take note of how the Algonquins use colour words. There is a suffix for animate objects, and a suffix for inanimate objects. This is an image taken from http://www.native-languages.org/algonquin_colors.htm

Want to know how to say something else in Algonquin? try out this dictionary offered by the Algonquin Way Learning Center.
https://www.thealgonquinway.ca/English/dictionary-e.php