Chippewa language facts for kids

Chippewa is a language spoken by the Anishinaabe people in parts of the United States. It is also known as Anishinaabemowin or Ojibwemowin. This language is part of the Algonquian family, which includes many Native American languages.

You can find Chippewa speakers in areas from upper Michigan all the way to North Dakota. It's a southern part of the larger Ojibwe language family. The language is mostly spoken around the southern shores of Lake Superior and areas to its south and west.

Chippewa is part of a "dialect continuum" of Ojibwe. This means it's like a chain of different ways of speaking that are connected. Think of it like different accents or versions of a language. Some of these versions are very similar, but others can be so different that speakers might not understand each other easily.

Sadly, the Chippewa language is considered "severely endangered" by UNESCO. This means fewer and fewer people are speaking it, especially younger generations. Most first-language speakers are older adults.

Who Speaks Chippewa?

Over the years, many experts have studied the Chippewa language. However, the number of people who speak Chippewa as their first language has continued to go down.

Since the 1970s, many communities have worked hard to bring the language back. They have created programs to teach it to younger people. While these efforts have helped some people learn Chippewa as a second language, it's still hard for them to become as fluent as those who grew up speaking it.

In 2009, a survey estimated that there were only about 1,000 first-language Chippewa speakers in the United States. Most of these speakers are elderly.

Chippewa Speakers by Reservation (2009 Estimate)

Here's a look at how many speakers were estimated on different reservations in 2009:

Different Ways of Speaking Chippewa

The Chippewa language, which is also called the Southwestern dialect of Ojibwe, has four smaller dialects. These are like different regional versions of the language.

• Upper Michigan-Wisconsin Chippewa: Spoken on reservations like Keweenaw Bay, Lac Vieux Desert, Lac du Flambeau, Red Cliff, Bad River, Lac Courte Oreilles, St. Croix, and Mille Lacs (District III).
• Central Minnesota Chippewa: Found on Mille Lacs (Districts I and II), Fond du Lac, Leech Lake, White Earth, and Turtle Mountain.
• Red Lake Chippewa: Spoken on the Red Lake reservation.
• Minnesota Border Chippewa: Heard on Grand Portage and Bois Forte reservations.

How the Language Works

The Chippewa language has some interesting features in how it's built.

Sentence Structure (Syntax)

Like other Ojibwe languages, Chippewa words often carry a lot of meaning on their own. This means the order of words in a sentence can be quite flexible. However, the most common order is subject–verb–object, similar to English.

Chippewa words fall into three main groups: nouns, verbs, and "others."

• Nouns are grouped by whether they are singular or plural, and if they are animate (like a person or animal) or inanimate (like a rock or a table).
• Verbs change based on many things. They show if an action is happening to something, if the person doing the action is animate or inanimate, and if the thing the action is happening to is animate or inanimate.
• Other words include adverbs (which describe actions), numbers, and small words called particles. There are also "pre-nouns" and "pre-verbs." These aren't full words but are like prefixes that add meaning to nouns or verbs. They usually come before the word they describe.

Chippewa uses "postpositions," which are endings added to words to show location or direction. For example, ashangewigamig means "welfare office," but ashangewigamigong means "to the welfare office." The "-ong" ending is like saying "in," "at," or "on" in English.

Word Building (Morphology)

Chippewa is a "polysynthetic" language. This means it can pack a lot of meaning into a single word by adding many prefixes and suffixes. It's like building a long word that means a whole phrase in English!

• Many nouns are not simple words. They are built by combining different parts and endings.
• To show that a noun is plural (more than one), suffixes are added to the end of the word.
• Prefixes are used to show who owns something or to indicate the type of verb or noun, and even the tense (when something happened).

Because so much meaning is combined into one word, it can be tricky to break down and understand each part. Sometimes the main part of a word (the "stem") might even be hidden in the middle!

Sounds (Phonology)

The Chippewa language has a specific set of sounds.

• Vowels: It has three short vowels (a, i, o) and four long vowels (aa, e, ii, oo). There are also "nasal vowels" which sound like they come through your nose.
• Consonants: Many Chippewa consonants sound similar to their English counterparts. Letters like f, l, r, u, v, and x are not typically used in native Chippewa words, only in words borrowed from other languages.
• Pronunciation Tips: Some letters like b, d, and g can sound softer (devoiced) when they are at the beginning of a word or next to certain other sounds. Letters like s, t, and ch might be pronounced with more force or with rounded lips.

Chippewa uses different types of consonant sounds, including stops (like 'p' or 'b'), fricatives (like 's' or 'sh'), and nasal sounds (like 'm' or 'n'). These sounds are made in different parts of the mouth, such as the lips, the area behind the teeth, or the back of the throat.