Menominee language facts for kids

The Menominee language (called omǣqnomenēweqnæsewen by its speakers) is an Algonquian language. It is spoken by the Menominee people. They live in what is now northern Wisconsin in the United States.

Sadly, Menominee is an endangered language. This means very few people speak it fluently today. Most fluent speakers are older adults. Many Menominee people now speak English as their first language.

The name of the tribe and language comes from Oma͞eqnomenew. This word means "wild rice." The Menominee people have gathered and grown wild rice for thousands of years. It has always been a very important food for them. The Ojibwe people, who are neighbors to the north, also use this term for them. The Ojibwe also speak an Algonquian language.

Menominee has some special features compared to other Algonquian languages. It uses a specific "a" sound (like in "cat") a lot. It also has a unique way of forming negative sentences. The language also has its own special words and phrases.

Saving the Menominee Language

The Menominee language is in danger of disappearing. Only a small number of people can speak it fluently. In 1997, a report showed that only 39 people spoke Menominee as their first language. All of them were elderly. Another 26 people spoke it as a second language. About 65 more people had learned some of it to understand or teach it.

The Menominee Nation created the Menominee Language & Culture Commission. Their goal is to help keep the language alive. People on the Menominee reservation in Keshena, Wisconsin hold special classes. These classes are for learners of all ages. They also work with language experts from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Together, they record the language and create learning materials.

In 1977, Menominee High School started offering Menominee language classes. They also teach drumming and tribal dance. This happened after the Menominee Reservation separated from the Shawano-Gresham School District. They wanted to have their own school district.

Today, you can take Menominee language classes at different levels. There are classes for pre-schoolers, high school students, and adults. You can also learn the language at the College of Menominee Nation and the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay.

In 2012, the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay said sorry to a seventh-grader. This student was punished for speaking her native Menominee language in class in Shawano, Wisconsin. This event showed how important it is to respect and support native languages.

As of 2013, only about six or seven people could have a full conversation in Menominee. This information came from a project at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point. The project created a map of Menominee place names.

How Menominee Sounds and is Written

Every language has its own unique sounds and ways of writing them. Menominee has a special alphabet and sounds.

Menominee Consonants

Menominee has sounds made with your lips, tongue, and throat. These are called consonants.

Menominee Vowels

Vowels are sounds like "a," "e," "i," "o," "u." Menominee has both short and long vowel sounds.

Some vowel sounds can combine to form "diphthongs." These are like two vowel sounds blended together.

Menominee Grammar Basics

Grammar is how words are put together to make sentences. Menominee has its own rules for this.

Word Types

In Menominee, words fall into five main groups:

• Nouns: These are words for people, places, or things (like "house" or "man").
• Pronouns: These replace nouns (like "I," "you," "he").
• Negators: These words make a sentence negative (like "not").
• Verbs: These are action words (like "run" or "eat").
• Particles: These are small words that don't change their form.

Nouns and Their Forms

Menominee nouns change their form based on two things:

• Animacy: Nouns are either "animate" (like living things) or "inanimate" (like non-living things). This is a grammar rule, so sometimes a non-living thing might be grammatically "animate."
• Number: Nouns change if they are singular (one) or plural (more than one).

Here's how nouns change for singular and plural:

Let's look at some examples:

Menominee also uses special prefixes (small parts added to the beginning of a word) for "person." These are like "my," "your," "his/her."

• nɛ- for "my" or "I"
• kɛ- for "your" or "you" (also "our" when including the listener)
• o- for "his/her/its" or "he/she/it"
• mɛ- for "someone's" or "indefinite"

These prefixes are used for words like body parts or family members. For example, neme:h means "my older sister." They also show who is doing the action in a verb.

Here are the personal pronouns:

Nouns can also show location. For example, weːkewam means "house," but weːkewameh means "in a house."

You can make a noun mean something smaller by adding -æshs. This is like adding "-ette" or "-y" in English.

Verbs and Their Actions

Verbs in Menominee change their form to match the noun. They agree in gender (animate/inanimate), person (I, you, he), and number (singular/plural).

• Intransitive verbs are actions that don't have a direct object. They change based on whether the actor is animate or inanimate.
  • paːpɛhcen means "he falls" (animate actor).
  • paːpɛhnɛn means "it falls" (inanimate actor).

• Transitive verbs are actions that have a direct object. They change based on whether the object is animate or inanimate.
  • koqnɛw means "he fears him" (animate object).
  • koqtam means "he fears it" (inanimate object).

• Impersonal verbs don't have a clear actor. They are usually singular.
  • kɛqsiw means "it is cold."
  • kemeːwan means "it is raining."

To make a sentence negative, you usually put the word kan before the verb. For example, kan kemeːwanon means "it is not raining."

Language Family

Menominee is part of the Algonquian languages family. This larger family is part of the even bigger Algic languages group. Menominee is often grouped with other Central and Plains Algonquian languages. These include languages like Blackfoot, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Cree languages. It is also related to Eastern Great Lakes languages like Ojibwe.