Customer Reviews

Dictionary of the Ojibway Language (Borealis Books)

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when I look closely it becomes pretty obvious that long vowels are marked sporadically, and I doubt its a matter of replacing every circumflex with a double letter, some long ones are not marked at all; I also suppose the language could have changed (that's what people say about Petitiot, a different language, but it's the same); this book has certain historical value, regarding the language, linguistics, but I wouldn't use it to learn the language, it would just give me a terrible accent, go for Nyholm and Nichols

In addition to words for basic conversational speech, Father Baraga's dictionary contains translations of household items, tools, implements and transactions as various as coffee, lamp, augur, pulley, bill of divorce, lover and trading license. Although Baraga authored his work prior to the American Civil War, his method of spelling the Ojibwe words utilizes familiar letters and accent markings which a standard keyboard reproduces; however, with an acceptably moderate amount of effort, one can make the slight alterations to Baraga's spelling in order to accommodate usage of the double-vowel system that one sees in modern literature or in personal use on the internet. Within a new forward to the dictionary, Professor John D. Nichols highlights the differences between the two orthographies. The greatest strength of this dictionary lies within the extent and diversity of its vocabulary.

For building phrases with these words, a search on the web for Rick Gresczyk (Minnesota), Kenny Pheasant (Manitoulin and Michigan) and Weshki-ayaad (Animaakiing) leads to resources to get started using Nishnaabemwin.

2007: Dogged ears support the review--vocabulary-wise, still the best bang for the buck. R. Rhodes, ISBN 3110137496 and 978-3110102031 try to give SnowShoe's work a run for its money (Rhodes: P-Town, Manitoulin Dialect, 70's 80-ish).