Potawatomi (Neshnabémwen)

Potawatomi is Algonquian language spoken in southern Ontario in Canada, and in Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and Kansas in the USA. In 2012 there were just nine elderly speakers. Efforts are currently being made by various bands of Potawatomi to revitalise and revive their language. There are about 28,000 Potawatomi and the call themselves Nishnabe'k ('the original people') or Bodéwadmi ('those who keep/tend the hearth-fire'), which refers to the hearth of the Council of Three Fires, a confederation of the Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi peoples dating back to 796 AD.

Potawatomi is also known as Pottawatomie, and native names from the language are Bodéwadmimwen, Bodéwadmi Zheshmowen and Neshnabémwen

For many generations the Potawatomi used a pictographic form of writing in which each symbol represents ideas rather than words or sounds. The symbols were carved into bark or wood with a knife or other sharp tool. Sometimes charcoal or paint were used as well. This script was used for various purposes, including ceremonies, keeping records, maps and illustrating stories.

Between 1830 and 1860 two Jesuit missionaries, Fr. Christian Hoecken and Fr. Maurice Gailland, developed a spelling system for the Potawatomi using the Latin alphabet. The system is syllabic in that combinations of consonants and vowels are used to represent single syllables, e.g. ba, be, bi, etc. The system was known as the "ba-be-bi-bo-bu" syllabary.

Another spelling system known as "Traditional Writing" also appeared for a number of Native American languages during the 19th century. A version of this system for Potawatomi was developed in about 1878 by Joe Ellick, a Wisconsin Potawatomi to enable members of the tribe to write home when they were away.

During the 1970s a team of linguists, native speakers and second language experts at the Wisconsin Native American Languages Program (WNALP) developed a new spelling system for Potawatomi known as the Pedagogical writing system. This system was designed to teach the Potawatomi to speak their language and is shown below.

Potawatomi alphabet and pronunciation

Potawatomi alphabet and pronunciation

Source: http://www.potawatomilang.org/Reference/Grammar/Phonology/sounds.html

Download an alphabet chart for Potawatomi (Excel)

Sample text (The Lord's Prayer - Mattew 6: 9-13)

  1. OtIsI ktashI matumawa; Nosnan e'in shpumuk kishkok, ke'cne'ntakwuk ktIshnukaswun,
  2. Kto kumau’wun kupie'mkIt. Nocma kte'ne'ntumwun knomkIt shotI kik, ke'cwa shpumuk kishkok.
  3. MishInak otI nkom e'kishkiwuk e'tso kishkuk, e'shwisIniak.
  4. Ipi pone'ntumwIshnak mIsnukInanIn ninanke' e'shpone'nmukIt me'citotmoiImIt, mIsnumoiumke'shiIk.
  5. Ipi ke'ko shonIshikak ke'tshI kwcItipe'nmukoiak, otapInIshnak caye'k me'anuk; kin ktupe'ntan okumauwun, ipi kshke' e'wsuwun, ipi iw kcIne'ntakwsuwIn kakuk. E'me'n.
  6. KishpIn pone'ntumwe'k ninwuk, omuiiashtotmonawa, ke'iapukI Koswa shpumuk kishkok kupone'ntmakwa.
  7. KishpIn cI pwapone'ntumwe'k nInwuk omuashuwe'psiwnawa; CowikI Koswa kupone'ntumakwsiwa kmIiashuwe'psiwnawan.

Source: https://www.bible.com/bible/135/MAT.6.POTL

Translation

  1. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
  2. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
  3. Give us this day our daily bread.
  4. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
  5. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Source: https://www.bible.com/bible/1/MAT.6.kjv

Sample video in and about Potawatomi

Information about Potawatomi | Numbers

Links

Potawatomi Language information and resources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potawatomi
http://www.native-languages.org/potawatomi.htm
http://www.neaseno.org/language.htm
http://www.potawatomilang.org
http://www.ku.edu/~kansite/pbp/talk/home.html

The Neshnabe Institute for Cultural Studies - promotes languages and culture of the Potawatomi and others: http://www.neaseno.org/

Potawatomi dictionaries
http://www.potawatomi.org/lang/our-language

Algonquian languages

Abenaki, Algonquin, Arapaho, Atikamekw, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Cree (East), Cree (Moose), Cree (Plains), Cree (Swampy), Cree (Woods), Fox, Innu (Montagnais), Kickapoo, Malecite-Passamaquoddy, Loup, Massachusett (Wampanoag), Menominee, Miami, Míkmaq, Mohegan, Mohican, Munsee, Narragansett, Naskapi, Ojibwe, Oji-Cree, Ottawa, Penobscot, Powhatan, Potawatomi, Quiripi, Sauk, Shawnee, Unami (Lenape)

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page last modified: 01.05.24

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