#maliseet

Some double curved motif drawings before bed😴 definitely not symmetrical lol

[EDIT 2025-01-22 to clarify: ladyimaginarium, who is native, asked me for Abenaki, Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqey, and Wendat flags. These are the First Nations that ladyimaginarium is from. I did not create these flags unprompted, they were specifically requested. I sent ladyimaginarium multiple rounds of mockups and got feedback before posting them.]

I have some extremely belated flags for you! Intersex Abenaki, Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqey, and Wendat. Vibrant versions on left, sensory friendlier versions on right.

KOLUSKAP NAKA WOCAWSON

Skicinuwok wolamsotomoniyal kci sipsol. ’Toliwiyawal Wocawson, nuci putuwet. Tolawsu pihcetu lahtoqehsonuk. Nit epit kci ponapskuk, mehtaluktek. Tan etuci macilqenuwit, nit tehc petson.

Neket Koluskap mec yali wiciyemat skitapiyi, puskiw na nekom mace suku ’tulok. Sipsuhke.

Neqt neke ehtahsikiskahkil wocawson, wisokolamson. Ahaciw pomolamson, kospon te peciwehse naka petamoqessu. Kotama Koluskap kisi yali sukiw. ’Titomon, “Wocawson, wot kci sips etolawsit lahtoqehsonuk, not nit elluhket.”

’Qiluwahan. Komac pihcetu oliye, on yaka moskuwan. ’Totoli mskuwal epilit kci ponapskuk, wapeyit kci sips. ’Tiyan, “Muhsumi, kotama kotomakitahamawiyik qenossok? Kil nit kisihtuwon mecokiskahk, wecawsok, eliwehsek. Kusami macehlak kunoskiyik.”

Neketok kci sips oli ikotohom. “Yut ntihinehpon wisoki nihkaniw. Pihce kiskul, mesq we etolewestuhk, nil te amsqahs nutaqsiyanpon. Nil te na amsqahs macehlukpon nunoskiyik. Mecime tech na nmacehlak tan eli wolitahatom.”

Nit etuci Koluskap wonakessit. Etutsonit, petkil ote aluhkihkuk. ’Toli wihqehlal yuhtol kci sipsol tahalu tehp motehehsim. ’Kolonomuwan toqiw wonoski, naka ’poneqahkan eli psikapskiyak nisonul kci ponapskul. Nit te na etoli nokolat.

Nit neke ’cimaciw, skicinuwok yaliyawolotuwok, ’kekiw tehc. Mecime woluwipon, kakehsukoniw, kakehs pemoluhkemkil, naka kisuhsok, kospon te neke ’samaqan tukcokiyak. Etuci paqtek, Koluskap kotama ’kisitahapiyatomuwon ’tul.

On nit te mihqitahaman kci sipsol, on macahan, naci nomiyan apc. Eli te nokolatpon, nit te apc eli mskuwal, Wocawson ipocol askomawsu. ’Teweponan, ’punan apc ponapskuk, naka ’tapqehtuwan peskuwol wonoskiyil. Neke ’cimaciw kotama tutolamsonihkew tahalu pihce.

Mettokot.

(From a version written down in Maliseet-Passamaquoddy about 1900.)

GLOOSCAP AND IT-IS-WINDY

The Indiginous believe in a great bird. They name him It-Is-Windy, the one who blows. He lives far away in the north. There he sits on a great rock, where the clouds end. Whenever he moves his wings, then the wind comes up.

At the time when Glooscap (GLOOS-kahb) still went around among men, frequently he too went paddling in his canoe. He hunted birds.

Once, long ago, it was windy every day; the wind blew strongly. It went on blowing more and more, until at least it gusted and a storm came up. Glooscap could not paddle about. He said, “It-Is-Windy, the great bird who lives in the north, he is the one doing this.”

He searched for him. Very far away he went, and then he found him. He found him sitting there on the great rock, a great white bird. He said to him, “Grandfather, do you not pity your grandchildren? You are the one who is making bad weather, windiness, gusting. You move your wings too much.”

In spite of [these words] the great bird went on yawning. “I was here at the very beginning. In distant days before anyone was speaking, I was the first one heard. It was I who first moved my wings. And I will always move them as I please.”

Then, at that point, Glooscap got up. He was so powerful, he grew up to the clouds. He picked up this great bird as if he were a duck. He held him by both of his wings, and he threw him down where there was a crack between two rocks. And that is where he left him.

From that time on, the Indiginous went about, all day long. It was always calm, for many days, for many weeks and months, until at least, at that time, the water became foamy from stagnation. It was so thick that Glooscap could not steer his canoe.

And then he remembered the great bird, and he went off, to go see him again. Right where he had left him, that was where he found him again, because It-Is-Windy lives forever. He lifted him up, put him on the rock again, and opened one of his wings. Ever since that time, it has not been as windy as long ago.

It [the story] ends.

Lingthusiasm Episode 76: Where language names come from and why they change

Language names come from many sources. Sometimes they’re related to a geographical feature or name of a group of people. Sometimes they’re related to the word for “talk” or “language” in the language itself; other times the name that outsiders call the language is completely different from the insider name. Sometimes they come from mistakes: a name that got mis-applied or even a pejorative description from a neighbouring group.

In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about how languages are named! We talk about how naming a language makes it more legible to broader organizations like governments and academics, similar to how birth certificates and passports make humans legible to institutions. And like how individual people can change their names, sometimes groups of people decide to change the name that their language is known by, a process that in both cases can take a lot of paperwork.

Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice or read the transcript here. 

Announcements:

We’re doing another Lingthusiasm liveshow! February 18th (Canada) slash 19th (Australia)! (What time is that for me?) We'll be returning to one of our fan-favourite topics and answering your questions about language and gender with returning special guest Dr. Kirby Conrod! (See Kirby’s previous interview with us about the grammar of singular they.)

This liveshow is for Lingthusiam patrons and will take place on the Lingthusiasm Discord server. Become a patron before the event to ask us questions in advance or live-react in the text chat. This episode will also be available as an edited-for-legibility recording in your usual Patreon live feed if you prefer to listen at a later date. In the meantime: tell us about your favourite examples of gender in various languages and we might include them in the show! In this month’s bonus episode we get enthusiastic about some of our favourite deleted bits from previous interviews that we didn't quite have space to share with you. Think of it as a special bonus edition DVD from the past two years of Lingthusiasm with director's commentary and deleted scenes from interviews with Kat Gupta, Lucy Maddox, and Randall Munroe. Join us on Patreon now to get access to this and 70+ other bonus episodes, as well as access to the Lingthusiasm Discord server where you can chat with other language nerds, and get access to our upcoming liveshow! Here are the links mentioned in the episode:

‘A grammatical overview of Yolmo (Tibeto-Burman)’ by Dr Lauren Gawne

‘Language naming in Indigenous Australia: a view from western Arnhem Land’ by Jill Vaughan, Ruth Singer, and Murray Garde

Wikipedia List of Creole Languages

Wikipedia entry for Métis/Michif

‘A note on the term “Bantu” as first used by W. H. I. Bleek’ by Raymond O. Silverstein

Lingthusiasm episode ‘How languages influence each other - Interview with Hannah Gibson on Swahili, Rangi, and Bantu languages’

Wikipedia entry for Endonym and Exonym

All Things Linguistic post on exonym naming practices in colonised North America

Tribal Nations Map of North America

Wikipedia entry for Maliseet

OED entry for ‘endoscope’

Wikipedia entry for Light Warlpiri

Language Hat entry for Light Warlpiri

Los Angeles Times article about the use of Diné instead of Navajo

OED entry for ‘slave’

Wikipedia entry for names of Germany

You can listen to this episode via Lingthusiasm.com, Soundcloud, RSS, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also download an mp3 via the Soundcloud page for offline listening. To receive an email whenever a new episode drops, sign up for the Lingthusiasm mailing list.

You can help keep Lingthusiasm advertising-free by supporting our Patreon. Being a patron gives you access to bonus content, our Discord server, and other perks.

Lingthusiasm is on Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Email us at contact [at] lingthusiasm [dot] com

Gretchen is on Twitter as @GretchenAMcC and blogs at All Things Linguistic.

Lauren is on Twitter as @superlinguo and blogs at Superlinguo.

Lingthusiasm is created by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our senior producer is Claire Gawne, our production editor is Sarah Dopierala, and our production assistant is Martha Tsutsui Billins. Our music is ‘Ancient City’ by The Triangles.

Jeremy Dutcher

Gender: Two spirit (they/them)

Sexuality: N/A

DOB: 8 November 1990

Ethnicity: First Nation (Maliseet)

Kejimkujik is pronounced geh-jee-mah-goo-jig, but more commonly mispronounced as keh-jee-mah-koo-jik. It is a Mi’kmaq word. Musquodoboit is pronounced moos-koh-dob-it. It is an anglicized Mi’kmaq word. Quispamsis is pronounced kwis-pam-sis. It is a Wolastoqiyik word.

According to Statistics Canada, there are roughly 9,000 registered members of the Wolastoqey nation, also known as the Maliseet, spread across seven reserves. Language activists within our nation believe that the number of fluent, life-long language speakers is less than 100.

Oochigeas (Dance Remix Song)