Gete-Otchipwewibiigan Wabandamowin gaie Anikanotabiigewin: Reading Ojibway Texts and Translation

3 credits · Undergraduate

(3 hrs Lecture) This course introduces students to early Ojibway texts. It strictly focuses on reading, transposing, and translating such as hymns, prayers, sermons, and sacred stories. It is not a conversation class. It teaches orthography, etymology, and parsing. For orthography, it examines the different ways of spelling the same words. It teaches how to see the same word behind different orthographic configurations. For etymology, it teaches how to break words into their component parts and then build new words from those parts. For parsing, it teaches how to decompose a sentence into its component parts and identify the function of each part. Finally, it considers the early history of writing in Ojibway, from Jesuit missionaries to American ethnologists. It reflects on their reasons to write in Ojibway, namely, for the conversion of souls and the salvaging of culture. It considers whether these reasons are still appropriate, and, if not, what should replace them. Requisite Courses: IS-1201 or IS-1101 [prerequisite(s)]; Course/Lab: THFM-2101 (must be taken concurrently).