Reimagining the Role of ‘Children’s Oral Health Program’
Reimagined role-name in Biigtigong’s dialect of Nishnaabemwin:
- Gaa-dzhiikming Wii-mnwaabdewaad Binoojiinyag
Gaa-dzhiikming Wii-mnwaabdewaad Binoojiinyag ~ Children’s Oral Health Program
Morphemes (building blocks of each word):
- Gaa-dzhiikming ~ “program”
- Gaa-…ming ~ “that which (abstract-)they…”, “that which ‘ones’…”
- dzh ~ “there, in a certain place”
- iik ~ “deal with it”
- Wii-mnwaabdewaad ~ “so that they will have good teeth”
- Wii- ~ “so that…”
- mnw ~ “good”
- aabd ~ “tooth”
- e ~ [incorporating], “someone ‘has'”, “they ‘have'”
- waad ~ “way of being or life, character, nature”
- Binoojiinyag ~ “children”
- Binoojiiny ~ “child”
- ag ~ [plural]
A translation of the morphemes:
- that-which-is-being-engaged-with so-that-children-will-have-good-teeth
A plainer, more free-form English translation:
- so-that-children-will-have-good-teeth program
A formal-English translation:
- Children’s Oral Health Program
Montano, J. P., & Michano, A. R. “Reimagining Health Centre Roles in Biigtigong Nishnaabemwin” biigtigong.com. Biigtigong Nishnaabeg, 14 Jul 2017. Web.