Reimagining the Role of ‘Health and Social Services Director’
Reimagined role-name in Biigtigong’s dialect of Nishnaabemwin:
- Mno-yaawin Gaa-niigaan’ziikndang
Mno-yaawin Gaa-niigaan’ziikndang ~ Director of General Wellness
Morphemes (building blocks of each word):
- Mno-yaawin ~ “general wellness”
- Mno- ~ “good”
- yaa ~ “someone is in a state or condition”
- win ~ “-ness”
- Gaa-niigaan’ziikndang ~ “someone who leads it”
- Gaa-…ang ~ “someone who…”
- niigaan ~ “ahead, leading, in front”
- zi(i) ~ “someone is in a state or condition”
- knd ~ “act on it”
A translation of the morphemes:
- someone-who-leads (general-)wellness
A plainer, more free-form English translation:
- someone who leads-up general wellness
A formal-English translation:
- Director of General Wellness
Montano, J. P., & Michano, A. R. “Reimagining Health Centre Roles in Biigtigong Nishnaabemwin” biigtigong.com. Biigtigong Nishnaabeg, 14 Jul 2017. Web.