Since the release of version 1 of Biigtigong’s online dictionary in September 2015, the Biigtigong Language Project has been organizing and editing the grammar notes which were shared by our Elders during personal interviews over the last two-and-a-half years.
Some of these grammar notes are being published today as ‘verb conjugation charts.’ These charts are now available as part of version 1 of our Biigtigong dictionary. You are invited to download these verb charts, as part of our dictionary.
Verbs are kind of like the action words of our language. And, these verb charts, created from the language knowledge shared by our Elders over the last two-and-a-half years, tell us the thousands and gazillions of different ways that we can say these action words in our Biigtigong dialect!
Our Elders who have shared their language knowledge and helped create these verb conjugation charts are:
- Mabel Starr
- Pauline Moses
- Margaret Tyance
- Nancy Desmoulin
- Collette Goodchild
- Caroline Deschamps
- Irene Moses
- Thelma Nabigon
- Lina Desmoulin
- Alvina Michano
- Proddy Goodchild
- Arthur Fisher
- Myra Michano
- Cecil Twance
- Arnold Michano
- Brian Michano
- Cindy Fisher
- Daryl Desmoulin
- Duncan Michano Jr.
These verb conjugation charts are a very important part of creating new speakers of our dialect of the Nishnaabe language. This language knowledge is a special gift which our Elders have shared with us.
Gchi-miigwech to all of you who have helped create these verb charts!! We are very grateful for your encouragement and for all of the language insights you have gifted us with!
The Biigtigong Language Project hopes to release final, polished versions of all our dialect reconstruction work by the end of this Summer 2016. Our language reconstruction work was officially started three Moose Camps ago in September 2013.
