The Current Status of the Menominee Language

ALAN CALDWELL
College of the Menominee Nation
MONICA MACAULAY
University of Wisconsin-Madison

INTRODUCTION
Menominee is spoken by a small number of people on the Menominee
reservation in northern Wisconsin. The Menominee Indian tribe is the
oldest continuous inhabitant of the state of Wisconsin. The Menominee tell
in their stories that they have inhabited this area for 10,000 years. They
once claimed an area that stretched from present-day Milwaukee,
Wisconsin northwestward to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and to the Straits
of Mackinac in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Their present reservation, located in northern Wisconsin, is a 234,000
square acre area, heavily forested by white pine and hemlock trees. The
Menominee are one of the few American Indian tribes in the eastern United
States that still have land holdings in their original land claim. Their forest
is a large reason that the tribe has continued to maintain its culture,
traditions, and language.
The Menominee tribe has a current enrollment of approximately 7,800
members. The average age of tribal members is 21.8 years. It is estimated
that there are 35 tribal members who are fluent in the Menominee
language, but the precise number is unknown. A survey of the on-reserva-
tion membership by the Menominee Historic Preservation Department in
1997 showed that there was no tribal member under the age of 50 who
claimed Menominee as theirfirstlanguage (see Appendix: Tables 1-4).
In 1996 the Menominee Legislature passed a tribal ordinance requiring
that the language be used in tribal business whenever possible, and be
taught in all of the schools on the Menominee Reservation — from day
care to the tribal college. This has led to a number of tribal programs
implementing the ordinance. This paper discusses one such program which
is currently underway at the College of the Menominee Nation as well as
the role of linguists from the University of Wisconsin in that program and
others.
 CURRENT STATUS OF THE MENOMINEE LANGUAGE 19

OMAEQNOWMENEW-KIKETWAN KAEKENOHAMOWEKOW MESEKNATAMO-

WEKOWAK
The College of the M e n o m i n e e Nation ( C M N ) , a tribal community
college established in 1992, was given a charge by the Menominee Tribal
Legislature in April 1997 to develop an institute to assist the tribe with the
implementation of M e n o m i n e e Tribal ordinance 96-22. The college was
asked to submit a budget and plan to the tribal governing body to provide
leadership, research, and technical assistance to the Tribe, the educational
institutions located on the reservation and the Menominee Language and
Culture Code Commission. (See Figure 1.) The college created the
Menominee Culture Institute in the summer of 1998 with a director and
administrative assistant as staff.

Figure 1. College of the Menominee Nation, Menominee Culture

Institute.
Roles and Functions: Interrelationships with Tribe and
Community.
20 A L A N C A L D W E L L A N D MONICA M A C A U L A Y

The Menominee Language and Culture Code Commission was

appointed by the Tribal Legislature. The membership of the commission
consists of six elders or eminent persons fluent in the language and three
other tribal members, preferably with a background in education and a
familiarity with the Menominee language. The Commission'sfirsteffort
was to publicize the tribal ordinance and begin the development of the
various articles and directives contained in the language of the tribal
ordinance.
One of thefirstareas of concern identified was the shortage of
Menominee language teachers. Though several of the schools on the
reservation have had Menominee language instruction programs for years,
there was a shortage of trained teachers. The Commission also identified
the lack of a comprehensive and coordinated curriculum in the schools.
Each of the three public schools — elementary, junior high and high school
— and the Menominee Tribal School had curricula but there existed no
coordination between the schools. Students and teachers at each of the
schools were unaware of what was being taught at the other schools. Since
the establishment of the Commission there has been an effort to begin
development of a comprehensive curriculum.
The educational institutions located on the reservation — Day Care,
Headstart, a K-12 public school system, a K-8 Bureau of Indian Affairs
school and two colleges — serve approximately 2,000 students. There is a
high student-to-teacher ratio in the regular classrooms of these institutions,
but in their Menominee language classrooms there is a 241:1 student-to-
teacher ratio (see Appendix: Table 5). It is the opinion of most that a bona
fide native language program cannot adequately develop a pool of native
language speakers with a ratio that high.
One other area the Commission focused its efforts on in the initial
years was the establishment of a teacher licensing program whereby the
Menominee Indian Tribe would issue its own teacher licenses for Meno-
minee language and culture. The C M N Menominee Culture Institute
provided the research and development of the initial drafts of a teacher
licensing program for the tribe.
In 1997-98 the Menominee Historic Preservation Department received
a $65,000 grant from the Administration for Native Americans ( A N A ) in
the U.S. Department of Health and H u m a n Services to tram four Menomi-
nee language teachers. Three trainees completed the program in the
 CURRENT STATUS OF THE MENOMINEE LANGUAGE 21

summer of 1998 and were granted teacher licenses by the tribe. C

two of the three are teaching language classes at the Menominee Tribal
School (a B.I.A. K-8 grant school) and at the Menominee Headstart
Program.
C M N ' s Culture Institute submitted a two-year Menominee language
training grant to A N A in November 1997 to tram five Menominee
language teachers. The College received notice in April 1998 that their
grant had received approval by the A N A . The College was funded at
$95,000 for two years to implement the goals and objectives contained in
the grant proposal.
The language training approach in the College's grant application was
based upon the mentor-apprenticeship model used by Leanne Hinton, a
California linguist who has worked with a number of tribes in that state to
revive and preserve their tribal languages. Five Menominee elders were
hired as Omaeqnomenew-Kiketwan Kaekenohamowekow, or Menominee
language teachers. Each mentor was paired with a Natamowekowak, or
helper. Each pair of mentors and apprentices then established a schedule of
hours in which they would spend time together, and the mentor would
teach the apprentice everything they could of the Menominee language.
Each apprentice was given a tape recorder with blank tapes, folders,
Menominee lexicons, Menominee language manuals, and other resources
that would supplement the oral teachings they received from their mentor.
The mentors and apprentices meet on a weekly basis for group lan-
guage sessions in addition to their individual lessons. At these group
sessions they discuss the pronunciation and meaning of Menominee words
which some of the elders may have forgotten. Several of the elders have
stated that because they no longer use the language on a daily basis they
sometimes forget h o w certain Menominee words are spoken, or the
meaning of the words. These sessions also give the apprentices the
opportunity to listen and hear the elders speaking the language together.
The apprentices participate in some of the conversations as they grow more
comfortable with their speaking ability and understanding in the language.
The late Steve Askinette, a prominent Menominee elder and speaker
of the Menominee language, who taught the language in many of the
schools on the reservation, pointed out on numerous occasions the need to
keep the Menominee language alive. H e believed that one of the solutions
to the myriad of problems the community faces due to alcohol, drugs,
22 ALAN CALDWELL AND MONICA MACAULAY

violence, and youth gangs is the Menominee language. H e stated that

within the language are the moral imperatives that our children need to
learn that will help them to define w h o they are and h o w to develop their
individual character, and further that m a n y of the traditional stories cannot
be told other than in the Menominee language.
A number of the Menominee people are reviving their ceremonies,
such as the sweat lodge and marriage ceremonies. There is a growing
interest on the part of m a n y Menominees to learn the language so that when
the ceremonies are conducted they are done in the w a y in which the Creator
instructed the people in their o w n language.
The goal of the College of the Menominee Nation through the Meno-
minee Culture Institute is to continue the service and technical assistance
to the community to keep the Menominee language alive, and a vibrant part
of the community. The technical assistance the Institute provides to the

Figure 2. Concentric Circle Model: Native Language Learning

 CURRENT STATUS OF THE MENOMINEE LANGUAGE 23

College faculty to help them infuse their curriculum and course instruction
with M e n o m i n e e values, language, and traditions will continue through the
efforts of the elders and the program staff.
The current language trainees go before the Menominee Language and
Culture Code Commission in the summer of 2000 to be assessed on their
knowledge and speaking ability in the native language. Each Natamoweko-
w a k will then be recommended by the Commission to the tribal governing
body for issuance of a tribal teacher license. Each Natamowekowak will
then be eligible for employment with one of the tribal educational
institutions as a trained Menominee language teacher.
W h e n these N a t a m o w e k o w a k enter the classroom the Menominee
Indian Tribe will havefivemore well-trained, fluent Menominee speakers
to teach the other tribal members their language. The outer circle of the
concentric model will have shrunk and the inner circle of fluent speakers
will have been enlarged (see Figure 2).
The Creator, Maec-Awatok, will be pleased by the efforts of his
children to remain the original people of Wisconsin.

THE LINGUISTS' ROLE

The second author (Macaulay) starting visiting the Menominee
Reservation in mid-1998. Since then a number of students — both graduate
and undergraduate - - have joined the project, and are involved in
numerous projects of their own. Our role is divided between our o w n
research and our involvement in the tribe's programs.
W e follow Leap (1982) in his recommendation that linguists approach
their role with a tribe "from the self-determination philosophy"; that is,
from an understanding that the tribe sets its priorities and the linguists are
available to function as a resource team when asked. Nonetheless, in
practice the two types of goal - - research and resource team - - are
intertwined to a great degree. For that reason, our projects are described
below without trying to separate them out according to the dual roles w e
play.
O n e problem that w e have faced is fairly c o m m o n these days: I was
trained to be the kind of linguist w h o does research on a language, writes
it up and publishes it -- this rather than having been trained in second
language acquisition, pedagogy, curriculum design, or any of the skills that
a tribe really needs from a linguist. So to resolve this, w e have looked for
24 A L A N C A L D W E L L A N D MONICA M A C A U L A Y

projects that try to bridge the gap — projects that w e are competent to do
that will also be of use to the tribe. W e do believe that scholarly research
on a language can ultimately be of use in language preservation, but the
immediate needs of people with a threatened language are m u c h more
practical in nature.
Following is a description of some of the projects that w e have been
involved with:
W e started learning about M e n o m i n e e by working on glossing and
retranslating a long text called "Red Swan," from Bloomfield's (1928)
Menomini Texts. This gave us a w a y to better understand what w e were
reading in Bloomfield's (1962) grammar of Menominee, and taught us
about the structure of the language. Several research topics have arisen
during this project, including the paper on M e n o m i n e e vowel harmony by
Marianne Milligan in the present volume.
W e have two outcomes in mind for this retranslation project. First, w e
plan to publish the text, fully glossed and retranslated using an ethnopoetic
approach. Second, w e plan to produce a version for m e m b e r s of the M e n o -
minee Nation. This version would not include interlinear glosses, but would
have Menominee on one page and English on the facing page. This small
book would make a powerful traditional story accessible to the population.
W e have run across a few people w h o have a copy of Bloomfield's texts,
but the way that they are translated is a barrier to use of the book in this day
and age. His translations — like most of those published in his time — are
filled with terms like "thee" and "thou"; "hither" and "thither"; and our
favorite: "Fie!" Our translation would put the text into language that was
more accessible to the modern reader, as well as more true to the form of
the original.
Another project that is helping us with thefirstis our creation of a
Menominee language database using SIL's Shoebox program. W e are
inputting our glossed version of Red S w a n as well as Bloomfield's lexicon,
and creating related lexicons and other electronic resources from it. This
will provide us with a highly useful tool for our research, but w h e n done
will also be given to the College for use in their language teaching
programs.
A second computer project which is underway is digitization of Bloom-
field's Menominee Texts. The University of Wisconsin library has scanned
the texts in for us, and they are currently working on putting the results into
 CURRENT STATUS OF THE MENOMINEE LANGUAGE 25

a searchable text format. A searchable version of the texts will, of cour

m a k e looking for data on a particular topic m u c h easier and more
convenient. W e will also have copies of the C D m a d e for the tribe so that
people w h o do not o w n a copy of the book can get an electronic copy.
A minor project has been to write a short text titled " W h y Should W e
Save the M e n o m i n e e Language?" T w o versions will be produced: a poster,
which will be put up all around the reservation, and a flier, which can be
handed out at various gatherings. This grew out of discussion with tribal
members w h o told us that not everyone on the reservation is in agreement
that it is a good idea to try to preserve the language. W e were asked for
arguments that could be m a d e in support of revitalization. The poster,
currently being designed, lists such points as the state of endangerment of
the language, the notion that language preservation aids cultural preserva-
tion, the idea that cultural and linguistic knowledge is invaluable and
irreplaceable, the fact that bilingualism is actually beneficial to children,
and so on.
Finally, our current major project involves videotaping elders and
language learners in various contexts. The videotapes will have three uses:
first, they will provide data for research; second, they will document the
language and various aspects of the culture; and third, they will be
developed for use as pedagogical materials.
For the pedagogical videos, w e will transcribe and translate the
language used, and then produce several different versions of the tapes.
O n e set of tapes will have Menominee subtitles, another will have English
subtitles, and some m a y have no subtitles at all. Such tapes will be useful
both for language teaching and for disseminating general cultural informa-
tion.
Learning everything w e needed to k n o w to m a k e the videotapes has
been quite a process (and one which is certainly not over yet). I discuss
here some of the problems that w e have faced. W e started by just letting the
elders and apprentices talk about whatever they wanted, but an immediate
problem that presented itself was that m a n y of them prepared a written text
and read it. The resulting lack of spontaneity of course was problematic.
W e have had better luck since then in getting spontaneous stories and
conversation, but it remains an issue. A better approach has been to provide
the group with a topic ahead of time, and then encourage them to discuss
it with the camera running.
26 A L A N C A L D W E L L A N D MONICA M A C A U L A Y

The potential quality and production of the videos has been another
concern. W e are competent enough (although not highly skilled) at pointing
a video camera at people and letting it run. But the production — including
scripting, editing, and subtitling — is something that w e do not have the
expertise, the time, or the m o n e y for. This problem has been solved by
bringing two Communication Arts majors into the picture, w h o are doing
video production for us as a project for credit. They are also able to
improve the quality of the filming, since they k n o w about things like
lighting, backgrounds, camera angles, and so on.
At first I was concerned that so m u c h of what w e have filmed so far has
not really been of that m u c h interest. But our two video experts have told
m e that the ratio of unuseable to useable footage is generally something
like 50 to 1, so w e plan to just continue shooting videos, and then pull out
the really nice moments from what w e get. For example, the group decided
that it would be fun to film a meal. The idea was that people could bring
traditional foods, and talk in Menominee about those foods, their prepara-
tion, cooking and eating in general, and topics like that. W e had quite a
meal, but everyone spoke English most of the time (despite their best
intentions to speak only Menominee). W h a t w e did get out of it was some
dialog in Menominee, and numerous shots of the food, which have been
developed into a short sample lesson by the Communication Arts majors.
The names for each item of food are repeated, and shown on the screen in
subtitles. W e have recorded some paradigms with words like 'eat' and
'cook', and these can be added as well. In addition, at a later session w e
taped some of the elders talking about topics related to food, this time in
the language, and these can be spliced in where appropriate.
W e are in the process of planning one major video project, on the
annual p o w - w o w . Footage from the p o w - w o w will be interspersed with
segments in Menominee (with subtitles) discussing the types of dances the
components of the regalia used, the music, the dancers, and so on. The goal
will be not only general language teaching, but preservation of specific
terminology about this important cultural event. This project will be done
entirely by the undergraduates w h o are part of our group. They have
applied for a fellowship that the University provides, designed for outreach
projects. Then they will script, shoot, and edit the video. They will have to
do research on the cultural aspects of the p o w - w o w , and elicitation and
transcription of the language used. It is a major project, but it will be
 CURRENT STATUS OF THE MENOMINEE LANGUAGE 27

spectacular when finished.

I mention this last project because I want to point out the m a n y roles
that a linguist plays in working on projects like these. I have a role as a
researcher, as a consultant to the tribe, and as a teacher. In addition to the
obvious roles that a linguist has to play in working on an endangered
Native American language, there is the less-obvious role of training
students (both graduate and undergraduate) to be responsiblefieldworkers,
dedicated to advancing the goals of the people with w h o m they work at the
same time that they advance their research, data analysis, writing, and other
professional skills.

CONCLUSION

The M e n o m i n e e language is severely endangered, and all w h o are

involved in this project are aware of the fact that it is not easy to save a
language. This paper has addressed a number of projects, from the major
(like the mentor-apprentice language teaching project) to the minor (like
the poster). Despite the large number of obstacles that have been and
doubtless will continue to be encountered, there is a solid core of people -
most importantly the teachers and the learners — w h o have the passion
necessary for undertaking such a daunting task. A n d as w e all know, this
is precisely the critical ingredient for the success of such a project.
Eneq, waewaenen.

APPENDIX
Table 1. Menominee as a First Language

Ages Male Female

80-90 3 8
70-80 8 11
60-70 3 3
50-60 3 0
0-50 0 0
Total 17 22
28 A L A N C A L D W E L L A N D MONICA M A C A U L A Y

Table 2. Menominee as a Second Language

Ages Male Female

70-80 6 2
60-70 9 4
50-60 4 1
Total 19 7

Table 3. Menominee Language from Specialized Training

Ages Male Female

40-50 6 5
30-40 1 3
Total 7 8

Table 4. Basic Understanding of Language

Ages Male Female

60+ 0 2
50-60 4 5
40-50 13 6
30-40 3 7
20-30 3 7
Total 23 27

Table 5. Number of Language Teachers and Students

Name of Institution Language Teachers Number of
Currently Students Taught
Employed
Menominee Tribal Daycare 0 60
Menominee Indian Headstart 0 210
Tribal School 1.0 271
MISD Primary 2.0 424
MISD Intermediate 1.0 179
MISD Junior/Senior H.S. 1.0 458
N A E S College 1.5 25
College of Menominee Nation 1.0 34
Total 7.5 1,661
 CURRENT STATUS OF THE MENOMINEE LANGUAGE 29

REFERENCES

Bloomfield, Leonard. 1928. Menomini texts. Publications of the American Ethnological

Society 12.
. 1962. The Menomini language. Charles F. Hockett (ed). N e w Haven: Yale Univer-
sity Press.
Leap, William. 1982. Roles for the linguist in Indian bilingual education. Language renewal
among American Indian tribes: issues, problems, and prospects, ed. by Robert St. Clair
and William Leap (Rosslyn, Virginia: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education),
19-30.