Chippewa exercises: being a practical introduction into the study of the Chippewa language PDF
Preview Chippewa exercises: being a practical introduction into the study of the Chippewa language
w »7»! ^ ^. ^ S- °u V ^ o §*« BEING A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION INTO THE STUDY OF THE CHIPPEWA LANGUAGE. BY -4lt^^Unv % 9. IfeAAnPu^U d. )ft. OF ASHLAJSTD, WIS. HOLY CHILDHOOD SCHOOL PRINT, Harbor Springs, Michigan. 1901. m Iii ., ' Ms • 'PREFACE! may be asked: Why this work on the Chippewa language? Have we not already IT.a most excellent work on that language, Bishop Baraga's grammer? ^Can anything better be composed or can anyone improve his work? I unhesitatingly reply: Bishop Baraga's grammar is perfect in its way. As a theoretical grammar of the Chippewa language it can hardly if at all be equalled. But it is too theoretical. What the student of the Chippewa language wants is a more practical in- troduction into the knowledge of said language. A living language can never be learned from a mere theoretical grammar. The Ollendorf Me- thod of giving few rules at a time and illustrat- ing them by many practical exercises is undoubt- edly the best method of acquiring in a compara- tively short time a practical knowledge of a liv- ing language. As regards the dead, classical, languages of antiquity the case may be different, as they are not intended primarily to be spoken, but to be read, understood and written. In them the main organ to be used is the eye. In living languages the ear is themost important organ to be used, as not -written words, but living sounds, words spoken have to be learned. Hence the ne- cessity of frequent vocal exercises. Nature teaches the child how to speak by prompting it to imitate the .sound of words, , . which it hears frotfi th£ lips ofjits: mother and others. For the first "seV^n ye^rvof its life al- .•*•.-. '\\:'\ : \: : th'of; '• "•••" (PtrMn)t — — II most all its knowledge of language comes through the medium of the ear and comparative- ly little through the eye by books. We have studied Baraga's grammar for years and it is this defect in his method of teaching, namely the want of numerous practical exercises that we have noticed and felt all along. We came to know the theory of the Chippewa lan- guage better than any of the Indians we met with, none of whom have any theoretical grama- tical knowledge of their native tongue, but when we were obliged to speak it in ordinary conver- sations we felt and could not help but feel that we knew less of the language than an Indian child of ten or twelve years. We had learned too much by the eye and too little by the ear. Now this defect in Baraga's method of teaching we have tried to remedy in this work. Our object is to teach practicallyp, to get the student to learn and to use practically as he goes along whatever he does learn. We want to help him as much as possible to learn to speak Chip- pewa in a comparatively short time. Hence we give numerous exercises with words that occur frequently in every day conversation. Moreover, to facilitate the learning by heart of the numerous terminations of Chippewa verbs, we have endeavored to often call his attention to the great similarity between the terminations of the different conjugations, showing him that many conjugations have the same terminations in some of their moods and tenses, for instance, in the subjunctive and imparative moods and that the participles have the same terminations, generally speaking, as the subjunctive mood. Thus an immense amount of memory-work is saved or dispensed with, the seemingly endless — , — Ill- terminations are greatly reduced and order and system appear everywhere.> f- Besides, in order to teach more quickly and < practically this language, we have not followed a strictly grammatical order, but have tried to bring those terminations and words first, which naturally ought to be learned the first. Speaking implies using verbs, for only by the use 01 , verbs can we form sentences and express our ide- as and feelings. Hence we begin with the verb and such nouns and adjectives as are most com- monly used in daily conversations. Finally, we have add^d after almost every les- son a long list of the most common Chippewa words. By reading these words often and loud- the student will soon acquire a large "copia ver- boruni," a great number of words and thus be soon able to engage in conversation on all kinds of topics. He should, of course, procure Baraga's dictionary, as a work like ours cannot possibly 'give anything like a complete vocabulary of the Chippewa language. We have endeavored~ to put,-,the7 proper accent on the Chippewa words, especially in the fore- part of the work. This will enable the student to acquire from the very beginning a correct pronunciation. We consider this a very useful A feature of this work. habit of erroneous pronunciation is readily acquired and once acquired is not very easily laid aside, as experi- ence shows. Besides, by accentuating the wrong syllable in a word, one often becomes unintel- ligible. Let the student try to pronounce every Chippewa word correctly and -distinctly, placing the accent on the proper syllable. To acquire , this habit of correct pronunciation, let him :read every day three or four times for about ten minutes the Chippewa le&sonsjln this book. We have not entered upon a lengthy disertation on the mariy Chippewa terms of relationship, as they can be easily found in Baraga's diction- ary; those most commonly used can also be found iu this book. The same remark applies al- , so.'to ihe Interjections. J r We would advise the Chippewa student to learn the lekssonSMin the- order given. However it will be good1if he soon study the7 chapters, on nouns Page 1*41^7-; pronouns-164-173-187;-adjectives and n numerals-392-7-414-418-422-427. - , t Finally, in order to facilitate the learning of the Dubitative Conjugations we have placed at the end of the work, a short synopsis pf the VDubitative" terminations 'with a few explana- tory rloteš; Let the student read occasionally these notes and compare the terminations of the different Conjugations and he will soon learn Tthem by heart. , n ;•-,(, r. Although fully conscious of the many imper- fections of this work, pur first in this line, we 4 trust it will be of considerable assistance to the student of the Chippewa language. P s ^Th^ Author. - - : _. • ' 1
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