Ojibwe language

The Algonquian language family of which Ojibwemowin is a member is itself a member of the Algic language family, other Algic languages being Wiyot and Yurok.[7] Ojibwe is sometimes described as a Central Algonquian language, along with Fox, Cree, Menominee, Miami-Illinois, Potawatomi, and Shawnee.[7] Central Algonquian is a geographical term of convenience rather than a genetic subgroup, and its use does not indicate that the Central languages are more closely related to each other than to the other Algonquian languages.[16]

Pre-contact distribution of Ojibwe and its dialects

Ojibwe communities are found in Canada from southwestern Quebec, through Ontario, southern Manitoba and parts of southern Saskatchewan; and in the United States from northern Michigan through northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota, with a number of communities in northern North Dakota and northern Montana.[29] Groups of speakers of the Ottawa dialect migrated to Kansas and Oklahoma during the historical period, with a small amount of linguistic documentation of the language in Oklahoma.[30] The presence of Ojibwe in British Columbia has been noted.[10]

Current census data indicate that all varieties of Ojibwe are spoken by approximately 56,531 people. This figure reflects census data from the 2000 United States Census and the 2006 Canadian census. The Ojibwe language is reported as spoken by a total of 8,791 people in the United States[31] of which 7,355 are Native Americans[32] and by as many as 47,740 in Canada,[13] making it one of the largest Algic languages by numbers of speakers.[13]

The Red Lake, White Earth, and Leech Lake reservations are known for their tradition of singing hymns in the Ojibwe language.[36] As of 2011, Ojibwe is the official language of Red Lake.[37]

Dialects

Ontario Heritage Plaque in Ojibwe at the Battle of the Thames historical site

Because the dialects of Ojibwe are at least partly mutually intelligible, Ojibwe is usually considered to be a single language with a number of dialects, i.e. Ojibwe is "... conventionally regarded as a single language consisting of a continuum of dialectal varieties since ... every dialect is at least partly intelligible to the speakers of the neighboring dialects."[38] The degree of mutual intelligibility between nonadjacent dialects varies considerably; recent research has shown that there is strong differentiation between the Ottawa dialect spoken in southern Ontario and northern Michigan; the Severn Ojibwa dialect spoken in northern Ontario and Manitoba; and the Algonquin dialect spoken in southwestern Quebec.[39] Valentine notes that isolation is the most plausible explanation for the distinctive linguistic features found in these three dialects.[40] Many communities adjacent to these relatively sharply differentiated dialects show a mix of transitional features, reflecting overlap with other nearby dialects.[41] While each of these dialects has undergone innovations that make them distinctive, their status as part of the Ojibwe language complex is not in dispute.[40] The relatively low degrees of mutual intelligibility between some nonadjacent Ojibwe dialects led Rhodes and Todd to suggest that Ojibwe should be analyzed as a linguistic subgroup consisting of several languages.[42]

While there is some variation in the classification of Ojibwe dialects, at a minimum the following are recognized, proceeding west to east: Western Ojibwe (Saulteaux), Southwestern Ojibwe (Chippewa), Northwestern Ojibwe, Severn Ojibwe (Oji-Cree), Ottawa (Odawa), Eastern Ojibwe, and Algonquin. Based upon contemporary field research, Valentine also recognizes several other dialects: Berens Ojibwe in northwestern Ontario, which he distinguishes from Northwestern Ojibwe; North of (Lake) Superior; and Nipissing. The latter two cover approximately the same territory as Central Ojibwa, which he does not recognize.[12]

Two recent analyses of the relationships between the Ojibwe dialects are in agreement on the assignment of the strongly differentiated Ottawa dialect to a separate subgroup, and the assignment of Severn Ojibwe and Algonquin to another subgroup, and differ primarily with respect to the relationships between the less strongly differentiated dialects. Rhodes and Todd recognize several different dialectal subgroupings within Ojibwe: (a) Ottawa; (b) Severn and Algonquian; (c) a third subgroup which is further divided into (i) a subgrouping of Northwestern Ojibwe and Saulteaux, and a subgrouping consisting of Eastern Ojibwe and a further subgrouping comprising Southwestern Ojibwe and Central Ojibwe.[43] Valentine has proposed that Ojibwe dialects are divided into three groups: a northern tier consisting of Severn Ojibwe and Algonquin; a southern tier consisting of "Odawa, Chippewa, Eastern Ojibwe, the Ojibwe of the Border Lakes region between Minnesota and Ontario, and Saulteaux; and third, a transitional zone between these two polar groups, in which there is a mixture of northern and southern features."[44]

Lingua franca

A sign at Lakehead University in English and Ojibwe.

Several different Ojibwe dialects have functioned as lingua franca or trade languages in the circum-Great Lakes area, particularly in interactions with speakers of other Algonquian languages.[45] Documentation of such usage dates from the 18th and 19th centuries, but earlier use is likely, with reports as early as 1703 suggesting that Ojibwe was used by different groups from the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to Lake Winnipeg, and from as far south as Ohio to Hudson Bay.[46]

A trade language is "a language customarily used for communication between speakers of different languages, even though it may be that neither speaker has the trade language as his dominant language" although "there is a relatively high degree of bilingualism involving the trade language."[47]

Documentation from the 17th century indicates that the Wyandot language (also called Huron), one of the Iroquoian languages, was also used as a trade language east of the Great Lakes by speakers of the Nipissing and Algonquin dialects of Ojibwe, and also by other groups south of the Great Lakes, including the Winnebago and by a group of unknown affiliation identified only as "Assistaeronon." The political decline of the Hurons in the 18th century and the ascendancy of Ojibwe-speaking groups including the Ottawa led to the replacement of Huron as a lingua franca.[48]

In the area east of Georgian Bay, the Nipissing dialect was a trade language. In the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, the eastern end of the Upper Peninsula, the area between Lake Erie and Lake Huron, and along the north shore of Georgian Bay, the Ottawa dialect served as a trade language. In the area south of Lake Superior and west of Lake Michigan Southwestern Ojibwe was the trade language.[49] A widespread pattern of asymmetrical bilingualism is found in the area south of the Great Lakes in which speakers of Potawatomi or Menominee, both Algonquian languages, also spoke Ojibwe, but Ojibwe speakers did not speak the other languages. It is known that some speakers of Menominee also speak Ojibwe and that the pattern persisted into the 20th century. Similarly, bilingualism in Ojibwe is still common among Potawatomis who speak Potawatomi.[50]

Reports from traders and travellers as early as 1744 indicate that speakers of Menominee, another Algonquian language, used Ojibwe as a lingua franca. Other reports from the 18th century and the early 19th century indicate that speakers of the unrelated Siouan language Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) also used Ojibwe when dealing with Europeans and others.[51] Other reports indicate that agents of the American government at Green Bay, Wisconsin spoke Ojibwe in their interactions with Menominee, with other reports indicating that "the Chippewa, Menominee, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sac, and Fox tribes used Ojibwe in intertribal communication...."[51] Some reports indicate that farther west, speakers of non-Algonquian languages such as Ho-Chunk (Winnebago), Iowa, and Pawnee spoke Ojibwe as an "acquired language."[51]

The general grammatical characteristics of Ojibwe are shared across its dialects. The Ojibwe language is polysynthetic, exhibiting characteristics of synthesis and a high morpheme-to-word ratio. Ojibwe is a head-marking language in which inflectional morphology on nouns and particularly verbs carries significant amounts of grammatical information.

Word classes include nouns, verbs, grammatical particles, pronouns, preverbs, and prenouns. Preferred word orders in a simple transitive sentence are verb-initial, such as verb–object–subject and verb–subject–object. While verb-final orders are dispreferred, all logically possible orders are attested.[75]

Complex inflectional and derivational morphology play a central role in Ojibwe grammar. Noun inflection and particularly verb inflection indicate a wide variety of grammatical information, realized through the use of prefixes and suffixes added to word stems. Grammatical characteristics include the following:

1. Grammatical gender,[76] divided into animate and inanimate categories
2. extensive head-marking on verbs of inflectional information concerning person[77]
3. number[78]
4. tense[79]
5. modality[80]
6. evidentiality[81]
7. negation[82]
8. a distinction between obviative and proximate third-person, marked on both verbs and nouns.[83]

There is a distinction between two different types of third person: the proximate (the third person deemed more important or in focus) and the obviative (the third person deemed less important or out of focus). Nouns can be singular or plural in number and either animate or inanimate in gender. Separate personal pronouns exist but are used mainly for emphasis; they distinguish inclusive and exclusive first-person plurals.

Verbs, the most complex word class, are inflected for one of three orders (indicative, the default; conjunct, used for participles and in subordinate clauses; and imperative, used with commands), as negative or affirmative, and for the person, number, animacy, and proximate/obviative status of both the subject and object as well as for several different modes (including the dubitative and preterit) and tenses.

There is no standard writing system used for all Ojibwe dialects.[85] Local alphabets have been developed by adapting the Latin script, usually based on English or French orthography.[86] A syllabic writing system, not related to English or French writing, is used by some Ojibwe speakers in northern Ontario and Manitoba. Great Lakes Algonquian syllabics are based on the French alphabet with letters organized into syllables. It was used primarily by speakers of Fox, Potawatomi, and Winnebago, but there is some indirect evidence of use by speakers of Southwestern Ojibwe.[87][88]

A widely used Roman character-based writing system is the double vowel system devised by Charles Fiero. Although there is no standard orthography, the double vowel system is used by many Ojibwe language teachers because of its ease of use. A wide range of materials have been published in the system, including a grammar,[22] dictionaries,[89][90] collections of texts,[91][92][93] and pedagogical grammars.[94][95] In northern Ontario and Manitoba, Ojibwe is most commonly written using the Cree syllabary, a syllabary originally developed by Methodist missionary James Evans around 1840 to write Cree. The syllabic system is based in part on Evans' knowledge of Pitman's shorthand and his prior experience developing a distinctive alphabetic writing system for Ojibwe in southern Ontario.[96]

The sample text, from the Southwestern Ojibwe dialect, is taken, with permission, from the first four lines of Niizh Ikwewag (Two Women),[99] a story told by Earl Nyholm, on Professor Brian Donovan of Bemidji State University's webpage.

Notable speakers of Anishinaabemowin include:

• Frederic Baraga (19th century Roman Catholic priest, missionary, and first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette, who wrote A theoretical and practical grammar of the Otchipwe language)
• Francis Xavier Pierz (19th century Roman Catholic priest , poet, and missionary to the Ojibwe in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ontario)
• George Copway (chief, missionary, writer, cultural ambassador)
• Basil H. Johnston (educator, curator, essayist, cultural ambassador)
• Peter Jones (missionary, reverend, chief)
• Maude "Naawakamigookwe" Kegg (narrator, artist, cultural ambassador)
• Margaret Noodin (educator, writer)
• Jim Northrup (writer)
• Keller Paap (educator and author)[100]
• Anton Treuer (historian, author, linguistic professor, first Ojibwe person to graduate from Princeton University)[101]
• Archie Mosay (medicine man and elder, mentor of Anton Treuer)[102]
• Anna Gibbs (well-known Ponemah elder, story-teller, and spiritual and ceremonial leader)[103]

An "Ojibway Language and People" app is available for iPhone, iPad, and other iOS devices.[104] The source code is available for others interested in developing their own application for learning a native language.[105]

The Ojibwe People's Dictionary is an online language resource created in collaboration with the University of Minnesota. It is an accessible system that allows users to search in English or Ojibwe and includes voice recordings for many of the 17 000 entries in the collection.[106]

In the late 19th century, the United States federal government started its Native American boarding school initiative, which forced Native American children to relocate to government-run boarding schools in an attempt to "acculturate" them into American society. Often placing children in schools that were considerably far from their home communities, these schools attempted to remove any ties children had to their native culture and limit their ability to visit home. Students were forced to speak English, cut their hair, dress in uniform, practice Christianity, and learn of European culture and history.[107]

Although the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 mandated that the Native American boarding school program should be phased out, the practice of sending youth to these institutions continued into the 1960s and 1970s. Because children were forced to live away from their home communities, many never had the opportunity to hear and use their native language. Thus, this governmental assimilation effort resulted in a widespread loss of language and culture among indigenous communities, including the Ojibwe people.[108]

With the remaining population of native speakers declining as older generations die off, many historians consider now an important point in the language's history that will determine if it will proliferate or become extinct. Ojibwe historian Anton Treuer estimates that there are about 1,000 speakers of Ojibwe left in the United States, most residing in Minnesota on the Red Lake Indian Reservation or in Mille Lacs region. Teacher of the language Keller Paap approximates that most fluent speakers in the United States are over 70 years old, making exposure to spoken Ojibwemowin limited in many communities.[109]

Ojibwe educators and scholars across the region are working with the remaining elders who speak Ojibwemowin, known as the First Speakers, so as to document and learn the language in hopes to preserve it and pass it on to the next generation of speakers. In recent years, historian and Ojibwe professor Anton Treur has been recording stories told by about 50 different Ojibwe elders in their native language so as to preserve both the language and pieces of knowledge and history. Alongside his current mentor, a Ponemah elder named Eugene Stillday, he writes the recorded stories in both Ojibwe and translated English.[110]

Recently, there has been more of a push toward bringing the Ojibwe language back into more common use, through language classes and programs sponsored by universities, sometimes available to non-students, which are essential to passing on the Ojibwe language.[111][112][113] These courses mainly target adults and young adults; however, there are many resources for all age groups, including online games[114] which provide domains for online language use. In the 1980's, The Northern Native-Languages Project was introduced in Ontario to get Indigenous languages such as Ojibwe, to be taught in schools. Years later, the first curriculum was established for the program and it was known as Native Languages 1987.[115] There has also been an increase in published children's literature.[116] The increase in materials published in Ojibwe is essential to increasing the number of speakers. Language revitalization through Ojibwe frameworks also allows for cultural concepts to be conveyed through language.[117]

A 2014 study has indicated that learning Indigenous languages such as Ojibwe in school, helps to learn the language and language structure, however, it does not help grow the use of the language outside of a school setting. The most effective way of promoting language is being surrounded by the language, especially in a familial setting. This is difficult to replicate in schools, which is why speaking Ojibwe with family and in one's home life is important in growing language revitalization.[118]

Research has been done in Ojibwe communities to prove the important role language revitalization has in treating health concerns. The use of language connects a community through shared views and supports the well-being of said community.[119] Researchers found that language and the notion of culture were intertwined together instead of being separate concepts, and the people who regularly practiced their language and culture were often associated with more positive health outcomes, particularly for psychological health and mental well-being.[119]

Despite what they have faced in the American and Canadian Governments' attempt to force Ojibwe into language death through the educational system, many indigenous communities across the Great Lakes region are making efforts towards the Ojibwe language revival by similarly using the school system. Largely inspired by the success of Polynesian languages immersion schools in Hawaii and New Zealand, similar school programs have been starting throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin in recent years. One of the most notable programs—developed by Ojibwe educators Lisa LaRonge and Keller Paap—is that of the Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Immersion School located on the Lac Courte Orielles Reservation in northern Wisconsin.[120] Most students come from English-speaking homes and are learning Ojibwemowin as their second language. At this school, instructors and elders teach the preschoolers to third graders entirely in the Ojibwe language, so that by the time that students complete kindergarten, they know both English and Ojibwe alphabets and writing systems. In the classroom, students generally first become familiar with the language by hearing and speaking it and then advance to reading and writing it as well. They are taught mathematics, reading, social studies, music, and other typical school subjects through the medium of the Ojibwe language so as to increase student's exposure to Ojibwemowin while providing a well-rounded education.[121] In her research study on Ojibwe immersion schools, Ojibwe scholar and educator Mary Hermes suggests that educating through the Ojibwe language may be more culturally meaningful to communities than simply educating about the culture through English.[122]

The goal, as with many other language immersion schools across the country, is to meet state-mandated standards for curriculum in the native language. This can be a challenge as public education standards are rigorous with curriculum on complex mathematic and scientific concepts occurring at the second and third grade levels. Ojibwe educators at these schools are constantly working with elders so as to design new ways to say lesser-used words in Ojibwe such as “plastic” or “quotient.” Thus, through these school programs, the language is constantly evolving.[123] Because the Ojibwe language is traditionally oral, it is often difficult for educators to find adequate resources to develop the curriculum. Thus, through these school programs, the language is constantly evolving. Additionally, many of these Ojibwe language immersion schools are considering the question as to whether or not they should include English instruction. Some research suggests that learning to write in one’s first language is important prior to learning a second language. Therefore, many schools include some level of English education at certain grade levels.[124]

Along with using the native language, Waadookodaading uses native ways of teaching in its education system. “Ojibwemowin, the Ojibwe language, is a language of action.”[125] Therefore, students are encouraged to learn the language by observing and by doing. For example, each spring the students at Waadookodaading participate in a maple sugar harvest. Older students and elders instruct the younger students on the harvest process, narrating what they are doing in Ojibwemowin as the younger students observe. The younger students are then encouraged to participate as they learn, gathering wood, helping to drill trees, and hauling buckets of sap. Thus, the Ojibwe language is kept alive through indigenous methods of teaching, which emphasizes hands-on experiences, such as the sugar bush harvest.[126] The language is then passed on in a similar manner in which it has been throughout history in that older members of the community—including elders/instructors and older students at the schools—relay their knowledge and experiences to the younger generation.

Another notable program is that of the Niigaane Ojibwemowin Language Immersion School on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota, which teaches kindergarteners to fifth graders.[127] Program director Leslie Harper describes the structure of the school in that each classroom is led by an elder who is fluent in Ojibwemowin paired with a trained instructor who also teaches in the native language. Along with typical school subjects like reading and math, children are also taught indigenous skills such as maple sugar harvesting and archery.

• Beardy, Tom. Introductory Ojibwe in Severn dialect. Parts one and two. Thunder Bay, Ontario : Native Language Instructors' program, Lakehead University, 1996. ISBN 0-88663-018-5
• Cappel, Constance, editor, "Odawa Language and legends: Andrew J. Blackbird and Raymond Kiogima," Philadelphia: Xlibris, 2006. ISBN 978-1-59926-920-7
• Hinton, Leanne and Kenneth Hale. 2001. The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-349353-6 (Hardcover), ISBN 90-04-25449-8 (Paperback).
• Kwayaciiwin Education Resource Centre. 2014. ᑭᑎᓯᑭᓯᐍᐏᓂᓇᐣ [Kihtisiikisiwewinan] : Anihshininiimowin Oji-Cree Dictionary (Severn River and Winisk River). Part One : Oji-Cree to English, Part Two : English to Oji-Cree. Nichols, John D. et al., editors. Sioux Lookout: Kwayaciiwin Education Resource Centre.
• McGregor, Ernest. 1987. Algonquin lexicon. Maniwaki, QC: River Desert Education Authority.
• Mitchell, Mary. 1988. Eds. J. Randolph Valentine and Lisa Valentine. Introductory Ojibwe (Severn dialect), Part one. Thunder Bay : Native Language Office, Lakehead University.
• Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7
• Moose, Lawrence L. et al. 2009. Aaniin Ekidong: Aaniin Ekidong: Ojibwe Vocabulary Project. St. Paul : Minnesota Humanities Center.
• Ningewance, Patricia. 1990. Anishinaabemodaa : Becoming a successful Ojibwe eavesdropper. Winnipeg : Manitoba Association for Native Languages. ISBN 1-894632-01-X
• Ningewance, Patricia. 1996. Zagataagan – A Northern Ojibwe Dictionary. Volume 1 : English-Ojibwe, Volume 2 : Ojibwe-English. Sioux Lookout: Kwayaciiwin Education Resource Centre. ISBN 978-1-897579-15-2
• Northrup, Jim, Marcie R. Rendon, and Linda LeGarde Grover. Nitaawichige = "to Do Something Skillfully" : Selected Poetry and Prose by Four Anishinaabe Writers. Duluth, MN : Poetry Harbor, 2002. ISBN 1-886895-28-7
• Snache, Irene. 2005. Ojibwe language dictionary. Rama, ON: Mnjikaning Kendaaswin Publishers. ISBN 1-894632-01-X
• Sugarhead, Cecilia. 1996. ᓂᓄᑕᐣ / Ninoontaan / I can hear it: Ojibwe stories from Lansdowne House written by Cecilia Sugarhead. Edited, translated and with a glossary by John O'Meara. Winnipeg: Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics. ISBN 0-921064-14-4
• Toulouse, Isadore. Kidwenan, An Ojibwe Language Book. Munsee-Delaware Nation, ON: Anishinaabe Kendaaswin Pub, 1995. ISBN 1-896027-16-4
• Treuer, Anton. Living our language: Ojibwe tales & oral histories. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001. ISBN 0-87351-404-1
• Treuer, Anton. Ojibwe in Minnesota. St. Paul : Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2010.
• Vizenor, Gerald Robert. Summer in the Spring Anishinaabe Lyric Poems and Stories. American Indian literature and critical studies series, v. 6. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. ISBN 0-8061-2518-7
• Williams, Shirley I. 2002. Gdi-nweninaa : Our sound, our voice. Peterborough, ON : Neganigwane. ISBN 0-9731442-1-1

Ojibwe language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

Look up Category:Ojibwe language in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Noongwa e-Anishinaabemjig: People Who Speak Anishinaabemowin Today — hosted at the University of Michigan
• Ojibwe Language Society
• Ojibwe Language Group
• Aboriginal Languages of Canada — With data on speaker populations
• Language Geek Page on Ojibwe — Syllabary fonts and keyboard emulators are also available from this site.
• Ojibwe Toponyms
• Niizh Ikwewag — A short story in Ojibwe, originally told by Earl Nyholm, emeritus professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University.
• Native Languages: A Support Document for the Teaching of Language Patterns, Ojibwe and Cree
• Native Languages page for Ojibwe
• Letter Men: Brothers Fight for Ojibwe Language, a story broadcast on Fresh Air, a National Public Radio broadcast show, interviewing Anton and David Treuer.
• Language and Meaning — An Ojibwe Story, a story broadcast on Speaking of Faith, a National Public Radio broadcast show.
• Bemaadizing: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Indigenous Life (An online journal)
• Comprehensive list of learning resources for Ojibwe prepared for the SSILA by Dr. Rand Valentine
• Gidakiiminaan (Our Earth) wall-map with Ojibwe Geographic Place Names in the 1837 Ceded Territories of Minnesota and Wisconsin, the 1842 Ceded Territories of Wisconsin and Michigan and the 1836 Ceded Territory of the Michigan Upper Peninsula, issued by the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.
  • Gidakiiminaan (Our Earth) booklet
• First Speakers: Restoring the Ojibwe Language Documentary produced by Twin Cities Public Television
• Ojibwe Stories: Gaganoonididaa from the Public Radio Exchange
• Ikwe, a National Film Board of Canada film done mostly in the Ojibwe language
• Baadwewedamojig project featuring audio recording made by William Jones between 1903 and 1905.
• Back issues of Oshkaabewis Native Journal, published by Bemidji State University

Grammar and Lessons

• Comparative Ojibwe Swadesh vocabulary list of basic words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)
• Rand Valentine's introduction to Ojibwe
• Grammar, lessons, and dictionaries — Ojibwe site by "Weshki-ayaad"
• Native Languages: A Support Document for the Teaching of Language Patters — basic language patterns for Ojibwe (Manitoulin Ojibwe/Ottawa "CO" and Lac Seul Ojibwe "WO") and Cree (Swampy Cree "SC").
• Baraga, Frederic (Bishop)
  • (1850). A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language, the Language Spoken by the Chippewa Indians; Which Is Also Spoken by the Algonquin, Otawa and Potawatami Inidans, with Little Difference, For the Use of Missionaries and Other Persons Living Among the Indians of the Above Named Tribes.
  • (1878). A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language for the Use of Missionaries and Other Persons Living Among the Indians
• Ojibwe numerals
• "Ojibwe iPad app brings language to world" in Wawatay News Online.
• "Ojibway language tutor? There's an app for that" in CBC News
• Pimsleur – Ojibwe I — Audio introduction to the Ojibwe language, with focus on the Minnesota Ojibwe typically found spoken on Red Lake, Leech Lake, and White Earth Reservations.

Dictionaries and Wordlists

• Ojibwe People's Dictionary — Online Ojibwe-English dictionary with 8,000+ words, 60,000 audio clips by Ojibwe elders from Minnesota and Ontario, and related images/documents.
• Nishnaabemwin : Odawa & Eastern Ojibwe online dictionary — Contains over 12,000 words from the Ojibwe languages known as Odawa (Ottawa), spoken along the shores of Lake Huron, and Eastern Ojibwe.
• Ojibwe Dialect Relations : Lexical Maps by Dr. J. Randolph Valentine (1995) — a study in differences in vocabulary among different Anishinaabemowin-speaking communities, with accompanying dialectological maps.
• Aaniin Ekidong ... (How Do You Say ...): Ojibwe Vocabulary Project — Math and science terms for the Southwestern (Wisconsin, Leech Lake and Red Lake) and Minnesota Border Chippewa dialect of the Ojibwe language.
• Our Languages: Nahkawē (Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre)
• Anishinaabe-Ikidowinan (Ojibwe) Dictionary — Courtesy of the Kwayaciiwin Education Resource Centre. Covers Albany River, Berens River and English River dialects of Northwestern Ojibwe
• Freelang Ojibwe Dictionary — Freeware off-line dictionary for Windows-based systems (with instructions on how to load on a Macintosh). On-line searches are also available.
• Kees van Kolmeschate: My Ojibwe Documents — Assorted digital Ojibwe-related documents, including the electronic version of the 1878 Baraga Dictionary.
• Baraga, Frederic (Bishop). Dictionary of the Otchipwe Language, Explained in English.
  • Part I: English-Otchipwe and Part II: Otchipwe-English in the 1853 edition at Wisconsin Historical Society
  • Part I: English-Otchipwe in the 1878 edition and Part II: Otchipwe-English in the 1880 edition courtesy of Google Books
• Ojibwe Language Math Supplements Learner Outcomes K–6 Culturally Relevant Curriculum: Math-related words from Red Lake, Minnesota
• Lemoine, Georges. Dictionnaire français-algonquin

Bibles

• Kije Manido Odikido8in: Ocki Mazinaigan [Gizhe-manidoo Odikidowin: Oshki-mazina'igan] — New Testament in Algonquin (simplified Cuoq Orthography)
• 1833 Matthew and Acts — in Potawatomi
• Ojibwe Kihcimasina'ikan, by the Canadian Bible Society
  • in Northern Fiero orthography
  • in partially pointed Eastern A-position Finals syllabics style
• St. Matthew's Gospel : translated into the language of the Ojibbeway [sic] Indians in the Diocese of Moosonee / by the Bishop [John Horden] of Moosonee and J. Sanders (1880)
  • in partially pointed Eastern A-position Finals syllabics style
  • Transliteration and Vocabulary List in Southern Fiero orthography by Kees van Kolmeschate