The ongoing efforts to preserve the Mi’kmaq language

Moving location in the late 70s, we encountered new neighbours about our own age across the street and befriended them. It turned out the wife was an Indigenous woman and a confident, fluent Mi’kmaq speaker who was heavily engaged in assisting academics in understanding and preserving the Mi’kmaq language. The tone of the discussion at that time left the impression there was some urgency in the process. The phrase “dying language” came to mind.

A great deal has changed in terms of aboriginal understanding and commiseration in the interim. For instance, the formerly common anglicized spelling “Micmac” is now pretty much verboten as a result of being rejected by Mi’kmaq people themselves as tainted by colonial history.

And Mi’kmaq is regularly mispronounced mickmack in English. Mi’kmaq people pronounce it meegma.

Silas T. Rand seated in a studio with a book in his hand. A Mi’kmaw boy sits at his feet, while another Mi’kmaw boy stands behind him with his hand on Rand’s shoulder. The smaller original is inscribed in ink: “Dr. Whidden [illegible] of Mrs. Anna Moffatt. Dr. Rand and his Micmac class”. Acadia University Archives, Vaughan Memorial Library, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada

The Mi’kmaq, of course, are the first people of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Mi’kmaq people also lived in other parts of the region—including Quebec, Newfoundland, Maine (the Aroostook Band of Mi’kmaq live in northeastern Maine) and Massachusetts. The Mi’kmaq are among the largest of the North American Indian tribes. Most Mi’kmaq people now live on the Canadian side of the border, however.

And that bit of information above may be just about the most the average person knows on the subject.

Mi’kmaq is spoken by nearly 11,000 aboriginal people in Canada and the United States. The total ethnic Mi’kmaq population is listed at roughly 170,000, but that may xnot be accurate, depending on definition.

European missionaries erroneously viewed the Mi’kmaq as having no spiritual beliefs and began to “enlighten” them on the European perception of religion with the goal of converting all to the Christian faith. First order of business then, was to translate the scriptures into Mi’kmaq.

It’s interesting that Mi’kmaq was one of the few Native American languages to have a writing system before European contact—but it was hieroglyphic.

Nova Scotian Baptist clergyman Silas T. Rand wrote out the sounds as he heard them spoken, using the modern-day alphabet.

Cathy Leblanc drumming with youth at Acadia First Nation Yarmouth community. Courtesy of Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey

Rand used his work to translate scripture as well as ordinary communication into the Mi’kmaq language and in 1894 published a book to facilitate that process, Dictionary Of The Language Of The Micmac Indians (archaic spelling is his).

Given the monumental nature of the task, the result was understandably less than perfect. In 1974 a new orthography was developed by Canadian linguists Bernie Francis and Doug Smith, to give a more accurate representation of the Mi’kmaq language.

There are only 11 consonants in Mi’kmaq (compared to 21 in English) and five vowels (as in English). Mi’kmaq is a polysynthetic language featuring long words with complex meaning. It’s also a verb-based language where concepts can be confusing, such as what is or is not an inanimate object.

Accurate translation is no small feat.

The translated meaning of Mi’kmaq is “my friends”—which says a lot about the culture. Any of a number of spellings is acceptable—Mi’kmaq, Míkmaq. Mi’gmaq, Mikmaq, Miikmaq, Mikmak, or Mick Mack—and they all refer to the same people. It’s complicated. Mi’kmaw is correctly used as singular, while Mi’kmaq is plural. It’s also interesting that in order to achieve plural terms, speakers don’t simply add an “s” at the end, as in English. Instead, they refer to “Mi’kmaq people”—which is so much more respectful.

So what do all those apostrophes mean, such as in the word “Mi’kmaq itself? Do they indicate something missing or contracted, as in English?

Noland Denny and Hugh Paul at the Whycocomagh Education Centre, teaching Mi’kmaq as part of a travelling school program. Courtesy of Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey

No, the apostrophe, or tick, is a marker showing that the i is a long vowel. Since the original “tick” is all but impossible to reproduce on a modern keyboard, apostrophes or single quotation marks have been substituted to indicate where the adjacent vowel should be emphasized in pronunciation. An acute accent over the vowel is also used.

But spelling is only half the game. In learning any new language, pronunciation must also be mastered. In Mi’kmaq that’s also complicated.

For instance, consonants are mostly pronounced as in English—but always hard, eg “c” is pronounced like “k”.

There is no “f” or “v” in Mi’kmaq. Speakers of the language give those letters the sound of “b” or “p”. Similarly, Mi’kmaq speakers do not pronounce “r”, but substitute “l”.

All vowels are pronounced fully regardless of stress; but if you weaken a vowel the meaning of the word can be completely altered. Stress on a syllable is less pronounced than in English, and the stress is generally on the second last syllable.

Red Road Youth Camp students learn about basket making and Mi’kmaq traditional medicine from local knowledge keepers. Courtesy of Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey

Although Mi’kmaq is one of the healthier American Indian languages, the number of children learning it has been in decline since the 1970s. Mi’kmaq people are working to reverse this trend before their language, like so many others, is threatened with extinction.

Under the UNESCO Atlas scale of World Languages in Danger Mi’kmaq has been designated “vulnerable”—meaning the language may not be used consistently and English or French become the default. While Mi’kmaq is still spoken by Mi’kmaq children, the level of fluency is considered worrisome. The whole residential schools fiasco forced Indigenous children to largely lose their language and cultural identity—but repair work is under way.

With a population base of only 700 or so, the village of Wagmatcook is one of five Mi’kmaq First Nation communities in Unama’ki (Cape Breton) and the centre of the ongoing effort to revive the language.

Image from The Thundermaker book by Mi’kmaq artist Alan Syliboy, where Little Thunder’s parents teach him. Alan Syliboy

For instance, a variety of children’s books were targeted at a range of ages to develop Mi’kmaq language skills as children mature. Mi’kmaq immersion schools in Indigenous communities have also enhanced the success of the effort with children. Attachment to their Indigenous identity has been simultaneously improved.

Another of those five First Nations along the Bras D’Or lakes, Eskasoni, is the largest Mi’kmaq community in the world and home to the largest Mi’kmaq-speaking population.

It was no surprise then that the most spectacular example of the recovery of interest in Mi’kmaq came from a high school student in Eskasoni. In 2019, the United Nations’ International Year of Indigenous Languages, then 16-year-old Emma Stevens and her classmates recorded The Beatles’ song “Blackbird” in her native Mi’kmaq—and it went viral on YouTube after she and her music teacher, Carter Chiasson, recorded it at Allison Bernard High School in Eskasoni.

Cover art for Emma Stevens’ song My Unama’ki. Carter Chiasson

 

Reports came in from all across the country of people with Mi’kmaq ancestry being moved to tears. The original writer of the song, Paul McCartney, got involved, indicating he was also deeply moved by this bold gesture by a high school kid from Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Emma got to meet the Beatles legend just ahead of a Vancouver concert where McCartney revealed to the audience that he was a little intimidated at offering his version of the song after hearing hers. “Blackbird” was first recorded for the Beatles’ 1968 White Album.

The lyrics were translated into Mi’kmaq by another community member, Mi’kmaq language teacher Katani Julian, and her father, Albert Julian.

And this is where the complexity of the Mi’kmaq language came into play. Mi’kmaq features many syllables and many long words that translate into something really short and easy in English.

Translating the lyrics while making the words fit both the meaning and the rhythm was a huge challenge.

It’s complicated.