Who owns this Potawatomi Language?

Who owns this language?

Some thoughts on this language of ours:

Énagdewéndemyan se ode gseshmownenan ngom…..

First, a question…..who owns this Neshnabe language?

I would think whoever speaks it and takes the time to learn it, but tribal interests and band interests enters into the picture when one considers all of the legal ramifications. It gives rise to the rationale that all is not cut and dried as it seems to be. So if the would-be speaker and learner intends to publish for sale and distribution, then who should be consulted. Perhaps no one, in the mind of such a person, especially if they have no vested interests in the tribal world of those who spoke the original language. Then again, nothing is as it seems to be in this present day and age. In former days, there was honor about such things and all interests were considered.

Those days, folks were concerned about honor, respect, commitment, duty, responsibility to one’s group, clan, or family, truth, honesty, and a host of other things that are mere platitudes today. Those were the days when a man’s handshake meant something too, along with one’s word on something. I have come to believe most folks who speak of such things today are merely giving lip service to what they think those words mean.

If one takes the time to learn a few of those words and what they truly mean in the Neshnabe languages, it would give one a greater understanding of them, and perhaps cause one to operate in a much different manner.

Which brings me to another question…….who controls the language then?

Is it the speaker of it? Or is it the group who collectively speak it? What if there are but a few of those speakers of that language left? Can that person who has taken the time to learn that language and thus speaks it, do what he or she will with it then? If there are but few speakers, or perhaps none, does that mean the would-be learner can then do whatever he/she wants to do with the language? Who or what regulates or controls him/her? Who is her/his conscience?

What about the tribal groups who are affected and effected by the decisions made by the would-be speaker who may not have any other interests, but financial or literary gain in the language he has learned? Ownership has to do with recognition of sovereign interests and rights. Ownership from the Neshnabe perspective has more to do with a word known to us as Widoktadwen, and that has to do with community as it applies to the tribal group.  One wonders if these modern day thinkers have any perception of those kinds of interests. Tribal rights, sovereign rights, mean little or nothing to some of our modern day Neshnabe folk, and even less to the non-Indian minds who tend to hang around us, constantly searching for some way to capitalize on our supposedly defunct world. Yes, that is it!

They assume, think, that those ways are long dead and gone, thus freeing them from any responsible action, or honoring of those who once walked the length and breadth of this land, who spoke those languages, who practiced those Ancient Ways. Many of our modern day Neshnabe no longer speak on behalf of those ancient things, nor do they champion their tribal ways, nor do they speak for the interests of their tribal group. In fact, many of them believe those ways or things are dead and gone too, thus allowing the non-Indian world full license to do what they will with whatever it is they pick up among us, as they circle the camp, ever searching for some piece of the ancient puzzle they can capitalize on. We ancient ones are a puzzle to them!

So who owns this language? Who speaks for it? Who speaks for those long gone from this land? Who speaks for those who were abused, murdered, wiped off the face of the lands we once roamed with pride and dignity? Who is going to tell the Conqueror they cannot and will not be permitted to do what they will, not with our languages or our sacred ways, or anything else that once belonged to our people? Who is going to stop them from publishing half truths, fictitious accounts they publish of our supposed history, and stealing what remains of our once great cultural ways represented by the languages that proliferated these lands. The stars heard those words, the heavens heard, thus the sprits did too.

The Great Maori Nation stopped Phillip M. Parker when he attempted to pass off to the literary world what he thought was his perception of their language. We Neshnabek should have stopped him too when he published his computer generated dictionary and crossword puzzle book. We should have stopped him cold! Why did it take the Maori people to tell us and show us what must be done? So why are we Neshnabek people permitting any non-Indian to publish anything on us, including our language?

Nin se Neaseno.