Audio dictionary aids tribe's language preservation efforts

The first-ever field research recordings of Native American spoken words were conducted with a Thomas Edison wax cylinder prototype on a small Passamaquoddy reserve that used to exist in the Union Street area of Calais. Passamaquoddy Historic Preservation Officer Dr. Donald Soctomah spoke at the August 14 meeting of the Pembroke Historical Society about the tribe's efforts to document and preserve their language. He noted that the Library of Congress Federal Cylinder Project's recordings of Passamaquoddy songs and spoken words from the 1890s are considered the second most valuable items in the library's collection. Those cylinders have played a role ever since, with the most recent tribal language preservation effort, a Passamaquoddy‑Maliseet audio‑dictionary site, building upon the work of David Francis and many other elders.
"For the tribe it was an important time," Soctomah explains of the 1890s recordings. "They were able to document and save some of our stories. Using the old language, it was more articulate, it had more expressions." It also was nuanced by the French and Basque who had come to the region and then by the English. "A living language changes," he notes. For example, a Basque word for cloth became a Passamaquoddy word for shirt, a word that had not been in their lexicon. "French had a major influence on dialect until the 1800s when the English began to influence." But some French remained, and, in the cylinder recording that Soctomah played, one audience member noted that the Passamaquoddy speaker's accent sounded French. Soctomah points out that the changeover from French to English is most easily seen in the census records, where a name like Noelle changes to Newell in a generation of baptisms.
The wax cylinders played a significant role in the work of the late David Francis of Sipayik. In the 1950s many Passamaquoddy parents stopped speaking the language to their children in an attempt to keep their children from being harassed and punished at schools. The Department of Education had prohibited the speaking of tribal languages within the school system. Soctomah says of the decision by parents, "It wasn't to stop the culture, it was to protect the kids." His sister, just two years older than he, can speak the language fluently. He cannot. "It comes in but goes out with a twisted tongue. That tears at my heart." Of learning your own language he says, "If you're French you can go back to France to learn, but where does the Passamaquoddy go?"
Along with a group of elders, Francis recognized the need and began working on the preservation and documentation of their language. Francis listened to 26 of the 28 Library of Congress Passamaquoddy recordings. Two were cracked. In 1975 the tribe received five or six cassettes of the cylinder recordings. "They were very scratchy and hard to understand," Soctomah notes. "Even cleaned up, it would take some doing to understand," because of the changes in the language that have occurred since. Those changes are important for the new generations to learn about their culture and heritage, he points out.
The work by Francis, Robert Leavitt, Margaret Apt as community research coordinator and the group of elders culminated in the 18,000-word Passamaquoddy‑Maliseet Dictionary, published in 2008 with 1,200 pages. Because of the expense involved the edition was limited. Soctomah notes that they are now hard to find and can sometimes be found on eBay for over $1,000. Clearly there was a need to continue the dictionary's work in an accessible format. "I was keeping an eye on what other tribes were doing" and saw an example of an audio‑dictionary. In order to find grant funding, a survey was created. "One hundred percent of the respondents wanted their language back. That was powerful."
With grant funding in hand, the Passamaquoddy‑Maliseet audio‑dictionary site was developed. Using the dictionary's 18,000 words, the site has been developed to create 18,000 sentences using every word. Sentences are recorded for pronunciation by a man, a woman and a child to show how each pronounces the words differently. The site has videos of recordings with subtitle capabilities.
Soctomah says, "Language is important. For us it explains things. The action of nature was how the words became." Cobscook Bay, for example, is the place of the bubbling rocks. For those who have never seen the Reversing Falls, the name would be confusing, he admits. For those who have lived in the region for thousands and thousands of years, the name is but one example of how the Passamaquoddy's living language evolved. To the audience sitting at the Pembroke Library just around the bend from the Pennamaquan River, he says with a smile, "You're sitting right in the middle of Passamaquoddy place names."
For more information about the Passamaquoddy‑Maliseet audio‑dictionary visit <www.pmportal.org>.