Language

November 11, 2012
By:
Dr. Leo Killsback

The negative representations of American Indians have recently caught national attention in the news and on the Internet.

September 17, 2012
By:
Dwanna L. Robertson

With football and the fall season—which is always tough for Native folks because of the U.S.’s insistence on honoring Columbus, the awful Pocahontas Halloween costumes, and the ever-present Thanksgiving mythology of the goodness of the pilgrims and the simple-mindedness of Indigenous people—fast

September 13, 2012
By:
Steven Newcomb

In English grammar we find pronouns for the first person plural, “we,” and the possessive adjective, “our.” In this column, I’d like to discuss the possessive adjective “our,” and the negative effect of Indian people using “we” or “our,” when talking about the United States.

April 08, 2012
By:
Julianne Jennings

According to the late educator and historian princess Red Wing (Pokanoket), the first music of Aquidneck Island (present-day Rhode Island and Providence Plantations) was the chant of the “Red Man” who lived in the hills and valleys adjacent to the shores of Narragansett Bay.

November 02, 2011
By:
Cheryl Crazy Bull

Many people after watching the ABC 20/20 special, “Hidden America: Children of the Plains” may be asking, “What can be done to help?” The special depicted the da

October 12, 2011
By:
Steven T. Newcomb

Greetings on Colonization Day,

September 10, 2011
By:
Steve Newcomb

Some years ago, I was studying both the Latin and English versions of the Vatican document Inter Caetera, dated May 4, 1493, and came across the following sentence: “We trust in Him from whom empires, and governments, and all good things proceed.” In Latin it reads: “…in Illo a quo i

August 29, 2011
By:
Peter d'Errico

We've all heard references to the 'special rights' of American Indians. Sometimes, it's an affirmation of Indian nationhood; other times, it's an attack on Indian sovereignty.

August 26, 2011
By:
Steven T. Newcomb

English is a labyrinth language. It has buried within it many hidden or little noticed meanings that reveal deeper insights about all kinds of things that folks tend to take for granted.

August 10, 2011
By:
James Treat

Anyone who studies traditional ecological knowledge learns to appreciate the vitality of indigenous languages.

June 16, 2011
By:
Kay Olan

Kanatsiohareke, a Mohawk community located in central New York State, is working hard to help revitalize Kanienkeha, the Mohawk language. The community has been offering Mohawk language immersion classes for the last fourteen years.

May 25, 2011
By:
Bonnie Jane Maracle

Our Language is a Gift from the Creator

May 11, 2011
By:
Charles Trimble

Certain words come into vogue and quickly become cliches, and I’m always glad to see them disappear. In the early 1960s, for example, everybody was using the word copacetic, meaning good, cool, or however a person wanted to describe something as satisfactory.

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