Number of Speakers
The Chippewa dialects have been the focus of many academic works, from William Whipple Warren and Fr. Frederick Baraga in the 19th century, Frances Densmore, Jan P. B. de Josselin de Jong, Charles Fiero, Earl Nyholm and John Nichols in the 20th century. However, the Chippewa dialect of Ojibwemowin has continued to steadily decline. Beginning in the 1970s many of the communities have aggressively put their efforts into language revitalization, but have only managed to produce some fairly educated second-language speakers. Today, the majority of the first-language speakers of this dialect of the Ojibwe language are elderly, whose numbers are quickly diminishing, while the number of second-language speakers among the younger generation are growing. However, none of the second-language speakers have yet to transition to the fluency of a first-language speaker.
In the summer of 2009, Anton Treuer of Bemidji State University conducted an informal survey of number of first-language speakers of the Chippewa dialects in Minnesota and Wisconsin in order to convene a language session to address the need of vocabulary associated with math and sciences. Together with other Reservations that were not surveyed, Treuer estimates only around 1,000 first-language speakers of the Chippewa dialect in the United States.
| Reservation | Number of first-language speakers |
Estimated number of second-language speakers |
Number of total population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Lake | 400 | 2,400 | 10,570 |
| Mille Lacs | 150 | 1,150 | 3,942 |
| Leech Lake | 90 | 950 | 8,861 |
| Bois Forte | 20 | 110 | 3,052 |
| White Earth | 15 | 650 | 19,291 |
| Grand Portage | 3 | 90 | 1,127 |
| Fond du Lac | 0 | 520 | 4,044 |
| St. Croix | 25 | 80 | 1,080 |
| Lac Courte Oreilles | 10 | 130 | 6,146 |
| Lac du Flambeau | 3 | 120 | 3,457 |
| Bad River | 2 | 100 | 6,921 |
| Red Cliff | 1 | 50 | 4,470 |
| Mole Lake | 1 | 20 | 1,279 |
Read more about this topic: Chippewa Language
Famous quotes containing the words number of, number and/or speakers:
“The serial number of a human specimen is the face, that accidental and unrepeatable combination of features. It reflects neither character nor soul, nor what we call the self. The face is only the serial number of a specimen.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“The problems of society will also be the problems of the predominant language of that society. It is the carrier of its perceptions, its attitudes, and its goals, for through it, the speakers absorb entrenched attitudes. The guilt of English then must be recognized and appreciated before its continued use can be advocated.”
—Njabulo Ndebele (b. 1948)