Language Grammar

Main - Grammar - Games - Beginner - Intermediate - Advanced - Songs
Classes - Resources - Spiritual - Online Lessons - Kids Section

     The Potawatomi language was largly unwritten until the early 1800's. Missionaries first started to write the language in an attempt to convert the Potawatomi people. Writing was by no means a standard. It almost seemed that each missionary had his own way of writing Potawatomi. Perhaps the earliest attempt to seriously document the language was done in the 1830's by Robert Simmerall. In the 1860's some of the most intense grammar and language documentation was done by Father Maurice Gailland. Other missionaries during this period also spent time working with the Potawatomi language in order to translate various scriptures, songs and bibles. Other noteworthy individuals would be Johnston Lykins, and Father Christian Hoeken. By the late 1800's our own Joseph Napoleon Bourassa a government translator put out a dictionary.

                       An excerpt from Joseph Napoleon Bourassa's 1843 dictionary

Jump forward another hundred years and there has never been a published dictionary or grammar available. We now have a dictionary of close to 2,000 words available on the main page. We are also working dilegently to add additional grammar topics and eventually publish a grammar book.

Articles:

Historical Origin of the Language and Dialects, click here

History of Writing Systems, click here

Potawatomi vs English, click here

Potawatomi Noun usage, click here