Atikamekw Nehirowimowin
The Conseil de la Nation Atikamekw (CNA) is proud to announce the launch of two reference books on the Atikamekw Nehirowimowin language: the Atikamekw-French dictionary and the French-Atikamekw dictionary.
The CNA Language Services team, in collaboration with Carleton University, has done a tremendous amount of work to create these extraordinary tools to help maintain the vitality of the Atikamekw language.
"After so much effort and dedication, we have succeeded in finalizing this project which required the collaboration of many people. As you know, the Atikamekw language has an oral tradition, but with time, we have been able to develop a standard orthography with letters of the modern Latin alphabet. The dictionaries will be very useful for the preservation of our language," said Nicole Petiquay, coordinator of Atikamekw linguistic services at the Atikamekw Nation Council.
"By also offering definitions in Atikamekw, this dictionary is one of the first Indigenous language dictionaries to offer unilingual and bilingual definitions," added Dr. Marie-Odile Junker, Linguistics Professor at Carleton University.
"The Atikamekw language, which comes from our territory, is our heritage and part of our identity. Until now, we have been able to maintain its vitality and it is still, among all the First Nations languages, one of the most commonly used. However, more than ever, we must continue our efforts to transmit it to future generations. The dictionaries will be great tools in this regard," said Constant Awashish, Grand Chief of the Atikamekw Nation.
Several copies of the dictionaries have already been ordered by the schools of our communities. They are available at a cost of $55 each. An interactive version is also available online.
Purchase of dictionaries: https://atikamekw.atlas-ling.ca/dictionnaire/livres/
Online dictionary: https://dictionnaire.atikamekw.atlas-ling.ca/
About the Atikamekw Nation Council
As a tribal council, the Atikamekw Nation Council (ANC) provides various services to the communities. The ANC also assumes a role of political representation for the Atikamekw Nation through the office of the President/Grand Chief elected by universal suffrage by all the members of the Atikamekw Nation, collectively holder of the ancestral rights and titles.