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31-437: As of 2014, there are between 1,400 and 1,700 recorded tribal members (these figures vary by source). The Mohegan language has been dormant for approximately 100 years; the last native speaker, Fidelia Fielding , died in 1908. Fielding, a descendant of Chief Uncas, is deemed the preserver of the language. She left four diaries that are being used in the 21st-century process of restoring the language. She also took part in preserving

62-622: A 1992 menu "which attempts to translate such words as hamburger and hot dog into Mohegan-Pequot." The language was documented as early as the 17th century. "In 1690, a Pequot vocabulary list was compiled by Rev. James Noyes in Groton . In 1717, Experience Mayhew , a Congregational Minister translated the Lord's Prayer into Mohegan-Pequot. Ezra Stiles , president of Yale University collected Pequot linguistic data in Groton in 1762." Prayers from

93-442: A complete grammar in the works, which has been put together by Stephanie Fielding . The primary goal of the project is for the next generation of Mohegan people to be fluent. Many of the dictionaries circulating are based on John Dyneley Prince and Frank G. Speck 's interpretation of testimony by Dji's Butnaca (Flying Bird), also known as Fidelia Fielding. The Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center collection includes

124-401: A dependent clause are said to be in the conjunct order. Conjunct verbs have the same numbers of persons for each verb, but they do not have prefixes, only suffixes. In turn, all of the person information is at the end of the word. *suffixes on chart marked by bold type Example: Mô yáyuw maci ákacu yǒn . Translation: 'It was so bad that I am ashamed .' When in the conjunct form if

155-460: A long / aː / sound. Nouns Nouns in Mohegan have two forms: animate and inanimate. They are further distinguished by number. Animate nouns include people, animals, heavenly bodies (sun, moon, stars, but not clouds), and spirits. There are other items that fall into the category of animate such as certain cultural items and plants, but it is not known why these items are considered animate. It

186-440: A long vowel ( á, i, o or ô ) the third person singular does not take a final -w , and in the third person plural these same verbs take -k as an ending in lieu of - wak . *affixes indicated in bold type *affixes indicated in bold type Numbers Locative case The locative case is used to show where something is. Mohegan utilizes the suffix -uk to indicate spatial relationships, which can be compared to

217-433: Is accomplished by adding a suffix to either his/her name, title or the property. *suffix indicated by bold type The following example shows the absentative case in use: Niswi nusihs uk wikôtamak áposuhutut. 'Both of my late uncles enjoyed cooking.' Possession In Mohegan, there are two types of possession, alienable possession and inalienable possession. Nouns receive different marking depending on

248-542: Is one of only three American Indians who have been inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame . Years later, Gladys Tantaquidgeon , a Mohegan woman trained by Fielding who similarly insisted on preserving traditional ways, was also inducted into the Hall of Fame. During Fielding's lifetime, parents were reluctant to use or teach the Mohegan language to their children, for fear of prejudice or reprisals from

279-402: Is something that is simply learned and memorized. One way to help identify if a noun is animate or inanimate is to look at its plural form. Plural animate nouns typically end in -k while plural inanimate nouns end in -sh . Animate nouns have four forms: singular, plural, obviative and locative. The obviate form is used when there are two or more animate third person nouns in a sentence to mark

310-709: The Baháʼí Faith have been translated into the Mohegan-Pequot language. "It is a sacred obligation," says the Golden Hill Paugussett Chief, Big Eagle . "Indian people must keep their languages alive. If the language is not spoken, it must be made to live again." Historically, Mohegan-Pequot has not had a writing system, and its speakers relied on oral transfer of knowledge, as opposed to writing. The only significant historic writings have been produced by European colonizers who interacted with

341-864: The American Indian in New York City. These documents were later relocated, as part of the Huntington collection, to the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at Cornell University before being repatriated to the Mohegan Tribe's archive collection on November 4, 2020, where they currently reside. Fidelia Fielding died on July 18, 1908, in Montville, Connecticut , and was buried at the Ancient Burial Grounds of

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372-542: The English prepositions on , at , and in . In Mohegan there is no plural form to go with the obviative and the locative: the same form is used for singular and plural with the difference being distinguished by context. Example of the Locative Case Absentative case The absentative case is used to when referencing a person who has died (this includes any property that they left behind). This

403-485: The Mohegans at Fort Shantok State Park in Montville, Connecticut . A memorial marker was placed there to honor her, at a ceremony with an estimated 1,000 people in attendance on May 24, 1936. Credited with being an instrumental influence in recording and preserving the language, in 1994 she was posthumously inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame under the category Education & Preservation . Fielding

434-893: The Mohegans” in The Papoose Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 2–5; and “Mohegan Traditions of ‘Muhkeahweesug,’ the Little Men” in The Papoose No . 7, pp. 11–14. Speck also co-authored a 1904 article with J. Dyneley Prince, “The Modem Pequots and their Language” in American Anthropologist, n. s., Vol. V pp. 193–212. In 1908, after Fielding's death, a relative, John Cooper, gave her diaries to Frank Speck for safekeeping. Speck later deposited them in George Gustav Heye 's Heye Foundation/Museum of

465-509: The Tantaquidgeon Indian Museum, and she became a respected elder herself, working on material and cultural preservation. Many modern sources suggest that anthropologist Frank G. Speck , as a child, lived with Fidelia Fielding, but there is no evidence to support that in any Mohegan tribal records or oral memories. Speck recalled, in his own publications and correspondence, that he first met Fielding around 1900, when he

496-454: The everyday use of the Mohegan language during an era when most New England Native peoples were becoming increasingly fluent in English. Her maternal grandmother Martha Uncas spoke it with family members, and other Mohegan people continued to speak and understand some of the language, but by 1900, few were as fluent as Fidelia and her sister. As an adult, Fielding kept four diaries in the language, which later became vital sources for reconstructing

527-640: The first vowel of the word is a short vowel, that is /a/ or /u/ , it changes to a long /á/ . Transitive verbs with inanimate objects take only a suffix as well. The suffix varies based on the ending of the stem. For stems that end in -m- or -n- the suffixes are as follows: 1st person singular: -ôn Fidelia Fielding Fidelia Ann Hoscott Fielding ( née Smith; September 15, 1827 – July 18, 1908), also known as Dji'ts Bud dnaca ("Flying Bird"), daughter of Bartholomew Valentine Smith ( c.  1811 – 1843) and Sarah A. Wyyougs (1804–1868), and granddaughter of Martha Shantup Uncas (1761–1859),

558-588: The mother is possessed inalienably because of a cultural perception of kinship as a "strong" connection. Inalienable nouns must always receive marking. If the possessor owns the possessed noun, but is not physically attached to it, it is considered alienable possession. In the phrase "the man's house", the house is possessed alienably because the house is not attached to the man. Nouns pertaining to kinship and body parts are always classified as inalienable, but there are some terms that do not fall under either of these umbrellas that must be classified as inalienable, such as

589-424: The noun home . Various affixes are used to denote inalienability and different affixes are used to differentiate animate/inanimate and singular/plural. Additionally, when a term requires possession but the possessor is unclear or unknown it is marked with a prefix that indicates an indefinite possessor. The locative ( -uk ) and obviate ( -ah ) suffixes are added to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular forms. Whether

620-452: The noun which is less salient (less relevant to the discourse). The unmarked noun is called the proximate, which is more salient/relevant to the discourse. The obviative is also used to mark a third-person possessed noun, with the possessor considered as the proximate, even if the possessed noun is more salient than its possessor. The locative is used to show where something is spatially. There is no obviative form for inanimate nouns, and neither

651-453: The obviative nor the locative have plural forms (plurality is known through context). Verbs Verbs in Mohegan come in several forms. Independent verbs exist in four forms: inanimate intransitive, animate intransitive, transitive inanimate and transitive animate. There is also the conjunct form which does not carry the affixes (used to clarify person) that the aforementioned hold. Person Mohegan animate intransitive verbs show who

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682-415: The relationship between the possessor and the possessed noun. If the possessed noun is connected (physically or sometimes metaphorically) to the possessed noun it is considered inalienable possession. For example in the phrase "the man's hand", the hand is possessed inalienably because it is inseparable from the man. Inalienable possession can also be metaphorical; for example, in the phrase "the man's mother",

713-506: The speakers of Mohegan-Pequot. The dictionaries, grammar books, and other materials that are being developed in recent decades as part of the effort to revitalize Mohegan-Pequot Language, have adopted and used a standardized Latin orthography consisting of twelve consonants and six vowels. /n/ is realized as [ŋ] only before [k] . Vowel sounds The nasal /ɔ̃/ sound can range to being an oral /ɔ/ sound. ⟨a⟩ written with an acute accent ( ⟨á⟩ ) represents

744-416: The subject is by utilizing affixes. Singular forms have prefixes, but third person (singular and plural) only have suffixes. In the plural forms there are inclusive and exclusive suffixes; the inclusive we includes the person who is speaking as well as the person he/she is talking to whereas the exclusive we does not include the person the speaker is talking to. When an animate intransitive verb stem ends in

775-552: The syntax of Mohegan Pequot and related Algonquian languages . Fielding was regarded as a nanu (respected elder woman) and mentor to Gladys Tantaquidgeon , a traditional Mohegan woman who also studied anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and served as a research assistant to Frank Speck . Tantaquidgeon conducted field work and service work for a variety of Native communities and agencies before coming home to Uncasville . In Uncasville, Gladys and her family founded

806-450: The traditional culture. She practiced a traditional Mohegan way of life and was the last person to live in the traditional log dwelling. Another important tribal member was Gladys Tantaquidgeon , who was the tribe's medicine woman from 1916 until her death in 2005. She too assisted greatly in maintaining the Mohegan culture, as she collected thousands of tribal documents and artifacts. These documents were of critical importance to supporting

837-680: The tribe's documentation for its case for federal recognition, which was approved in 1994. As of 2010, the Shinnecock and Unkechaug nations of Long Island, New York , had begun work with the State University of New York at Stony Brook , Southampton Campus, to revive their languages, or dialects of the above. As of 2012, the Mohegan Language Project had created lessons, a dictionary, and other online learning materials to revive their language. The project also has

868-553: The weather and local events, so that he could understand and accurately record the written version of the Mohegan language. This material that Speck collected from Fielding inspired four publications in 1903 alone: “The Remnants of our Eastern Indian Tribes” in The American Inventor, Vol. 10, pp. 266–268; “A Mohegan-Pequot Witchcraft Tale” in Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 16, pp. 104–107; “The Last of

899-488: The word is singular or plural should be suggested in the content of the sentence. The obviate affixes only go on animate nouns. When a possessed noun is plural it must be shown. With an animate noun then suffix -ak is combined with the possessive ending (with the exception of third person singular and third person plural, where the plural is the same as the singular). *affixes on all charts are marked by bold type Clause combining In Mohegan grammar verbs that are in

930-748: Was an anthropology student at Columbia University . Speck was in the midst of a camping trip to Fort Shantok, Connecticut, when he met up with several Mohegan young men—Burrill Tantaquidgeon, Jerome Roscoe Skeesucks, and Edwin Fowler—who introduced him to Fielding. This encounter sparked a lifelong friendship with the Tantaquidgeon family. Speck interviewed Fielding, recording notes on the Mohegan language that he shared with his professor, John Dyneley Prince , who encouraged further research. Fielding eventually allowed Speck to view her personal daybooks (also called diaries) in which she recorded brief observations on

961-451: Was the last-known speaker of the traditional Mohegan Pequot language. She married a Mohegan mariner, William H. Fielding (born 1822–died 1889). They lived in one of the last "tribe houses," a reservation-era log cabin dwelling. She was known to be an independent-minded woman who was well-versed in tribal traditions, and who continued to speak the traditional Mohegan Pequot language during her elder years. Fielding insisted upon retaining

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