Product Description
This dictionary of Passamaquoddy-Maliseet, an aboriginal language spoken in New Brunswick and Maine, is the result of more than thirty years of collaboration among native speakers, educators, and linguists. The first of its kind in Canada, the volume contains more than 18,000 entries over 1,200 pages, including a comprehensive English index that will guides readers to discover shades of meaning and to better understand pronunciation and grammatical structure. This unprecedented book is, in many ways, more than a dictionary. An important cultural document, it contains detailed knowledge of the physical, intellectual, social, spiritual, and emotional environments of the Maliseet and Passamaquoddy people. Sample sentences, taken from both oral tradition and contemporary conversation, reveal details of Passamaquoddy-Maliseet thought and culture, personal attitudes, and humour as well as a linguistic ingenuity.
From the Inside Flap
This dictionary of Passamaquoddy-Maliseet — a Native American language spoken in Maine, U.S.A., and New Brunswick, Canada — is the result of more than thirty years’ collaboration among native speakers, educators, and linguists. The 18,000 entries illustrate speakers’ detailed knowledge of the physical, intellectual, social, spiritual, and emotional environments in which they live. Sample sentences in the entries, taken from both oral tradition and contemporary conversation, present details of Passamaquoddy-Maliseet thought and culture, personal attitudes, humor, and linguistic ingenuity. A comprehensive English index helps users of the dictionary discover shades of meaning and patterns of word formation in Passamaquoddy-Maliseet. The dictionary also contains a brief grammatical sketch of the language, pronunciation key, and guides to noun forms and verb conjugations.
