Research Training Program

Sudha Arunachalam
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

Ives Goddard, Ph.D.
Supervising Scientist
Department of Anthropology

"A language should not be experienced through the words of a linguist, but through the words of an expert: the speaker himself"

Menominee, an Algonquian language spoken by a small community in Wisconsin, was described in detail by Leonard Bloomfield. His studies of Menominee in the 1920's and 30's resulted in the publication of several Menominee texts dictated to him by various speakers. He also published a grammar containing rules for the language's complex sound system. This project involved editing Bloomfield's manuscripts from his field work, and comparing these original texts with the version that he later published as well as the version that can be inferred from his published grammar. Six texts given by six different speakers were examined. Phonological and grammatical variation among speakers was noted as well as changes that surfaced in Bloomfield's edition of each text from manuscript to publication and to rule formation in the grammar. Some interesting discrepancies were found, including a form not found in Bloomfield's lexicon, and examples wher Bloomfield edited what he originally heard from the speaker to make it follow his rules of grammar. The results raise issues of how to deal with such discrepancies: are they possible variant forms, did Bloomfield mishear, or was it an instance of a "slip of tongue" on the part of the speaker? While examination of more texts would be needed to see if such forms persist, this study nevertheless shows that there is variation among speakers even in a small linguistic community.