The current work on the Mi’gmaq in the department is a continuation from last semester’s Linguistic Field Methods course, co-taught by Jessica Coon and Michael Wagner, in collaboration with McGill PhD student Janine Metallic, a Mi’gmaq speaker from the Listuguj community.
This semester, in addition to academic work carried out by both graduate and undergraduate students, a group of students––including Mike Hamilton, Jacob Leon, Carol Little, Elise McClay, Gretchen McCulloch, Erin Olson, and Yuliya Manyakina––is collaborating with the Listuguj Education Department to help develop online teaching materials for use in Mi’gmaq adult education courses. You can keep up with this project, and related discussion and events on the group’s new website: migmaq.org. This page links to a grammar wiki, which will contain accessible descriptions of topics in Mi’gmaq linguistics.
Last week’s Algonquian activities were highlighted by three visitors to the department: Mi’gmaq language teachers Mary Ann Metallic and Janice Vicaire, as well as Conor Quinn, an Algonquianist from the University of Southern Maine. Students met with visitors individually and in groups to learn more about Mi’gmaq and discuss the lesson development project.