My son, Jesse, who teaches Abenaki all around New England, a very fluent speaker, even has a website called WesternAbenaki.com., he and I have begun doing bilingual texts.
So, it’s English line by line translated from Abenaki and then a third version which is then sort of colloquial English. So you can see the process of moving from one language to the other. And I think it’s very interesting because if for example I would say I live in Saratoga Springs, in Abenaki I would say [Abenaki].
I am of Saratoga or the medicine spring place. So, it’s [unint.] I am of that place. And that gives a different sense than just living there. You are of that place, not just from that place. And there’s a linguistic difference between the two.
