DURHAM CHILDREN'S WATERSHED FESTIVAL
Anishinaabemowin Words
Anishinaabemowin words have been included in the activity centres of the Durham Children's Watershed Festival as part of a scavenger hunt. The Anishinaabemowin words, along with their English translation, phonetic spelling, and an audio file of the pronunciation are listed alphabetically below.
Our gratitude to Sarah MacLeod-Beaver who is Anishinaabe and a member of Alderville First Nation. She grew up learning Anishinaabemowin in school as a second language and has continued learning as an adult. Sarah is a certified teacher who has taught the language in provincial and federal schools and has also worked in areas related to Indigenous language revitalization and Indigenous education.
The words and phrases that were prepared for the Durham Children’s Water Festival represent both Sarah’s personal knowledge of Eastern and Southwestern Ojibwe (Anishinaabemowin) and online resources that you can access too! Check out the Nishnaabemwin Online Dictionary and the Ojibwe People’s Dictionary!
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Minwaangozik nanda-anishinaabemoyeg! Have fun as you learn to speak Anishinaabemowin!
Words From Activity Centres
Bonus Words
Anishinaabemowin Pronunciation Guide
This is a guide on the double vowel writing system that is used for written Anishinaabemowin.
Vowel Sounds
There are four long vowel sounds and three short vowel sounds. Long vowel sounds are written using double letters (hence the name of the writing system). Short vowel sounds are spelled using single letters. Short vowels are the ‘short’ equivalent for the long vowels, with the exception of the long ‘e’ vowel sound, which does not have a short vowel equivalent (which is why it is represented by a single letter).
Vowels
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long: aa short: a
long: ii short: i
long: oo short: o
long: e
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Long vowel sounds receive the most stress or emphasis in a word. Short vowel sounds receive less stress and are more likely to be de-stressed (or “dropped”) from a word when spoken.
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Pronunciation Guide with English Example
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aa: saw
ii: feed
oo: row
e: bet
a: cup
i: fit
o: book)
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Other Sounds
' : glottal stop (the stop in "uh-oh")
aaw: sounds like the "ou" in "ouch"
aw/ow: forms an o-glide, sounds like "oo"
aay, ay, iy: sounds like the "i" in "ice"
-nh, -n-: forms a nasal "n" sound when followed by an "h" (as in "enh") or another consonant ("ziibiins")
