Thoughts about Language
Tuesday September 29th 2020
Today I read an interesting article about efforts to recover the language of the Wompanoag. The language of this native group (Wôpanâak) lingered in the place names that we know in Massachusetts and Rhode Island - Seekonk, Pawtucket and Potowomut. However, the spoken language has been lost for many generations. One of the early efforts to convert these Indigenous people to Christianity resulted in a translation of the Bible into Wôpanâak. Ironically, this Bible (printed in 1663) has helped linguists find words and word roots. Help with pronunciation has come from similarities to other Algonquian languages that are still spoken. Initially a small group of adults worked hard to learn the language and are now teaching children of the Mashpee Wompanoag tribe.
After lunch we went for a walk and got flu shots (surprisingly painful). We decided to walk down to the yacht club and found my brother Paul scrubbing the decks of his boat. His boat was due to be hauled out tomorrow but there is severe weather moving in overnight and no boats will be taken out of the water on Wednesday. One thing led to another and we wound up having a wide-ranging discussion about vocabulary, euphemisms, the importance of education, the state of politics and many more topics. Happily Fran was able to join us and keep us from becoming too ridiculous.
We got back to the boat after 8 pm. In the dark, we set about getting ready for the weather ahead by tying a second mooring line to the boat and hoisting the engine off the dinghy and onto the rail of the big boat. The forecast includes such delights as severe thunderstorms at 2 am and high winds and rain through Wednesday morning. Another good night of sleep on the way?
Gloria
East Greenwich, RI
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