I'SĄ BÁXOJE ICH'E TOGRE
[EEH'-sahⁿ BAH-kho-jay EECH'-ay TOH-kray], Journey with Ioway Language
Báxoje Ich’e [BAH-kho-jay EECH’-ay], the Ioway Language, is the spoken language of the proud peoples of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, collectively known as the Báxoje, “People of the Grey Snow.” The horrors of colonization have slowly whittled a once robust population of fluent Báxoje Ich’e speakers to today’s current number of 0. The last fluent speaker of our great language passed away in 1996. The passing of the last fluent speaker of a language typically classifies it as dead, but the Ioway are in a unique circumstance: there are no fluent speakers left, people across the span of over 150 years have made valiant efforts to write down the sounds and words of Báxoje Ich’e. Thanks to the work of our ancestors, allies, and in some cases even the colonizers responsible for the demise of fluent Báxoje Ich’e speakers, we instead have a sleeping language. One that can be awakened through engagement with the work of those that came before us. The Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska has worked tirelessly to consolidate and organize the resources of those people, and it is now presented here in one place for all to use in the battle to preserve Báxoje Ich’e. Take a journey through the history of our language, where you can learn each of the unique pronunciations Báxoje Ich’e has to offer and the creative ways people have translated our spoken tongue into the written word. Aho/a [ah-HOH/HAH]!
STARTING YOUR JOURNEY
Báxoje Ich’e th’idawere ke [BAH-kho-jay EECH’-ay th’-EE-dah-way-reh KAY], “The Ioway language is ancient,” and has persisted for thousands of years across many generations. For this reason, the most important parts of your journey with Báxoje Ich’e should be listening. In this section, we include any recordings available to us of people speaking in our language. As an additional activity, you can follow the late Lance Foster and Annabelle Deita as they record going through the primer workbooks published in 1977 by Dr. Lila Wistrand-Robinson.
Ioway Tribal Member Benjamin Kent Counts to 10 (circa 1930s)
- This is a quick video in which tribal ancestor Benjamin Kent counts to 10. Compare what you hear to the chapter “Numerical Adjectives” in Hamilton & Irvin’s 1848 publication listed in the next section!
Lance Foster’s Báxoje Ich’e YouTube playlist
- The series of videos in which Lance Foster works through the ’77 primer are all titled “Introdction to Ioway-Oto-Missouria Language.”
- The first three videos in Lance’s playlist correspond with lessons he created as a part of his Ioway Tribal Cultural Institute website, which can be found here
- Videos that follow include various words that Lance Foster shared with the community and are great places to listen to the sounds of Báxoje Ich’e
Annabelle Deita- @OtoeChild on YouTube
- This YouTube channel consists of only four videos that directly follow the pages of the ’77 primer. Take note of the differences between Báxoje Ich’e and the Oto language!
Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma Recordings
- Our relatives in Oklahoma recorded their own workthrough of the beginning of the ’77 primer in 2019 and are a great source for pronunciation!
- This PDF contains the two primer workbooks that were published by Dr. Lila Wistrand-Robinson and serve as a great introduction to Báxoje Ich’e. We highly recommend that you complete the activities in the workbook and listen to the recordings as you do so!
Dr. Jill D. Greer- Báxoje-Jiwere Grammar Sketch
- As you move on to the next step in your study, you should consider reading Dr. Greer’s work on the linguistics of Báxoje Ich’e. This work will help prepare you for reading older works that have their own alphabet and also allow you to familiarize yourself with the schools of thought surrounding Báxoje Ich’e as a dialect of the Jiwere language or as its own language
- While this work may be intimidating to read at first due to the fact that it caters to expert linguists, we encourage you to take it on so that you can innervate your knowledge of Báxoje Ich’e from a linguistic standpoint!
- For those interested in expanding their linguistic knowledge, you can also read Advances in the study of Siouan languages and linguistics by Catherine Rudin & Bryan J. Gordon (EdS) which is the linguistics textbook that Dr. Greer’s work was originally published in.
DIGGING A LITTLE DEEPER
For those that wish to go even deeper into the study of Báxoje Ich’e, we provide publications on advanced grammar topics:
- An Ioway Grammar was originally published in 1848 by the reverends William Hamilton and Samuel Irvin, missionaries to the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and was recently digitized by a tribal member. This work remains the most comprehensive source for grammar rules on Báxoje Ich’e to date!
- While thorough, the reverends were also limited by the technology of their time, so they were unable to add important dialectical markers that make Báxoje Ich’e what it is. For this reason, nasalization of vowels and glottal stops are not recorded in the pronunciations found within. Practice pronouncing the words and you can get a good idea of syllable emphasis, which is covered in An Elementary Book of the Ioway Language, which was published in 1843 by the same reverends.
Descriptive Grammar of Ioway-Oto
- William Whitman was a linguist that took an interest in the works of Hamilton & Irvin in the mid 1900s, which culminated in his own treatise on Báxoje Ich’e grammar
BUILDING YOUR VOCABULARY/READING EXERCISES
Building a vocabulary is essential in building your fluency, but as you may have deduced by now, each of the sources available on Báxoje Ich’e have their own strengths and weaknesses. It is essential that you can think critically about each resource you work with so that you can identify these strengths and weaknesses and know when something is Báxoje Ich’e and when it isn’t. Any time you are searching for a word, always reference multiple sources so that you have a better idea of what dialectical variants exist, discrepancies between resources, and most importantly, the difference between an Otoe word and a Báxoje word. We provide several resources for building your vocabulary and seeing some of it in context.
An Elementary Book of the Ioway Language
- An Elementary Book of the Ioway Language is the first of Hamilton and Irvin’s publications on Báxoje Ich’e, published in 1843. In this work, you can find several table of vocabulary from before the Báxoje split into the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, as well as notes on syllable emphasis that may innervate your understanding of An Ioway Grammar
- While helpful, this work must be read in the context of colonization. Many of the reading examples depict derogatory examples of Native Americans that belittle and minimize the importance of Báxoje culture. We can thank the reverends for the work they did in preserving our language while also recognizing that they were key players in the loss of Báxoje Ich’e through their abhorrent colonization of Báxoje people
- Quizlet is an online flashcard learning tool that helps with memorizing pronunciations. We have generated study sets that correspond with the phonetic pronunciations available. Different sources emphasize different pronunciations, so working with each resource will help you better understand dialectical variations that exist within the language, differentiate Báxoje Ich’e from Otoe, and figure out where the inconsistencies and mistakes lie within each source
- This is an expansive collection of notecards written by the historical ethnographer James Owen Dorsey. Dorsey recorded a great deal on Ioway culture, with some linguistic work
- It is important to highlight that Dorsey’s linguistic work is much more targeted to the Otoe Language, specifically. The Otoe language is closely related to our own, so the two languages share many words and have a plethora of words that are similarly pronounced, but this does not guarantee that every word found within this document is a Báxoje word. As mentioned before, always cross-reference words when you can or ask someone for help before utilizing a word you can’t verify!
- Also consider checking out Dorsey’s Comparative Siouxan Vocabulary, which was recently digitized by a tribal member. The same cautions apply to this document.
Jimm Goodtracks Language Materials
- The Jimm Goodtracks Dictionary has added important context to the nasalization, syllable emphasis, and dialectal markers that are missing in many earlier publications. As with every other source, however, it has its strengths and weaknesses. This work is a particularly poor source for differentiating between ITKN and ITO dialects of Báxoje Ich’e and utilizes Dorsey’s work on the Otoe Language as a substitute for Báxoje Ich’e at times, threatening the diversity of both languages. Remember to always cross reference this source with other sources to get a comprehensive look at what pronunciations you use!
- In addition, it is important to keep in mind the context with which work was done with the last generation of fluent speakers to generate the newer sources on Báxoje Ich’e. These speakers were almost entirely concentrated in Oklahoma, where evidence points to a unique dialect that evolved after the Báxoje separated into two tribes. Older sources may paint a better picture of the dialect that was present on the original reservation, while newer sources may highlight the dialect that formed in Oklahoma after the Báxoje arrived in 1883
- Mr. Goodtracks consolidated a great number of resources in his dictionary, including Dorsey (DOR), Dr. Lila Wistrand-Robinson (LWR), Hamilton & Irvin (HAM), George Merrill (GM), Alanson Skinner (SKN), and even the Native American Church (NAC). His interviews with fluent tribal elders also produced arguably his most valuable work: the stories and prayers scattered throughout his dictionary and website!
FOR YOUR PLEASURE- ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ON BÁXOJE ICH'E
We have now covered the essential materials of Báxoje Ich’e studying, but there are many other resources available for those interested in learning Báxoje Ich’e and revitalizing our great language. Check out these additional resources!
- The First Ioway Reading Book was published in 1835 by the Reverend George Merrill, missionary to the Otoe Tribe and photocopied by the late Lance Foster. This is a great place to see Báxoje Ich’e in context
- As with Hamilton & Irvin’s works, it is important to view this publication in context: colonization casts an especially long shadow on this work, which is evidenced by the many derogatory depictions of Native Americans that plague this work. Additionally, because Merrill was first and foremost a missionary to the Otoe, not all of the translations are correct, mistaking Otoe words for Ioway words.
- This link will take you to the Smithsonian Institution’s website, which has photographed much of Dorsey’s work on Ioway, Otoe, and Ho-Chunk Culture and Jiwere linguistics. In this expanse of records you can find where many personal names in the Jimm Goodtracks dictionary come from, various cultural accounts of the Ioway, and the occasional document that specifically studies Ioway linguistics
- Ethnology of the Iowa Indians was published in 1926 by Alanson Skinner, the man responsible for taking Báxoje sacred bundles from the Báxoje and storing them at the Milwaukee Public Museum, where they remain today. This work is more focused on Ioway culture, but Goodtracks relied on some of the language materials within as a primary source for his dictionaries (see any entry labeled (SKN) in the Jimm Goodtracks Dictionary), so it is included as a language resource.
Hau [HAH-oo] (thanks) for coming on this language journey! Every person that spends time engaging with Báxoje Ich’e is awakening our sleeping language from its deep slumber and paving the way for our children and their children to be able to speak our great language. Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions if you have them!
