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Doug Smith (M.A. 1970, (Retired Instructor, Communications Department, University of the Fraser Valley) recently wrote to us with some memories and some news. In 1974 he was hired by the Micmac Association of Cultural Studies to help develop Mi'kmaw language studies and materials. Here is what he tell us about this experience.
In March, 2012 The Language of this Land, Mi’kma’ki by Dr. Trudy Sable, Director of the
Office of Aboriginal and Northern Research at the Gorsebrook ResearchInstitute, Saint Mary’s University
and Dr. Bernie Francis, distinguished Mi’kmaw linguist from Nova Scotia,
was published by Cape Breton University Press. Because of my involvement with Bernie in the linguistic
analysis of Mi’kmaw and our joint development of an orthography in the ‘70s, my
wife and I were invited to attend the book launches held at Membertou Reserve
and Saint Mary’s University recently.
The Smith/Francis orthography has now been officially adopted by the
Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia and is the one used in the above publication. (In the ‘80s Bernie designated our
writing system Francis/Smith to distinguish it from others but quickly tired of
hearing “Who’s Francis Smith?”)
In 1974 Bernie and I were
hired by the Micmac Association of Cultural Studies (MACS) whose board of
directors was made up of all the chiefs of Nova Scotia. Our primary mandate was to come up with
an optimal writing system for contemporary Mi’kmaq, especially the young, to
facilitate everyday reading and writing and the development of teaching
materials for reserves and schools.
One consideration that weighed in heavily was that historically French
had been the first European contact language, but in more recent times, English
had become the primary ambient language.
To start with we wanted to
reassure everyone that we didn’t intend to replace the Fr. Pacifique writing
system in which some Catholic texts had been translated and over the years taken
on a scriptural value; on the other hand Fr. Pacifique’s orthography was not
something modern Mi’kmaq would find easy to use, partly because of its “French
look”, e.g., accent marks, and partly because it didn’t indicate vowel length
and other significant phonemic distinctions. Fr. Pacifique had also produced a
grammar, Leçons grammaticales théoriques
et pratiques de la language micmaque (1938-39) on which linguist James
Fidelholtz had based his doctoral thesis, Micmac
morphophonemics (1968). In
1990, a decade after I had left MACS, Bernie Francis and John Hewson (Memorial
University) translated into English and retranscribed Fr. Pacifique’s Leçons… using the Smith/Francis
orthography under the title The Micmac
Grammar of Father Pacifique.
A simultaneous dimension of
our work involved the Mi’kmaq of Big Cove Reserve in New Brunswick and of
Restigouche Reserve in eastern Quebec who were also keen to develop a modern
practical orthography. Because
French is still commonly in use in these two provinces, they favored retaining
much of Fr. Pacifique’s orthography.
Bernie and I drew the line there; still, there was an exhilarating
though fleeting moment when all of us, I believe, sensed the beauty of a
pan-Mi’kmaw writing system. Alas,
that wasn’t to happen until later.
Nevertheless, I still relish those animated heady days when Bernie and I,
along with Emmanuel (Manny) Metallic, Albert (Don) DeBlois, Gilles Delisle
Mildred Milliea, Gordon Francis, James Fidelholtz, and many other interested
Mi’kmaq, explored the linguistic, orthographic, and political ramifications of
what we were doing. Meanwhile, whenever Bernie and I weren’t involved in the
larger issues, we were doing solid linguistic analysis and trying to resolve
the many thorny issues on how to best represent the language given the
allophonic idiosyncrasies, morphophonemics, dialects, registers, and the limitations
of the typewriter.
After I left MACS ca. 1980,
Bernie waged a one-man campaign to promote the orthography. He travelled widely throughout
Mi’kma’ki holding workshops, teaching the language, translating documents,
composing documents anew, answering people’s questions, allaying anxieties and
in every way proselytizing through example. Thanks to his steadfast fearlessness and tireless efforts
for over 30 years, Bernie Francis has succeeded in gaining acceptance of the
current Smith/Francis orthography among the Mi’kmaq of Nova Scotia. And
finally, thanks to Bernie’s teaching credit courses for teachers at Big Cove
for McGill University and St. Thomas University, Big Cove has now adopted the
Smith/Francis orthography; moreover, the Restigouche orthography has come to differ
from ours in only a minor way.
Debert, N. S. Archeological Site. Photo courtesy of Helena Bastedo
Submitted by Doug Smith April 19, 2012
