Cheyenne
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fieldwork
Summer 2009
This past summer, I was once again able to travel to the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana. I continued my fieldwork on Cheyenne evidentials and questions, working on data that is the empirical basis of my dissertation. While on the reservation, I volunteered for a couple of projects at Chief Dull Knife College, including the annual Language Immersion Camp, day camp, and the first Cheyenne Language Day. In addition, I attended a Cheyenne language reading and writing class and spent a couple days building things. Papers based on this fieldwork can be found on my papers page, and a short report can be found in the departmental newsletter SNARL. My 2008-2009 P.E.O. Scholar Award funded this travel and fieldwork.
Summer 2008
In 2008, my fieldwork focused on the evidential system of Cheyenne, as well as the interaction of evidentials with questions. I worked with several native speaker consultants, many of whom I had worked with on previous trips. During my time on the reservation, I volunteered at the annual Language Immersion Camp and day camp sponsored by Chief Dull Knife College. It was a great experience; I met many new members of the community and learned a great deal about Cheyenne language and culture. Papers related to my fieldwork can be found on my papers page and a short report can be found in the departmental newsletter SNARL. My 2008-2009 P.E.O. Scholar Award made this travel and fieldwork possible.
Summer 2007
In the Summer of 2007, I returned to the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana for six weeks. I was able to gloss and re-translate ten more texts and to continue work on Cheyenne evidentiality, reflexivity/reciprocity, and conditionals. In addition, I volunteered in a couple of projects at Chief Dull Knife College. Some of the glossed texts can be found on my texts page, resulting papers can be found on my papers page, and a short report can be found in the departmental newsletter SNARL. This research was funded in part by grants from The Endangered Language Fund and The Graduate School -- New Brunswick at Rutgers University.
Summer 2006
In the Summer of 2006, I began fieldwork on Cheyenne with a short pilot study (2 weeks) on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana. With the help of a native speaker consultant I was able to morphologically gloss some previously recorded Cheyenne texts and do a little supplementary work on Cheyenne reportative evidentials. In addition, I attended the annual Northern Cheyenne Powwow and briefly volunteered in a couple of projects around Chief Dull Knife College, including a sustainable building project. See the Rutgers linguistics department newsletter SNARL for a short report. Some of the glossed texts can be found on my texts page. Thanks to William Starr, who accompanied me for assistance recording, driving, and camping as well as appropriateness, company, and fending off coyotes. This research was funded by a Phillips Fund Grant for Native American Research and the Department of Linguistics at Rutgers.
Spring 2004 (on Ottawa)
I first was introduced to both fieldwork and Algonquian languages during a field methods class at Wayne State University. We studied Ottawa, an Algonquian language, and worked primarily with a native speaker consultant, Rita Sands, as well as other members of the Ottawa community on Walpole Island. My research focused on Ottawa morphosyntax, specifically derivation: deverbal nouns, denominal verbs. If you are interested in any of my papers or fieldwork notes, please email me.
