Page Type: languageChippewa | Ethnologue

CIW ISO 639-3

Chippewa

Anishinaabemowin Autonym

A language of United States

ISO 639
ciw
Alternate Names
Minnesota Ojibwe, Ojibway, Ojibwe, Southwestern Ojibwa
Autonym
Anishinaabemowin
Population
5,000. Ethnic population: 104,000 (1990 census).
Location:
Michigan; Minnesota; North Dakota; Wisconsin.
Language Status
7 (Shifting). Language of registered tribe: Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation, Bay Mills Indian Community, Chippewa-Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of the Lac du Flambeau Reservation of Wisconsin, Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan, Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan, Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Michigan, Sokaogon Chippewa Community, St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota.
Classification
Algic, Algonquian, Ojibwa-Potawatomi
Dialects
Upper Michigan-Wisconsin Chippewa, Central Minnesota Chippewa, Red Lake Chippewa, Minnesota Border Chippewa. Turtle Mountain in North Dakota shares features with Central Minnesota. Red Lake includes Northwest Angle on shore of Lake of the Woods. Nett Lake on the Minnesota border is closely related to Lac la Croix (Rainy River Ojibwa of Northwestern Ojibwa [ojb]) in Ontario. A member of macrolanguage Ojibwa [oji].
Language Use
Adults only. Most shifting to English [eng].
Language Development
Taught in primary schools. Dictionary. NT: 1833–1854. Concerted efforts via language teaching in public schools and other efforts to reverse decline.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Chippewa
Writing
Latin script [Latn]. Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics script [Cans], no longer in use.

Also Spoken in

Map

Location: Michigan; Minnesota; North Dakota; Wisconsin.