Brothertown Community Language Initiative

Map: "Tribal Territories Southern New England" by Nikater (adapted to English by Hydrargyrum) — via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (also licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License 1.2 or later).

An invitation for participation in a community-led project to support the revitalization and reclamation of the Brothertown language.

A Call for Collaboration

This initiative is being shared with all who have an interest in language revitalization for the Brothertown community. It is offered in the spirit of transparency, collaboration, and shared responsibility.

This is an invitation for participation in the early formation of a community-led project to support the revitalization and reclamation of the Brothertown language. The initial launch has begun with technical work on the Proto-SNEA foundation, and the broader effort seeks to expand as soon as a foundational team of volunteers is identified. Our goal is to reconstruct a living, usable language for the Brothertown Nation, honoring the shared heritage of the Mohegan, Pequot, Narragansett, Montaukett, Niantic, Tunxis, and other founding communities.

Project Goals

The project aims to develop:

• A 1000-word lexicon
• A grammar sketch
• A suite of teaching materials (print, audio, and digital tools)

These resources will be freely available to Brothertown descendants and all who seek to learn and preserve the language.

An initial project plan has been drafted and was shared with the linguists to ensure technical soundness and alignment with best practices in language revitalization.

Expert Support

We are fortunate to have the support of dedicated linguists:

• Dr. Keith Cunningham (Language Keeper): Lead linguist and primary coordinator.
• Jesse Bowman Bruchac: Advisor and contributor.
• Dr. Craig Kopris: Advisor and contributor, with extensive experience in the Powhatan revitalization effort.

As technical experts, these linguists determine the project's goals, methodology, and direction. They carry out the core linguistic work—including comparative analysis, reconstruction, and the development of teaching materials. Michael Conrad provides technical support for the initiative, including corpus material preparation and assisting the linguists with computer technical expertise.

Linguistic Foundation

A central value of this initiative is honoring the full range of linguistic heritages that inform Brothertown identity. Work has officially begun on the Proto-Southern New England Algonquian (Proto-SNEA) portion of the project, which is currently in the corpus setup stage. This reconstructed dialect is being built bottom-up using known attested historical forms, with the shared phonology and syntax of the SNEA daughter languages as the guiding targets. Beyond its primary role in the Brothertown effort, this foundational Proto-SNEA work may also serve as a valuable resource for other nations within the Southern New England linguistic family seeking to reclaim and revitalize their own languages.

Source Dialects for Proto-SNEA Reconstruction:

• Mohegan
• Pequot
• Narragansett
• Niantic
• Tunxis
• Montaukett

This list reflects historically documented SNEA-speaking communities whose languages are among the primary sources for reconstruction. Additional SNEA daughter languages and dialects may also be consulted as reference material.

Methodology and Independence

We are planning on using the Minimal Course framework developed by Conor McDonough Quinn, which has been successfully adapted in other Eastern Algonquian contexts, including the Powhatan revitalization work involving Dr. Kopris.

Importantly, this project is being developed independently and does not draw on financial resources from the Brothertown Nation. It is supported through a combination of modest grant applications and community-based fundraising. We suggest that any awarded funds be disbursed through the Brothertown Nation—which holds nonprofit tax status and could serve as a fiscal sponsor—to ensure transparency, accountability, and alignment with tribal governance.

How You Can Help

We are actively seeking volunteers to help shape this work and ensure it reflects the values and voices of the community. While this is a Brothertown-led initiative, we welcome the participation and expertise of volunteers from other nations, particularly those within the Southern New England linguistic family.

We are specifically looking for:

• A Primary Point of Contact: Someone to help coordinate communication, represent the initiative in community settings, and support continuity. Ideally, this individual is community-centered, possesses a collaborative spirit, and is familiar with maintaining a respectful and informative presence on social media.
• Technical Support: Assisting with computer-based work, typesetting, website management, and developing learning materials (including potential interactive applications using the Godot game engine).
• Grant Writing: A volunteer to assist with funding proposals.

If you know of individuals—elders, educators, youth, or others—who may be interested, please share this information with them. For more information or to discuss the initiative, you can reach out to Michael Conrad via Mastodon at @michaelconrad@mastodon.social.

Building community support is essential to our long-term success. This is a shared effort shaped by the strengths and interests of those who step forward.

Thank you for your time, consideration, and continued support of our shared cultural future.

This post was first published at michael-conrad.com.

With respect and gratitude,

The Brothertown Language Project
Brothertown Community Language Initiative

#Brothertown #LanguageRevitalization #SNEA #Community

🤖 Co-authored with AI: OpenCode (ollama-cloud/glm-5.3-flash)

Comment on Mastodon

You can comment on this post via Mastodon: View on Mastodon.