Ottawa or Odawa is a dialect of the Ojibwe language spoken by the Odawa people in southern Ontario in Canada, and northern Michigan in the United States. Descendants of migrant Ottawa speakers live in Kansas and Oklahoma. The first recorded meeting of Ottawa speakers and Europeans occurred in 1615 when a party of Ottawas encountered explorer Samuel de Champlain on the north shore of Georgian Bay. Ottawa is written in an alphabetic system using Latin letters, and is known to its speakers as Nishnaabemwin 'speaking the native language' or Daawaamwin 'speaking Ottawa'.
Ottawa population areas in Ontario, Michigan and Oklahoma. Reserves/Reservations and communities shown in red.
Printed text with columns of English words and corresponding Ottawa terms. Page from Andrew Blackbird's 19th-century History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan, which includes a grammatical description of the Ottawa and Southwestern Ojibwe (Chippewa) dialects of Ojibwe. Retrieved April 12, 2009 from History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan: A grammar of their language, and personal and family history of the author.
Page from a 19th-century Ottawa language publication by Frederick O'Meara, based on his work among Ottawa speakers on Manitoulin Island. Retrieved from "Ewh oowahweendahmahgawin owh tabanemenung Jesus Christ..." (a version of the New Testament in Ojibwe) 1854.
Ojibwe, also known as Ojibwa, Ojibway, Otchipwe, Ojibwemowin, or Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of North America of the Algonquian language family. The language is characterized by a series of dialects that have local names and frequently local writing systems. There is no single dialect that is considered the most prestigious or most prominent, and no standard writing system that covers all dialects.
Ontario Heritage Plaque in Ojibwe at the Battle of the Thames historical site
A sign at Lakehead University in English and Ojibwe
Names of the Great Lakes and surrounding regions in Ojibwe