Welcome to this site devoted to the study of the Munsee Delaware and Mahican languages.
The author of this website, Robert Shubinski, MD, is very much indebted to Ives Goddard, PhD, senior linguist for the Smithsonian and to John O’Meara, PhD Professor and Dean at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Both of these men have devoted much time and effort to the study and preservation of the native languages of North America, including Munsee Delaware. Much of the Munsee content on this website is directly or indirectly derived from publications and books they have written. These works were in turn based on field work which started in the 1960s with speakers of the huluníixsuwaakan, the native language.
Xwatanúshiik (huge thanks) to both of these extraordinary men for their contributions to this project.
I also thank my teacher, the late Chohkalihle Jacobs, for his encouragements, expertise and devotion to teaching the language.
Carl Masthay, author of Schmick’s Mahican Dictionary, generously contributed hours of time and expertise to the Mahican section of this website. Ives Goddard also made major contributions through a series of personal emails, scrutinizing key aspects of the Mahican research. Several other esteemed linguists knowledgable about Algonquian languages have encouraged me with favorable comments and helpful suggestions. To all of you I say wuniiwih (Thank you in Mahican).