Credits

A contemporary dictionary of Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey was begun by linguist Philip S. LeSourd during the 1970s and prepared at that time in manuscript form by the bilingual education program at Indian Township, Maine, under the direction of Wayne A. Newell. LeSourd’s collection of about 3,000 words was later edited and modestly expanded by David A. Francis and Robert M. Leavitt and published in 1984 under the title Kolusuwakonol: Words. Francis and Leavitt, joined by Margaret Apt, continued to expand the dictionary collection, resulting in the publication of the first and second editions of Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey Latuwewakon (2008, 2026). The first version of the online dictionary Portal was created in the 1990s.

David A. Francis, Robert M. Leavitt, and Margaret Apt are the authors of the print and online versions of the Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey Dictionary. Many people contributed indispensably to the development of dictionary Portal. (Please see Dictionary Credits for a complete list.)

The audio module portion of the Portal is sponsored by a grant awarded by the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) to the Passamaquoddy Tribal Historic Preservation Office to promote and preserve the tribal language. Donald Soctomah, Director. The ANA was established in 1974 through the Native American Programs Act (NAPA). The ANA project has been adding audio recordings of the entry words and example sentences since 2011. (Please see Dictionary Credits for a list of audio recorders.)

The video recordings of speakers of the Peskotomuhkati and Wolastoqey were made by Language Keepers and Speaking Place documentation projects. The concept of adding video recordings to the language Portal was developed by film-maker Ben Levine along with the dictionary authors. Northeast Historic Film is the video archive repository. The United States Library of Congress houses the long-term archive at the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIPP).

• Portal design, functionality, and hosting by UNB Libraries, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada. Please see Portal Credits for additional contributors.
• Peskotomuhkati Advisors: Wayne Newell, Margaret Apt, Brenda Lozada, Donald Soctomah.
• Educational Advisors: Julia Schulz and David Weiss.

Opening Portal Art Work: "We Are Still Dancing" by Stephanie Francis. The image is taken from a collection of petroglyphs—one of the oldest existing forms of graphic Peskotomuhkati communication. It was created by Stephanie Francis and printed on sweetgrass and hemp paper made by Bernie Vinzani with help from Donald and Dakota Soctomah, Patty Vinzani, and Michelle Amato.

Funding for the dictionary, Language Keepers, and the Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey Language Portal was provided by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. 9601540, 0001949, 0553791, and 0853658. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

"Word-building: Understanding Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey Words" is a 2020 project produced by Speaking Place, with a grant from the Davis Family Foundation. From an original idea by Ben Levine in the 2009 documentary “Language of America.” Daniel Quintanilla, design, animation, and video editing; Margaret Apt and Brenda Dana Lozada, voice-over narration; Julia Schulz, project director; Robert M. Leavitt, project linguist. Jacob Sanford and Jeremy McDermott, University of New Brunswick, programmers for the Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey Language Portal. Project advisors: Margaret Apt, Brenda Dana Lozada, Lynn Mitchell, Donald Soctomah, Ben Levine, Philip LeSourd, and Norvin Richards.