Kimmerer, Robin Wall. “Learning the Grammar of Animacy.” Braiding Sweetgrass, Milkweed Editions, 2013, pp. 49–59.
Book summary: As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return.
“Bagaan (Na).” Edited by John D. Nichols and Nora Livesay, The Ojibwe People’s Dictionary, University of Minnesota, ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/main-entry/bagaan-na.
In Ojibwe, which is a dialect spoken by the Mississaugas of the Credit, bagaan translates to nut, hazelnut or peanut. Audio recordings of the word are available.
“Key to Ojibwe parts of speech.” Edited by John D. Nichols and Nora Livesay, The Ojibwe People’s Dictionary, University of Minnesota, https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/help/ojibwe-parts-of-speech.
Animate noun (na): “Noun of the animate gender that is not obligatorily possessed.”