Stephanie Fielding

Stephanie Fielding
Born
Stephanie Mugford Fielding
Other names
  • Morning Fire
  • Yôpôwi Yoht
CitizenshipMohegan, American
Education
OccupationsLinguist, teacher, writer, editor, graphic artist, radio announcer
Known forReconstruction of the Mohegan language
Notable work
  • A Modern Mohegan Dictionary (2006)
Board member of
RelativesFidelia Fielding (Great-great-great-aunt)

Stephanie "Morning Fire" Fielding (Mohegan: Yôpôwi Yoht) is a Mohegan linguist. Her work focuses on the resurrection and revitalization of the Mohegan language. During the 2017-2018 academic year, she was a Presidential Fellow and lecturer in the Department of Linguistics at Yale University. Fielding lives on the Mohegan reservation in southeastern Connecticut, in Uncasville. She is a member of the Baha'i faith.

Biography and career

Fielding holds a Bachelor of Arts in linguistics and anthropology from the University of Connecticut, as well as a Master of Science in linguistics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She was the first student to graduate from a two-year Masters program at MIT "for members of indigenous communities whose languages are dead or dying." Her Master's thesis, The Phonology of Mohegan-Pequot, includes diary excerpts written in Mohegan from her relative Fidelia Fielding, the last fluent speaker of the Mohegan language. Much of Fielding's graduate work focused on linguistic algorithms that allow her to take accepted proto-Algonquian words in order to recreate an authentic Mohegan vocabulary.

In 2006, Fielding published A Modern Mohegan Dictionary. She also created the online Mohegan Language Project, a central part of her efforts to keep her ancestral language alive. Of this project, Fielding states that "the goal is fluency," and offers links to a Mohegan-English dictionary, phrase book, pronunciation guide, exercises, and an audio option. In an interview with the New York Times, Fielding said "In order for a language to survive and resurrect, it needs people talking it, and for people to talk it, there has to be a society that works on it." Fielding has also written a short story collection, as well as multiple children's books to offer both children and parents exposure to and practice with the language.

She has worked "as a teacher, writer, editor, graphic artist and radio announcer. She has also served on the board of directors of educational institutions, media outlets, non-profit organizations, and religious organizations." She often translates English into Mohegan for speakers at Mohegan traditional ceremonies. She also worked "extensively" on the Walk Norwich Project in 2015 to aid in adding a Mohegan pathway.

References

  1. ↑ "Norwich Magazine becomes reality". The Bulletin. Norwich, CT. 2012-09-26. Retrieved 2013-08-04.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  2. ↑ "About Us". Norwich Community Development Corporation, Norwich, Connecticut. Archived from the original on 2013-07-25. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
  3. 1 2 "Endangered Language Fund Board of Directors". Endangered Language Fund. Archived from the original on 2015-01-23. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
  4. ↑ "Mohegan Bahais". Retrieved July 6, 2026.
  5. ↑ Zobel, Melissa. "Mohegan Language, dormant for 100 years, is now restored" (PDF). Ni Ya Yo. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  6. ↑ "Stephanie Fielding". Yale University Department of Linguistics. Yale University. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  7. ↑ "Stephanie Fielding interviewed on WNPR". Yale Linguistics. 2017-08-20. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  8. 1 2 "Preserving delicate languages is the life work of Yale visiting fellow | Yale News". news.yale.edu. 2018-04-19. Retrieved 2025-11-10.
  9. 1 2 "Government - The Mohegan Tribal Council of Elders". The Mohegan Tribe. 2009. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
  10. ↑ Dunn, Katherine (2005-07-01). "Saving Voices: Indigenous Language Initiative helps revive ailing language". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
  11. ↑ Fielding, Stephanie (2005). The Phonology of Mohegan-Pequot. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT.
  12. ↑ Villacorta, Patti. "Mohegans Revive Heritage Through Language". Canku Ota. Archived from the original on March 17, 2003. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  13. ↑ Hitt, Jack (2005-08-21). "The Newest Indians". New York Times. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
  14. ↑ Fielding, Stephanie (2006). A Modern Mohegan Dictionary. Uncasville, CT: Mohegan Tribe.
  15. ↑ Fielding, Stephanie. "Mohegan Language Project". Mohegan Tribe. Archived from the original on 24 April 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  16. ↑ Fielding, Stephanie (October 2007). "The Mohegan Language Project: Mounting the Web" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-10-21.
  17. ↑ Cohen, Patricia (2010-04-05). "Indian Tribes Go in Search of Their Lost Languages - NYTimes.com". New York Times. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
  18. ↑ Suhr-Sytsma, Mandy; Zobel, Melissa Tantaquidgeon (2015). "The View from Crow Hill: An Interview with Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel". Studies in American Indian Literatures. 27 (2): 80–95. doi:10.5250/studamerindilite.27.2.0080. ISSN 1548-9590.
  19. ↑ "Pressroom". The Mohegan Tribe. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  20. ↑ DeLucia, Christine (2019). "Indigenous Stories in Stone: Mohegan Placemaking, Activism, and Colonial Encounters at the Royal Mohegan Burial Ground". Native American and Indigenous Studies. 6 (2): 74–109. doi:10.5749/natiindistudj.6.2.0074. ISSN 2332-1261.