| Stephanie Fielding | |
| Birth Name: | Stephanie Mugford Fielding |
| Nationality: | Mohegan, American |
| Ethnicity: | Mohegan Tribal Council of Elders --> |
| Occupation: | Linguist, teacher, writer, editor, graphic artist, radio announcer |
| Religion: | Bahá'í Faith[1] --> |
| Known For: | Reconstruction of the Mohegan language |
| Relatives: | Fidelia 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.[2] During the 2017-2018 academic year, she was a Presidential Fellow and lecturer in the Department of Linguistics at Yale University.[3] [4] Fielding lives on the Mohegan reservation in southeastern Connecticut, in Uncasville.
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).[5] 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."[6] Her Master's thesis, The Phonology of Mohegan-Pequot,[7] includes diary excerpts written in Mohegan from her relative Fidelia Fielding, the last fluent speaker of the Mohegan language.[8] 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.[9]
In 2006, Fielding published A Modern Mohegan Dictionary.[10] She also created the online Mohegan Language Project,[11] 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.[12] 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."[13]
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.[14]