Stephanie Fielding

{{Infobox person

| name = Stephanie Fielding

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| birth_name = Stephanie Mugford Fielding

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| nationality = Mohegan, American

| other_names = {{unbulleted list | Morning Fire | Yôpôwi Yoht}}

| notable_works = {{unbulleted list | A Modern Mohegan Dictionary (2006)}}

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| alma_mater = {{unbulleted list | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MS) | University of Connecticut (BA)}}

| occupation = Linguist, teacher, writer, editor, graphic artist, radio announcer

| boards = {{unbulleted list | Norwich Community Development Corp.{{Cite news| title = Norwich Magazine becomes reality| work = The Bulletin| location = Norwich, CT| access-date = 2013-08-04| date = 2012-09-26| url = http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/x670728260/Norwich-Magazine-becomes-reality| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130804060913/http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/x670728260/Norwich-Magazine-becomes-reality| archive-date = 2013-08-04}}{{Cite web| title = About Us| work = Norwich Community Development Corporation, Norwich, Connecticut| access-date = 2013-08-04| url = http://askncdc.com/about/bod_staff.shtml| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130725050009/http://askncdc.com/about/bod_staff.shtml| archive-date = 2013-07-25}} | Endangered Language Fund{{Cite web|title= Endangered Language Fund Board of Directors|work= Endangered Language Fund|access-date= 2013-08-04|url=http://www.endangeredlanguagefund.org/about_board.php|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123031057/http://www.endangeredlanguagefund.org/about_board.php|archive-date = 2015-01-23}}

}}

| known_for = Reconstruction of the Mohegan language

| relatives = Fidelia Fielding (Great-great-great-aunt)

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Stephanie "Morning Fire" Fielding (Mohegan: Yôpôwi Yoht) is a Mohegan linguist. Her work focuses on the resurrection and revitalization of the Mohegan language.{{cite news|last=Zobel|first=Melissa|title=Mohegan Language, dormant for 100 years, is now restored.|url=http://www.mohegan.nsn.us/docs/NiYaYo/NiYaYo.ThunderMoon.08.pdf|access-date=4 April 2013|newspaper=Ni Ya Yo}} During the 2017-2018 academic year, she was a Presidential Fellow and lecturer in the Department of Linguistics at Yale University.{{cite web|title=Stephanie Fielding|url=http://ling.yale.edu/people/stephanie-fielding|website=Yale University Department of Linguistics|publisher=Yale University|access-date=13 October 2017}}{{Cite web|date=2017-08-20|title=Stephanie Fielding interviewed on WNPR|url=https://ling.yale.edu/news/stephanie-fielding-interviewed-wnpr|access-date=2022-02-02|website=Yale Linguistics|language=en}} Fielding lives on the Mohegan reservation in southeastern Connecticut, in Uncasville.

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).{{Cite web|title = Government - The Mohegan Tribal Council of Elders|work = The Mohegan Tribe|access-date = 2013-08-04|year = 2009|url = http://www.mohegan.nsn.us/government/tribalElders.aspx}} 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."{{Cite news| last = Dunn| first = Katherine| title = Saving Voices: Indigenous Language Initiative helps revive ailing language| work = MIT Technology Review| access-date = 2013-08-04| date = 2005-07-01| url = http://www.technologyreview.com/article/404382/77-mass-ave/}} Her Master's thesis, The Phonology of Mohegan-Pequot,{{cite book|last=Fielding|first=Stephanie|title=The Phonology of Mohegan-Pequot|year=2005|publisher=MIT|location=Cambridge, Mass.}} includes diary excerpts written in Mohegan from her relative Fidelia Fielding, the last fluent speaker of the Mohegan language.{{cite news|last=Villacorta|first=Patti|title=Mohegans Revive Heritage Through Language|url=http://www.turtletrack.org/Issues03/Co02082003/CO_02082003_Mohegan_Language.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030317150129/http://turtletrack.org/Issues03/Co02082003/CO_02082003_Mohegan_Language.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=March 17, 2003|access-date=4 April 2013|newspaper=Canku Ota}} 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.{{Cite news| last = Hitt| first = Jack| title = The Newest Indians| work = New York Times| access-date = 2013-08-04| date = 2005-08-21| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/magazine/21NATIVE.html?ei=5090&en=a4afe5175f0dcc32&ex=1282276800&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&_r=0}}

In 2006, Fielding published A Modern Mohegan Dictionary.{{cite book|last=Fielding|first=Stephanie|title=A Modern Mohegan Dictionary|year=2006|publisher=Mohegan Tribe|location=Uncasville, CT}} She also created the online Mohegan Language Project,{{cite web|last=Fielding|first=Stephanie|title=Mohegan Language Project|url=http://www.moheganlanguage.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100424001255/http://www.moheganlanguage.com/|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 April 2010|publisher=Mohegan Tribe|access-date=7 April 2013}} 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.{{Cite web|last = Fielding| first = Stephanie| title = The Mohegan Language Project: Mounting the Web| access-date = 2012-10-21| date = October 2007| url = https://www.nsf.gov/sbe/bcs/DEL/DEL%20Workshop%20Oct07-%20Fielding%20Mohegan%20LP.pdf}} 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."{{Cite news|last = Cohen| first = Patricia| title = Indian Tribes Go in Search of Their Lost Languages - NYTimes.com| work = New York Times| access-date = 2013-08-04| date = 2010-04-05| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/books/06language.html}}

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.{{cite web|title=Pressroom|url=http://www.mohegan.nsn.us/PressRoom/ViewPressRelease.aspx?articleID=112|access-date=4 April 2013|publisher=The Mohegan Tribe}}