The totem poles are gone. The age groups are now named for indigenous trees rather than Indian tribes. This location is only about 8 miles from Echota, the capital of the old Cherokee Nation. As far as his birth year, the best estimation is from 1760 to 1765. Remnants of Old Indian Tribe Documented Growing up along Bayou Dularge, Janie Verret Luster knew that the ground beneath her feet was rich with the history of her ancestors.
Linguists classify it as a separate language that became a distinct entity long ago.
Most Potawatomi who are involved with the language feel strongly that this is so. The most important characteristic of the language is that it is oral. English, by comparison, is a written language. Pretty much all of us started school when we were young and quickly learned that words have definite shapes and boundaries, defined by blank spaces. In a truly oral language, that isn't the case.