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Mohawk language
Mohawk (/ˈmoʊhɔːk/ ⓘ) or Kanienʼkéha ('[language] of the Flint Place') is an Iroquoian language currently spoken by around 3,500 people of the Mohawk nation, located primarily in current or former Haudenosaunee territories, predominantly in Canada (southern Ontario and Quebec), and to a lesser extent in the United States (western and northern New York). The word "Mohawk" is an exonym. In the Mohawk language, the people say that they are from Kanien:ke ('Mohawk Country' or 'Flint Stone Place') and that they are Kanienʼkehá꞉ka ('People of the Flint Stone Place' or 'People of the Flint Nation').
The Mohawks were extremely wealthy traders, as other nations in their confederacy needed their flint for tool-making. Their Algonquian-speaking neighbors (and competitors), the People of Muh-heck Heek Ing ('food-area place'), a people called by the Dutch "Mohicans" or "Mahicans", called the People of Ka-nee-en Ka "Maw Unk Lin" or 'Bear People'. The Dutch heard and wrote that as "Mohawks" and so the People of Kan-ee-en Ka are often referred to as Mohawks. The Dutch also referred to the Mohawk as Egils or Maquas. The French adapted those terms as Aigniers or Maquis, or called them by the generic Iroquois.[citation needed]
The Mohawks were the largest and most powerful of the original Five Nations, controlling a vast area of land on the eastern frontier of the Iroquois Confederacy. The North Country and Adirondack region of present-day Upstate New York would have constituted the greater part of the Mohawk-speaking area lasting until the end of the 18th century.
The Mohawk language is currently classified as threatened, and the number of native speakers has continually declined over the past several years.
Mohawk has the largest number of speakers among the Northern Iroquoian languages, and today it is the only one with more than a thousand remaining speakers. At Akwesasne, residents have founded a language immersion school (pre-K to grade 8) in Kanienʼkéha to revive the language. With their children learning it, parents and other family members are taking language classes, too.
The radio station CKON-FM (97.3 on-air in Hogansburg, New York and Saint Regis, Quebec and widely available online through streaming), licensed by the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation, broadcasts portions of its programming in Kanienʼkéha. The call sign is a reference to the Mohawk word "sekon" (or "she:kon"), which means "hello".
A Mohawk language immersion school was established. Mohawk parents, concerned with the lack of culture-based education in public and parochial schools, founded the Akwesasne Freedom School in 1979. Six years later, the school implemented a Mohawk language immersion curriculum based on a traditional cycle of fifteen seasonal ceremonies, and on the Mohawk Thanksgiving Address, or Ohén꞉ton Karihwatékwen, "The words before all else." Every morning, teachers and students gather in the hallway to recite the Thanksgiving Address in Mohawk.
An adult immersion program was also created in 1985 to address the issue of intergenerational fluency decline of the Mohawk language.
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Mohawk language AI simulator
(@Mohawk language_simulator)
Mohawk language
Mohawk (/ˈmoʊhɔːk/ ⓘ) or Kanienʼkéha ('[language] of the Flint Place') is an Iroquoian language currently spoken by around 3,500 people of the Mohawk nation, located primarily in current or former Haudenosaunee territories, predominantly in Canada (southern Ontario and Quebec), and to a lesser extent in the United States (western and northern New York). The word "Mohawk" is an exonym. In the Mohawk language, the people say that they are from Kanien:ke ('Mohawk Country' or 'Flint Stone Place') and that they are Kanienʼkehá꞉ka ('People of the Flint Stone Place' or 'People of the Flint Nation').
The Mohawks were extremely wealthy traders, as other nations in their confederacy needed their flint for tool-making. Their Algonquian-speaking neighbors (and competitors), the People of Muh-heck Heek Ing ('food-area place'), a people called by the Dutch "Mohicans" or "Mahicans", called the People of Ka-nee-en Ka "Maw Unk Lin" or 'Bear People'. The Dutch heard and wrote that as "Mohawks" and so the People of Kan-ee-en Ka are often referred to as Mohawks. The Dutch also referred to the Mohawk as Egils or Maquas. The French adapted those terms as Aigniers or Maquis, or called them by the generic Iroquois.[citation needed]
The Mohawks were the largest and most powerful of the original Five Nations, controlling a vast area of land on the eastern frontier of the Iroquois Confederacy. The North Country and Adirondack region of present-day Upstate New York would have constituted the greater part of the Mohawk-speaking area lasting until the end of the 18th century.
The Mohawk language is currently classified as threatened, and the number of native speakers has continually declined over the past several years.
Mohawk has the largest number of speakers among the Northern Iroquoian languages, and today it is the only one with more than a thousand remaining speakers. At Akwesasne, residents have founded a language immersion school (pre-K to grade 8) in Kanienʼkéha to revive the language. With their children learning it, parents and other family members are taking language classes, too.
The radio station CKON-FM (97.3 on-air in Hogansburg, New York and Saint Regis, Quebec and widely available online through streaming), licensed by the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation, broadcasts portions of its programming in Kanienʼkéha. The call sign is a reference to the Mohawk word "sekon" (or "she:kon"), which means "hello".
A Mohawk language immersion school was established. Mohawk parents, concerned with the lack of culture-based education in public and parochial schools, founded the Akwesasne Freedom School in 1979. Six years later, the school implemented a Mohawk language immersion curriculum based on a traditional cycle of fifteen seasonal ceremonies, and on the Mohawk Thanksgiving Address, or Ohén꞉ton Karihwatékwen, "The words before all else." Every morning, teachers and students gather in the hallway to recite the Thanksgiving Address in Mohawk.
An adult immersion program was also created in 1985 to address the issue of intergenerational fluency decline of the Mohawk language.
