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Onondaga language
DUC:dualic PUNC:punctual aspect REP:repetitive SRFL:semireflexive
Onondaga (Onoñdaʼgegáʼ nigaweñoʼdeñʼ, IPA: [onũdaʔɡeɡáʔ niɡawẽnoʔdẽʔ], literally "Onondaga is our language") is the language of the Onondaga First Nation, one of the original five constituent tribes of the League of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee).
This language is spoken in the United States and Canada, primarily on the reservation in central New York State and near Brantford, Ontario.
According to the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, there are about 10 mother tongue Onondaga speakers in New York, and 40 native speakers on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada. The language has come to be endangered due to the pressure to assimilate to English as the language of power. Standardization also occurred in residential schools across Canada in the 1800s to 1900s. Young boys and girls at the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School in Brantford, Ontario, were punished for using their heritage language.
The Onondaga Nation Language Center (called Neʼ Eñhadiweñnayeñdeʼnhaʼ, or "they will get to know the language") has been engaged in language revitalization efforts since 2010. Children learn the Onondaga language at Onondaga Nation School, and classes are also available for adults. In September 2015, it was announced that fifteen adults would enter a full-time language immersion class in Onondaga, after which they would become teachers of the language. In Canada, Gawęnahwishe' Onǫda'gega is a revitalization project that launched in 2017 with six new language learners. It is an adult immersion program that implements the Six Nations Language Commission's (SNLC) framework. They are involved with translating the local radio station, putting on programs with local elementary and secondary schools, and outreach events for the community.
This table shows the (consonant) phonemes that are found in Onondaga.
The two plosives, /t/, /k/ are allophonically voiced to [d] and [ɡ] before vowels and resonants (the bottom row of the chart labelled 'sonorant') and are spelled ⟨d⟩ and ⟨g⟩ in this case. There is considerable palatalization and affrication in the language.
Onondaga has five oral vowels, /i e o æ a/ (/æ/ is sometimes represented orthographically as ⟨ä⟩), and two nasal vowels, /ẽ/ and /ũ/. The nasal vowels, following the Iroquoianist tradition, are spelled with ogoneks in the scholarly literature and in Ontario (⟨ę⟩ and ⟨ǫ⟩ or ⟨ų⟩). In New York, they are represented with a following ⟨ñ⟩ (⟨eñ⟩ and ⟨oñ⟩). Vowels can be both short and long. When vowel length derives from the now lost consonant *r, it is phonemic. Vowel length is written with a following colon, ⟨꞉⟩ or raised dot (half colon) ⟨ꞏ⟩.
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Onondaga language
DUC:dualic PUNC:punctual aspect REP:repetitive SRFL:semireflexive
Onondaga (Onoñdaʼgegáʼ nigaweñoʼdeñʼ, IPA: [onũdaʔɡeɡáʔ niɡawẽnoʔdẽʔ], literally "Onondaga is our language") is the language of the Onondaga First Nation, one of the original five constituent tribes of the League of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee).
This language is spoken in the United States and Canada, primarily on the reservation in central New York State and near Brantford, Ontario.
According to the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, there are about 10 mother tongue Onondaga speakers in New York, and 40 native speakers on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada. The language has come to be endangered due to the pressure to assimilate to English as the language of power. Standardization also occurred in residential schools across Canada in the 1800s to 1900s. Young boys and girls at the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School in Brantford, Ontario, were punished for using their heritage language.
The Onondaga Nation Language Center (called Neʼ Eñhadiweñnayeñdeʼnhaʼ, or "they will get to know the language") has been engaged in language revitalization efforts since 2010. Children learn the Onondaga language at Onondaga Nation School, and classes are also available for adults. In September 2015, it was announced that fifteen adults would enter a full-time language immersion class in Onondaga, after which they would become teachers of the language. In Canada, Gawęnahwishe' Onǫda'gega is a revitalization project that launched in 2017 with six new language learners. It is an adult immersion program that implements the Six Nations Language Commission's (SNLC) framework. They are involved with translating the local radio station, putting on programs with local elementary and secondary schools, and outreach events for the community.
This table shows the (consonant) phonemes that are found in Onondaga.
The two plosives, /t/, /k/ are allophonically voiced to [d] and [ɡ] before vowels and resonants (the bottom row of the chart labelled 'sonorant') and are spelled ⟨d⟩ and ⟨g⟩ in this case. There is considerable palatalization and affrication in the language.
Onondaga has five oral vowels, /i e o æ a/ (/æ/ is sometimes represented orthographically as ⟨ä⟩), and two nasal vowels, /ẽ/ and /ũ/. The nasal vowels, following the Iroquoianist tradition, are spelled with ogoneks in the scholarly literature and in Ontario (⟨ę⟩ and ⟨ǫ⟩ or ⟨ų⟩). In New York, they are represented with a following ⟨ñ⟩ (⟨eñ⟩ and ⟨oñ⟩). Vowels can be both short and long. When vowel length derives from the now lost consonant *r, it is phonemic. Vowel length is written with a following colon, ⟨꞉⟩ or raised dot (half colon) ⟨ꞏ⟩.