Onondaga language
| Onondaga | |
|---|---|
| Onǫda’gegá’, Onoñda’gegá’ | |
| Native to | Canada, United States |
| Region | Six Nations Reserve, Ontario, and central New York state |
| Ethnicity | 1,600 Onondaga people (2007) |
|
Native speakers
|
50 (2007) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | onon1246 |
Onondaga Nation Language (Onoñdaʔgegáʔ nigaweñoʔdeñʔ (IPA: [onũdaʔɡeɡáʔ niɡawẽnoʔdẽʔ]), "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 (Hodenosaunee).
This language is spoken in the United States and Canada, primarily on the reservation in central New York state, and near Brantford, Ontario.
The Onondaga Nation Language Center (called Ne' Eñhadiweñnayeñde'nha', 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.
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 ⟨·⟩.
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