Usage and revitalization
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.Phonology
This table shows the (consonant)Morphology
Onondaga is a polysynthetic language, exhibiting a great deal of inflectional and derivational morphology on the verbal forms (including noun incorporation). Nominal forms have less morphology. Additionally, there are particles, which are monomorphemic.Verbal morphology
Onondaga verbs can be divided into three main classes according to their aspectual properties (discussed below). These are the active verbs, motion verbs, and stative verbs. We must distinguish between tense and aspect. Tense refers to when the event takes place, either in the past, the present or the future. Aspect refers to the event itself, such as whether it is finished or ongoing or occurs repeatedly. There are four aspects in Onondaga. The first is the habitual aspect (HAB). This aspect is used to refer to an event that takes place repeatedly or on an ongoing basis. The second is the punctual aspect (PUNC) (also known as perfective aspect). This aspect refers to an entire event in its completeness. When used in the past tense, the event is described as "over and done-with." It cannot describe an event that is interrupted or incomplete. The third aspect is the stative (STAT) (also known as imperfective) refers to an event that is ongoing or incomplete or, if it occurs in the past tense, that has some bearing on the present. Finally, there is the purposive aspect (PURP), which refers to imminent action and usually implies intent or volition on the part of the subject. Active verbs can appear with any of the first three aspects. Motion verbs can appear with any of all four aspects. Stative verbs can only appear with the stative aspect.Verbal template
A typical Onondaga verb consists of several morphemes (components). The following chart outlines the order of the morphemes. Obligatory morphemes appear in boldface, and optional morphemes are in standard font. Note that some of the "optional" morphemes are obligatory with certain verb roots. The obligatory morphemes, however, must appear on each and every single verb. Each of the following sections outlines the shapes that these morphemes can take.Pre-pronominal prefixes
=Modal pre-pronominal prefixes
= The prepronominal prefixes express a variety of concepts and ideas. The first concept is=Non-modal pre-pronominal prefixes
= In addition to the modal prefixes, there is also a set of prefixes that express a variety of concepts, some of which do not have a clearly distinct meaning, rather their meaning varies depending on context. The list of these includes repetitive, cislocative, dualic, translocative, partitive, coincident, contrastive, and negative.Repetitive The repetitive morpheme adds the meaning of doing something again or repeating some-thing. The basic form of the repetitive morpheme is /s-/. Here are some examples. Example (37) has the prepronominal prefix /sa-/, which is a combination of both repetitive and factual mood. Example (38) has the prepronominal prefix /ęs-/, which is a combination of repetitive and future. These contrast with example (39), which does not have the repetitive morpheme.
Cislocative The cislocative (CLOC) morpheme is used to indicate movement toward the speaker. It can also mean that a particular event is pinpointed back in time. In some cases, the meaning of the cislocative is unpredictable. Some of these are listed below. There are two forms of the cislocative. /t-/ default
Translocative The translocative (TLOC) morpheme is used to indicate movement away from the speaker. The form of the translocative is /he-/
Dualic The dualic (DUC) does not have a specific meaning. The form of the dualic is /de-/, but changes when it appears in combination with other prepronominal prefixes. Whenever it appears with a verb stem, it changes the meaning in unpredictable ways. Usually, however, there is some notion of there being two of something or of some reciprocal activity such as trading. Also, some verb roots must appear with the dualic prepronominal prefix. In examples (41) and (42), the dualic prefix is obligatory. In example (43), the dualic prefix adds the meaning of becoming two pieces.
Pronominal prefixes
There are three series of pronominal prefixes in Onondaga. There is a transitive series, used with transitive verbs. Intransitive verbs use either the agent series or the patient series. The choice between the latter two is often complex, as we will see. The phonological shape of the pronominal prefix depends on the identity of the following sound. This gives rise to several series of pronominal prefixes, which are labelled according to the following segment. These include the c-series (for pronominal prefixes which precede a consonant), the a-series (for pronominal prefixes which precede /a/), the e-series, ę-series, o-series, ǫ-series, and i-series. Finally, the pronominal prefixes inflect for person, number and gender. We discuss each of these in turn. Onondaga distinguishes three=C-Stem
= The following chart lists the pronominal prefixes for stems that begin with a consonant. Note that (y) or (w) in brackets disappears when preceded by a pre-pronominal prefix.=A-Stem
= The following chart lists the pronominal prefixes for stems that begin with a consonant. Note that (y) or (w) in brackets disappears when preceded by a pre-pronominal prefix.=E-Stem
= The following chart lists the pronominal prefixes for stems that begin with a consonant. Note that (y) or (w) in brackets disappears when preceded by a pre-pronominal prefix.=Ę-Stem
= The following chart lists the pronominal prefixes for stems that begin with /ę/. Note that (y) or (w) in brackets disappears when preceded by a pre-pronominal prefix.=O-Stem
= The following chart lists the pronominal prefixes for stems that begin with a consonant. Note that (y) or (w) in brackets disappears when preceded by a pre-pronominal prefix.=Ǫ-Stem
= The following chart lists the pronominal prefixes for stems that begin with a consonant. Note that (y) or (w) in brackets disappears when preceded by a pre-pronominal prefix.=I-Stem
= The following chart lists the pronominal prefixes for stems that begin with a consonant. Note that (y) or (w) in brackets disappears when preceded by a pre-pronominal prefix.Reflexive and semireflexive
This section discusses reflexive sentences such as "John saw himself," and "We like ourselves," and reciprocal sentences such as "We like each other." The basic form of the reflexive marker (REFL) is /atat-/ and it appears right after the pronominal prefix and before the incorporated noun, if any. The reflexive is typically found only on transitive verbs, but because there is only one participant in the event, we use the intransitive series of pronominal prefixes. Here's an example of a reflexive and a regular (non-reflexive) transitive for comparison. In the non-reflexive transitive form there is a pronominal prefix, /sk-/ that indicates the subject ('you') and the object ('me'). In the reflexive form, there is only one participant in the act of kicking ('me'), so the intransitive form of the pronominal prefix is used, /k-/. A reflexive action is something that you do to yourself. A reciprocal action is something people do to each other. Reciprocals must have at least two people involved. They are formed with the reflexive marker and the dualic prepronominal prefix discussed in section 3.4.1.1.2.4. Here is an example. The semireflexive (SRFL) appears in a variety of circumstances that are not easy to pin down. The usual form of the semireflexive is /at-/, but certain verb roots take different forms. Listed here are some of the more common situations in which the semireflexive is used. First, when a person's own body part is the object of the action a semireflexive is normally used. Here is an example with and without a semireflexive. Again notice that the form with the semireflexive uses the intransitive pronominal prefix while the form without the semireflexive uses the transitive pronominal prefix. Second, the semireflexive is used with verbs of grooming. Finally, the semireflexive is used to describe events or actions that are internally caused or spontaneous. The constituent morphemes are separated by hyphens in the second line of the example. Each one is translated, as closely as possible, in the third line. It is important to understand that none of the component morphemes is a separate word, since they cannot be uttered, or understood, in isolation. A second way in which linguists classify the morphology of languages is in terms of how the morphemes of a word combine. This distinction is between languages that are fusional and languages that areNominal Morphology
A basic noun is composed of the following three morphemes in this order: noun prefix, root, and noun suffix. According to Woodbury (2003), nouns in Onondaga are categorized into two main classes. These are non-human and human. The inanimate nouns are further divided into natural and man-made. The prefix (NPRE) on the noun depends on these classes. For inanimate nouns, the prefix is either /o-/ for natural objects or /ka-/ for man-made objects. The noun forming suffix also depends on the noun class. It is /aʔ/ for non-human nouns and /-h/ for human nouns.Noun incorporation
Noun incorporation is a process of compounding in which two stems, a noun and a verb stem, are combined into a new stem that is inflected with verbal morphology and that functions as a verb. Nouns occupying the semantic roles orWord order
Question formation
Wh-questions begin with the interrogative word: Yes-no questions are formed by appending the question-particle to the questioned item:See also
* Onondaga (tribe)References
*Abrams, Percy. 2006. ''Onondaga Pronominal Prefixes'', Department of Linguistics, State University of New York at Buffalo: Ph. D. Dissertation. *Chafe, Wallace L. 1970. ''A Semantically Based Sketch of Onondaga''. Indiana University Publications in Anthropology and Linguistics. Memoir 25 of the International Journal of American Linguistics. *Michelson, Karin. 1988. ''A Comparative Study of Lake-Iroquoian Accent''. Dordrecht: Kluwer. * Woodbury, Hanni. 1975a. "Onondaga Noun Incorporation: Some Notes on the Interdependence of Syntax and Semantics." International Journal of American Linguistics 41 (1):10-20. *Woodbury, Hanni. 1975b. ''Noun Incorporation in Onondaga'', Department of Linguistics, Yale University: Ph. D. Dissertation. *Woodbury, Hanni. 2002. ''Onondaga-English/English-Onondaga Dictionary''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. *Woodbury, Hanni, 2018. ''A Reference Grammar of the Onondaga Language ''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.External links