Mohawk language

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This article is about the language spoken by the Mohawk people; for other uses, see Mohawk.
Mohawk
Kanien’kéha 
Pronunciation: [ɡanjʌ̃ʔˈɡɛha]
Spoken in: United States, Canada 
Region: Ontario, Quebec and northern New York
Total speakers: 3,350 (Ethnologue)
Language family: Iroquoian
 Northern Iroquoian
  Proto-Lake Iroquoian
   Iroquois Proper
    Mohawk-Oneida
     Mohawk
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: moh
ISO 639-3: moh
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Mohawk is a Native American language spoken by the Mohawk nation in the United States and Canada. It is part of the Iroquoian family.

Contents

[edit] Dialects

Mohawk has three major dialects: Western (Six Nations and Tyendinaga), Central (Ahkwesáhsne), and Eastern (Kahnawà:ke and Kanehsatà:ke); the differences between them are largely phonological. The pronunciation of /r/ and several consonant clusters may differ in the dialects.

  Underlying Phonology Western Central Eastern
seven /tsjata/ [ˈʤaːda] [ˈʤaːda] [ˈʣaːda]
nine /tjohtu/ [ˈdjɔhdũ] [ˈgjɔhdũ] [ˈʤɔhdũ]
I fall /kjaʔtʌʔs/ [ˈgjàːdʌ̃ʔs] [ˈgjàːdʌ̃ʔs] [ˈʤàːdʌ̃ʔs]
dog /erhar/ [ˈɛɹhaɹ] [ˈɛlhal] [ˈɛɹhaɹ]

[edit] Phonology

The phoneme inventory is as follows (using the International Phonetic Alphabet). Phonological representation (underlying forms) are in /slashes/, and the standard Mohawk orthography is in bold.

[edit] Consonants

An interesting feature of Mohawk (and Iroquoian) phonology is that there are no labials, except in a few adoptions from French and English, where [m] and [p] appear (e.g., mátsis matches and aplám Abraham); as such, these sounds are late additions to Mohawk phonology and were introduced after widespread European contact.

  Dental Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal n      
Plosive t   k ʔ
Affricate   ʤ    
Fricative s     h
Rhotic r      
Approximant l j w  

Consonant clusters in the Central (Ahkwesáhsne) dialect:

/-tt/, /kt/, /-ʔt/, /st/, /-ht/, /tk/, /kk/, /-ʔk/, /sk/, /-hk/, /-ʔʤ/, /-hʤ/, /ts/, /ks/, /-ʔs/, /-ss/, /-hs/, /th/, /kh/, /sh/, /-nh/, /-lh/, /-wh/, /-ʔn/, /sn/, /-hn/, /-ʔl/, /sl/, /hl/, /-nl/, /-ʔj/, /ʤj/, /sj/, /-hj/, /nj/, /-lj/, /-ʔw/, /sw/, /-hw/.

Those clusters preceded by a hyphen only occur word-medially; the others occur both initially and medially.

The consonants /k/, /kw/, /t/, /ts/ are pronounced voiced before any voiced sound (i.e. a vowel or /j/). They are voiceless at the end of a word or before a voiceless sound. /s/ is voiced word initially and between vowels.

car – kà:sere [ˈgàːzɛrɛ]
that – thí:ken [ˈthiːgʌ̃]
hello, still – shé:kon [ˈshɛːgũ]

Note that th and sh are pronounced as consonant clusters, not single sounds like in English thing and she.

[edit] Vowels

  Front Central Back
High i   ũ
Mid e ʌ̃ o
Low   a  

i, e, a, and o are oral vowels, while ʌ̃ and ũ (see help:IPA) are nasalized; oral versions of ʌ̃ and ũ do not occur in the language.

[edit] Orthography

The Mohawk alphabet consists of only twelve letters: a e h i k n o r s t w y. The orthography was standardized in 1993[1]. The standard allows for some variation of how the language is represented, most notably:, and the clusters /ts(i)/, /tj/, and /ky/ are written as pronounced in each community. The orthography matches the phonological analysis as above except:

  • The glottal stop /ʔ/ is written with an apostrophe ’, it is often omitted at the end of words, especially in Eastern dialect where it is typically not pronounced.
  • /dʒ/
    • /dʒ/ is written ts in the Eastern dialect (reflecting pronunciation). Seven is tsá:ta [dzaːda].
    • /dʒ/ is written tsi in the Central dialect. Seven is tsiá:ta [dʒaːda].
    • /dʒ/ is written tsy in the Western dialect. Seven is tsyá:ta [dʒaːda].
  • /j/
    • /j/ is typically written i in the Central and Eastern dialects. Six is ià:ia’k [jàːjaʔk].
    • /j/ is usually written y in the Western dialect. Six is yà:ya’k [jàːjaʔk].
  • The vowel /ʌ̃/ is written en, as in one énska [ʌ̃ska].
  • The vowel /ũ/ is written on, as in eight sha’té:kon [shaʔdɛːgũ].

[edit] Stress, length, and tone

Stress, vowel length and tone are linked together in Mohawk. There are three kinds of stressed vowels: short-high tone, long-high tone, and long-falling tone. Stress is always written and only occurs once per word.

  • Short-high tone usually (but not always) appears in closed syllables or before /h/. It is written with an acute accent: stick kánhia, road oháha.
  • Long-high tone generally occurs in open syllables. It is written with a combination acute accent and colon: town kaná:ta, man rón:kwe. Notice that when it is one of the nasal vowels which is long, the colon appears after the n.
  • Long-falling tone is the result of the word stress falling on a vowel which comes before a /ʔ/ or /h/ + a consonant (there may be, of course, exceptions to this and other rules). The underlying /ʔ/ or /h/ reappears when stress is placed elsewhere. It is written with a grave accent and colon: stomach onekwèn:ta (from /onekwʌʔta/).

[edit] Grammar

Mohawk expresses a large number of pronominal distinctions: person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), number (singular, dual, plural), gender (masculine, feminine/indefinite, feminine/neuter) and inclusivity/exclusivity on the first person dual and plural. Pronominal information is encoded in prefixes on the verbs; separate pronoun words are used for emphasis. There are three main paradigms of pronominal prefixes: subjective (with dynamic verbs), objective (with stative verbs), and transitive.

[edit] Current number of speakers

As of 1994 there were approximately 3,000 speakers of Mohawk, primarily in Quebec, Ontario and western New York.[2]

[edit] Learning Mohawk

A few resources are available for self-study of Mohawk by a person with no or limited access to native speakers of Mohawk. Here is a collection of some resources currently available:

  • Kanyen'keha Tewatati (Let's Speak Mohawk) by David Kanatawakhon Maracle (ISBN 0-88432-723-X) (Book and 3 companion tapes are available from Audio Forum) (high school/college level)
  • A Grammar of Akwesasne Mohawk by Nancy Bonvillain (Available from Schoenhofs) (professional level)
  • Sathahitáhkhe' Kanien'kéha (Introductory Level Mohawk Language Textbook, Eastern Dialect) by Chris W. Harvey (ISBN 0-968-38142-1; available from Schoenhofs) (high school/college level)
  • Kanien'kéha Iakorihonnién:nis by Josephine S. Horne (Book and 5 companion CDs are available from [email:kor@korkahnawake.org Kahnawà:ke Cultural Center]) (secondary/high school level)
  • Mohawk: A Teaching Grammar by Nora Deering & Helga Harries Delisle (Book and 6 companion tapes are available from [email:kor@korkahnawake.org Kahnawà:ke Cultural Center]) (high school/college level)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mohawk Language Standardization Project. http://www.kanienkehaka.com/msp/msp.htm
  2. ^ Moseley, Christopher and R. E. Asher, ed. Atlas of World Languages (New York: ROutelege, 1994) p. 7

[edit] External links

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