Seneca language

Seneca (in Seneca, Onödowága or Onötowáka) is the language of the Seneca people, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois League. About 10,000 Seneca live in the United States and Canada, primarily on reservations in western New York, with others living in Oklahoma and near Brantford, Ontario.

Phonology

Seneca words are written with 16 letters plus the colon (:) and the acute accent mark. The vowels and consonants are a, ä, e, ɛ, i, o, ɔ, h, j, n, s, t, w, y, and ʔ.^[2][3]

Consonants

Seneca consonants include the Resonants /y/, /w/, and /n/, and the Obstruents /t/, /k/, /s/, /j/, /h/, and /ʔ/.^[4]

Resonants

A sign in the Seneca language on the Cattaraugus Reservation

/y/ is a palatal semivowel. After [s] it is voiceless and spirantized [Ῠ]. After [h] it is voiceless and optionally spirantized, [Y] in free variation with [Ῠ]. After [t] or [k] it is voiced and optionally spirantized, [y] in free variation with [yˇ]. Otherwise it is voiced and not spirantized [y].

/w/ is a velar semivowel. It is weakly rounded [w].

/n/ is a released apico-alveolar nasal [n'].^[5]

Obstruents

The obstruents can be further subclassified into the oral obstruents /t/, /k/, /s/, and /j/, and the laryngeal obstruents /h/ and /ʔ/.^[6]

Oral obstruents

/t/ is an apico-alveolar stop. It is voiceless and aspirated [tʰ] before an obstruent or an open juncture (but is hardly audible between a nasalized vowel and open juncture). It is voiced and released [d'] before a vowel and resonant.

/k/ is a dorso-velar stop. It is voiceless and aspirated [k'] before an obstruent or open juncture. It is voiced and released [g'] before a vowel or resonant.

/s/ is a spirant with blade-alveolar groove articulation [s]. It is always voiceless, and is fortis [s˰] everywhere except between vowels. Before [y] it is palatalized [ś]. It is lenis [s˯] intervocalically.^[5]

/j/ is a voiced alveolar affricate [dz]. Before [i] it is optionally palatalized [dz] in free variation with [dź].^[7]

Laryngeal obstruents

/h/ is a voiceless segment [h] colored by an immediately preceding and/or following vowel and/or resonant.

/ʔ/ is a glottal stop [ʔ].^[7]

Vowels

The vowels can be subclassified into the Oral Vowels /i/, /e/, /æ/, /a/, and /o/, and the Nasalized Vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/.^[5]

The orthography described here is the one used by the Seneca Bilingual Education Project. The nasal vowels, /ɛ̃/ and /ɔ̃/ are represented with tremas on top: <ë ö>. Depending on the phonetic environment, the nasal vowel <ë> may vary between [ɛ̃] and [œ̃], whereas <ö> may vary from [ɔ̃] to [ɑ̃].^[1] Long vowels are indicated with a following <:>, while stress is indicated with an acute accent over the top.^[8]

Oral vowels

/i/ is a high front vowel [i].

/e/ is a high-mid front vowel. Its high allophone [ɪ] occurs in postconsonantal position before [i] or an oral obstruent. Its low allophone [e] occurs in all other environments.

/æ/ is a low front vowel [æ].

/a/ is a low central vowel. Its high allophone [ʌ] occurs in postconsonantal position before [i], [y], [w], or an oral obstruent. Its low allophone [ɑ] occurs in all other environments. Before [ɛ] or [ɔ] it is nasalized [ą].

/o/ is a mid back vowel. It is weakly rounded. Its high allophone [ʊ] occurs in postconsonantal position before [i] or an oral obstruent. Its low allophone [o] occurs in all other environments.^[5]

Nasal vowels

/ɛ/ is a low-mid front vowel. It is nasalized [ξ].

/ɔ/ is a low back vowel. It is weakly rounded and nasalized [ɔ].^[5]

Diphthongs

The following diphthongs are oral: ae, ai, ao, ea, ei, eo, oa, oe, oi.

The nasal diphthongs are ae̜, ao̜, eo̜, oe̜.^[9]

Prosodic phonemes

Stress is either strong, marked with an acute accent mark, or weak, which is unmarked.

Vowel length is marked with a colon (:).

Open Juncture is marked by word space.^[6]

See also

• Seneca people
• Seneca Nation of New York
• Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians
• Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma
• Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation

Notes

References

• Chafe, Wallace L. 1960. Seneca Morphology I: Introduction. International Journal of American Linguistics 26.11–22.

• Chafe, Wallace L. 1967. Seneca Morphology and Dictionary. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Press.

• Chafe, Wallace L. 2007. Handbook of the Seneca Language. Albany, New York: Global Language Press.

• Holmer, Nils M. 1952. Seneca II. International Journal of American Linguistics 15.217–222.

• Preston, W.D., Voegelin, C. F. . 1949. Seneca I. International Journal of American Linguistics 15.23–44.

Further reading

• Chafe, Wallace L. 1963. Handbook of the Seneca Language. New York State Museum and Science Service. (Bulletin No. 388). Albany, N.Y. Reprinted 2007, Toronto: Global Language Press, ISBN 978-1-897367-13-1.
• Chafe, Wallace L. 1997, "Sketch of Seneca, an Iroquoian Language", in Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 17: Languages, pp. 551–579, Goddard, Ives and Sturtevant, William C. (Editors), Smithsonian Institution, ISBN 0-16-048774-9.

External links

• Language Geek: Seneca Orthography
• Ethnologue Report on Seneca
• Seneca Bible Society Matthew, Mark, & Luke Online
• Seneca Language Learning Yahoo! Group

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