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Seneca language

Seneca language

language
name=Seneca
nativename=Onödowága
familycolor=American
states=United States, Canada
region=Western New York and the Six Nations Reserve, Ontario
speakers=200
fam1=Iroquoian
fam2=Northern Iroquoian
fam3=Proto-Lake Iroquoian
fam4=Iroquois Proper
fam5=Seneca-Cayuga
iso2=iro|iso3=see

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 state, with others living in Oklahoma and near Brantford, Ontario.

Phonology

There are several methods to write the Seneca Language and variations of dialect between territories and regions. The orthography described here is the one used by the Seneca Bilingual Education Project.

Consonants

Seneca has three stops, /t/, /k/, and IPA|/ʔ/. /t/ and /k/ become voiced (IPA| [d] and IPA| [ɡ] ) before vowels or approximants.

Vowels

The nasal vowels, except <ä> which represents a near-open front unrounded vowel, are represented with diaereses on top: <ë ö>. Depending on the phonetic environment, the nasal vowel <ë> may vary between [IPA|ɛ̃] and [IPA|œ̃] , whereas <ö> may vary from [IPA|ɔ̃] to [IPA|ɑ̃] . Long vowels are indicated with a following <:>, while stress is indicated with an acute accent overtop. [cite web | first=Christopher | last=Harvey | date=February 22, 2008 | url=http://www.languagegeek.com/rotinonhsonni/seneca.html | publisher=The LinguaSphere Online | title=Onödowága – Seneca | accessdate=2008-06-27]

References

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 978-1-8973-6713-1.
*Chafe, Wallace L. 1997, "The Seneca Language", in "Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 17: Languages", Ives Goddard (Editor), William C. Sturtevant (Editor), Smithsonian Institution, ISBN 0160487749.

External links

* [http://www.languagegeek.com/rotinonhsonni/seneca.html Language Geek: Seneca Orthography]
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=see Ethnologue Report on Seneca]
* [http://seneca.language.googlepages.com/ Seneca Bible Society] Matthew, Mark, & Luke Online
* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Seneca-Language/ Seneca Language Learning Yahoo! Group]


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