Mohawk is an Iroquoian language spoken by around 2,000 people of the
Mohawk nationMohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(mainly western and northern
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
) and
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
(southern
OntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and
QuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
). Mohawk has the largest number of speakers of the
Northern IroquoianThe Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
languages; today it is the only one with greater than a thousand remaining. At
AkwesasneThe Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne is a Mohawk Nation territory that straddles the intersection of international and provincial borders on both banks of the Saint Lawrence River. Most of the land is in what is otherwise the United States...
, residents have begun a language immersion school (pre-K to grade 8) in
to revive the language. With their children learning it, parents and other family members are taking language classes, too.
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. These are related to the major Mohawk territories since the eighteenth century. The pronunciation of /r/ and several consonant clusters may differ in the dialects.
| |
Underlying phonology |
Western |
Central |
Eastern |
| seven |
/tsjata/ |
[ˈd͡ʒaːda] |
[ˈd͡ʒaːda] |
[ˈd͡zaːda] |
| nine |
/tjohtu/ |
[ˈdjɔhdũ] |
[ˈɡjɔhdũ] |
[ˈd͡ʒɔhdũ] |
| I fall |
/kjaʔtʌʔs/ |
[ˈɡjàːdʌ̃ʔs] |
[ˈɡjàːdʌ̃ʔs] |
[ˈd͡ʒàːdʌ̃ʔs] |
| dog |
/erhar/ |
[ˈɛrhar] |
[ˈɛlhal] |
[ˈɛrhar] |
Phonology
The phoneme inventory is as follows (using the
International Phonetic AlphabetThe International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
). Phonological representation (underlying forms) are in /slashes/, and the standard Mohawk orthography is in bold.
Consonants
An interesting feature of Mohawk (and Iroquoian) phonology is that there are no
labialsLabial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals...
, except in a few adoptions from French and English, where [m] and [p] appear (e.g.,
mátsis matches and
aplám Abraham); these sounds are late additions to Mohawk phonology and were introduced after widespread European contact. The word "Mohawk" is an exonym.
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Dental |
PalatalPalatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...
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VelarVelars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....
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GlottalGlottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider...
|
| Nasal A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...
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n |
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| Plosive |
t |
|
k |
ʔ |
| Affricate |
|
d͡ʒ |
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| Fricative |
s |
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|
h |
| Rhotic In phonetics, rhotic consonants, also called tremulants or "R-like" sounds, are liquid consonants that are traditionally represented orthographically by symbols derived from the Greek letter rho, including "R, r" from the Roman alphabet and "Р, p" from the Cyrillic alphabet...
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r |
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| Approximant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no...
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l |
j |
w |
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The Central (Ahkwesáhsne) dialect has the following consonant clusters:
| 1st↓ · 2nd→ | t | k | s | h | l | n | d͡ʒ | j | w |
| t |
tt |
tk |
ts |
th |
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|
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| k |
kt |
kk |
ks |
kh |
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|
kw |
| ʔ |
ʔt |
ʔk |
ʔs |
|
ʔl |
ʔn |
ʔd͡ʒ |
ʔj |
ʔw |
| s |
st |
sk |
ss |
sh |
sl |
sn |
|
sj |
sw |
| h |
ht |
hk |
hs |
|
hl |
hn |
hd͡ʒ |
hj |
hw |
| l |
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|
lh |
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lj |
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| n |
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nh |
nl |
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nj |
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| d͡ʒ |
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d͡ʒj |
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| w |
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wh |
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All clusters can occur word-medially; those on a red background can also occur word-initially.
The consonants /k/, /t/ and the clusters /ts kw/ 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 [ˈɡàːzɛrɛ]
- that – thí:ken [ˈthiːɡʌ̃]
- hello, still – shé:kon [ˈshɛːɡũ]
Note that
th and
sh are pronounced as consonant clusters,
not single sounds like in English
thing and
she.
Vowels
| |
Front A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also...
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Central A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel...
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Back A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...
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| High A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the...
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i |
|
ũ |
| Mid A close-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from a close vowel to a mid vowel...
|
e |
ʌ̃ |
o |
| Low An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue...
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|
a |
|
i,
e,
a, and
o are oral vowels, while
ʌ̃ and
ũ (see help:IPA) are
nasalizedA nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the velum so that air escapes both through nose as well as the mouth. By contrast, oral vowels are ordinary vowels without this nasalisation...
; oral versions of
ʌ̃ and
ũ do not occur in the language.
Orthography
The Mohawk alphabet consists of these letters:
a e h i k n o r s t w y along with
’ and
:. The orthography was standardized in 1993. 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.
} is written
ts in the Eastern dialect (reflecting pronunciation).
Seven is
tsá:ta [dzaːda].
} is written
tsi in the Central dialect.
Seven is
tsiá:ta [dʒaːda].
} is written
tsy in the Western dialect.
Seven is
tsyá:ta [dʒaːda].
} is typically written
i in the Central and Eastern dialects.
Six is
ià:ia’k [jàːjaʔk].
} 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 [shaʔdɛːɡũ].
- In cases where the vowel /e/ or /o/ is followed by an /n/ in the same syllable, the /n/ is written with a low-macron accent: keṉhó:tons (I am closing a door). If the ṉ did not have the accent, the sequence ⟨en⟩ would be pronounced [ʌ̃]. Not all writers use the low-macron accent.
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 /onekwʌ̃ʔta/).
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.
Current number of speakers
As of 1994 there were approximately 3,000 speakers of Mohawk, primarily in Quebec, Ontario and western New York. Immersion (monolingual) classes for young children at
AkwesasneThe Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne is a Mohawk Nation territory that straddles the intersection of international and provincial borders on both banks of the Saint Lawrence River. Most of the land is in what is otherwise the United States...
and other reserves are helping to train new first-language speakers.
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:
- Rosetta Stone levels 1 and 2 (CD-ROM) edited by Frank and Carolee Jacobs and produced by the Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language and Cultural Center
- David Kanatawakhon Maracle, Kanyen'keha Tewatati (Let's Speak Mohawk)(ISBN 0-88432-723-X) (Book and 3 companion tapes are available from Audio Forum) (high school/college level)
- Nancy Bonvillain , A Grammar of Akwesasne Mohawk, professional level
- Chris W. Harvey, Sathahitáhkhe' Kanien'kéha (Introductory Level Mohawk Language Textbook, Eastern Dialect), (ISBN 0-968-38142-1; (high school/college level)
- Josephine S. Horne, Kanien'kéha Iakorihonnién:nis, (Book and 5 companion CDs are available from Kahnawà:ke Cultural Center (secondary/high school level)
- Nora Deering & Helga Harries Delisle, Mohawk: A Teaching Grammar (Book and 6 companion tapes are available from Kanien'kehaka Onkwawenna Raotitiohkwa Cultural Center (high school/college level)
External links