Onondaga language: Difference between revisions
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===Noun Incorporation=== |
===Noun Incorporation=== |
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[[Noun Incorporation]] is a process by which a nominal element appears as a part of the verbal complex |
[[Noun Incorporation]] in Onondaga is a process by which a nominal element appears as a part of the verbal complex, resulting in a single word. Patient arguments can undergo incorporation into transitive or intransitive verbs. The first example shows that the nominal root /-nakd-/ ('bed') has been incorporated into the verbal complex forming a single word. The second example shows the noun /ganakdaʔ/ ('bed') separated from the verb and preceded by the particle neʔ. This particle marks a following word or phrase as a nominal. |
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:{{unicode|waʔgenakdahní:nǫʔ}} |
:{{unicode|waʔgenakdahní:nǫʔ}} |
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:"I bought the/a bed." |
:"I bought the/a bed." |
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The pair of examples illustrates that noun incorporation is often optional in Onondaga. The use of noun incorporation is governed by various discourse factors, as a way of backgrounding information, or to describe institutionalized activities (like English 'baby-sitting'). |
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===Word Order=== |
===Word Order=== |
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Revision as of 21:52, 11 August 2009
| Onondaga | |
|---|---|
| Onǫda’géga’, Onoñda’gega’ | |
| Native to | Canada, United States |
| Region | Six Nations Reserve, Ontario, and central New York |
Native speakers | 65 to 115 |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | iro |
| ISO 639-3 | ono |
| ELP | Onondaga |
Onondaga Nation Language (Onöñda’gega’ (IPA /onũtaʔkekaʔ/), "People of the Hills") is the language of the Onondaga First Nation, one of the original five constituent tribes of the League of the Iroquois (Hodenosaunee).
This language is spoken in the United States and Canada, primarily on the reservation in central New York state, and near Brantford, Ontario.
Phonology
This table show the (consonant) phonemes that are found in Onondaga.
| Alveolar | Postalveolar / Palatal |
Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | n | |||
| Plosives | t | k | ʔ | |
| Affricate | dʒ | |||
| Fricatives | s | h | ||
| Approximants | j | w |
The two stops, /t/, /k/ are allophonically voiced to [d] and [ɡ] before vowels and approximants and are spelled <d> and <g> in this case. There is considerable palatalization and affrication in the language.
Onondaga has five oral vowels, /i e o æ a/ (/æ/ is normally represented with <ä>), and two nasal vowels, /ẽ/ and /ũ/. The nasal vowels, following the Iroquoianist tradition, are spelled with ogoneks in Ontario (<ę> and <ǫ>). In New York, they are represented with a following <ñ> (<eñ> and <oñ>). Vowels can be both short and long, in which case they are written with a following colon, <:> or raised dot <·>.
Morphology
Like all Iroquoian languages, Onondaga is a polysynthetic language, meaning that many grammatical and lexical concepts are expressed as morphemes (that is as affixes of one complex word) rather than separate words. This means that many concepts which could take many words to express in English can be express in a single word in Onondaga. For example:
- waʔtkhenakdahgwáʔdęʔ
- waʔ-t-k-he-nakd-a-hgwaʔd-ę-ʔ
- FACT-DUALIC-1.SG.NOM-3.NONMASCSG.ACC-bed-EPEN-raise.up-BEN-PUNC
- "I raised the bed for her/them."
The abbreviations used above are as follows:
- FACT = Factual, something known to have occurred
- DUALIC = (A range of different meanings)
- 1.SG.NOM = I - refers to the subject
- 3.NOMMASCSG.ACC = Her/them - refers to the object, 3rd person, non-masculine singular (i.e., feminine singular, feminine plural or masculine plural, but not masculine singular)
- EPEN = An epenthetic vowel, inserted to break up illegal consonant clusters
- BEN = Benefactive, indicates that event was done for someone's benefit
- PUNC = Punctual, refers to an event that is over and done with
Syntax
While syntax traditionally refers to the study of the arrangement of words in a sentence, its use, especially in the study of polysynthetic languages, is often used to describe word structure. This is partly due to the lack of consensus on the definition of "word". Thus, some of the topics included here might be included under the topic of morphology by other specialists in the field.
Noun Incorporation
Noun Incorporation in Onondaga is a process by which a nominal element appears as a part of the verbal complex, resulting in a single word. Patient arguments can undergo incorporation into transitive or intransitive verbs. The first example shows that the nominal root /-nakd-/ ('bed') has been incorporated into the verbal complex forming a single word. The second example shows the noun /ganakdaʔ/ ('bed') separated from the verb and preceded by the particle neʔ. This particle marks a following word or phrase as a nominal.
- waʔgenakdahní:nǫʔ
- waʔ-k-e-nakd-a-hninǫ-ʔ
- FACT-1.SG.NOM-EPEN-bed-EPEN-buy-PUNC
- "I bought the/a bed."
- waʔkhní:nǫʔ neʔ ganákdaʔ
- waʔ-k-hninǫ-ʔ neʔ ga-nakd-aʔ
- FACT-1.SG.NOM-buy-PUNC NE AGR-bed-NFS
- "I bought the/a bed."
The pair of examples illustrates that noun incorporation is often optional in Onondaga. The use of noun incorporation is governed by various discourse factors, as a way of backgrounding information, or to describe institutionalized activities (like English 'baby-sitting').
Word Order
Word order is typically free in Onondaga, with all six word orders, SVO, SOV, VSO, VOS, OVS, OSV found in naturally occurring speech. The discourse factors that affect word order are still poorly understood.
Question Formation
Questions are formed by moving the question word or question phrase to the beginning of the sentence.
See also
References
Woodbury, Hanni. 2002. Onondaga-English/English-Onondaga Dictionary. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.