Mohawk language

This article is about the language spoken by the Mohawk people. For other uses, see Mohawk.

Mohawk language
Kanien’kéha' Kanyen’kéha'
Pronunciation	[ɡɑ.njʌ̃ʔ.ˈɡɛ.haʔ]
Native to	United States, Canada
Region	Ontario, Quebec and northern New York
Ethnicity	Mohawk people
Native speakers	3,500 (2007–2011)
Language family	Iroquoian Northern Lake Iroquoian Five Nations Mohawk–Oneida Mohawk language
Language codes
ISO 639-2	moh
ISO 639-3	moh
Glottolog	moha1258
ELP	Mohawk
current distribution of Mohawk speakers in the United States.

Mohawk /ˈmoʊhɔːk/ (Mohawk: Kanien’kéha [ɡa.njʌ̃ʔ.ˈɡe.ha] "[language] of the Flint Place") is an Iroquoian language currently spoken by around 3,000 people of the Mohawk nation in the United States (mainly western and northern New York) and Canada (southern Ontario and Quebec).

Name

The word "Mohawk" is an exonym. In the Mohawk language, the people say that they are from Kanien'kehá:ka or "Flint Stone Place". As such, the Mohawks were extremely wealthy traders as other nations in their confederacy needed their flint for tool making. Their Algonquian-speaking neighbors (and competitors), the People of "Muh-heck Heek Ing" (Food Area Place), a people who the Dutch called "Mohicans" or "Mahicans", called the People of Ka-nee-en Ka "Maw Unk Lin" or "Bear People". The Dutch heard and wrote this as "Mohawks". This is why the People of Kan-ee-en Ka are often referred to as "Mohawks". The Dutch also referred to the Mohawk as "Egils" or "Maquas". The French adapted these terms as Aigniers, Maquis, or called them by the generic "Iroquois", which is a French derivation of the Algonquian term for the Five Nations: "Snake People"".

History

The Mohawks comprised the largest and most powerful of the original Five Nations, controlling a vast area of land on the eastern frontier of the Iroquois Confederacy. The North Country and Adirondack region of present-day Upstate New York would have constituted the greater part of the Mohawk-speaking area lasting until the end of the 18th century.

Alexander Graham Bell

The Scottish scientist Alexander Graham Bell, one of the inventors of the telephone, was greatly interested in the human voice, and when he discovered the Six Nations Reserve across the river at Onondaga, he learned the Mohawk language and translated its then unwritten vocabulary into Visible Speech symbols. For his work, Bell was awarded the title of Honorary Chief and participated in a ceremony where he donned a Mohawk headdress and danced traditional dances.

Current status

Mohawk language stop sign in Quebec.

Mohawk has the largest number of speakers of the Northern Iroquoian languages; today it is the only one with greater than a thousand remaining. At Akwesasne, residents have begun a language immersion school (pre-K to grade 8) in Kanien’kéha to revive the language. With their children learning it, parents and other family members are taking language classes, too.

In 2006, over 600 people were reported to speak the language in Canada, many of them elderly.

Current number of speakers

In 1994, there were approximately 3,000 speakers of Mohawk, primarily in Quebec, Ontario and western New York. Immersion (monolingual) classes for young children at Akwesasne and other reserves are helping to train new first-language speakers. Kahnawake and Kanatsiohareke offer immersion classes for adults. By 2006, less than 300 people in Canada (Quebec and Ontario) had any knowledge of the language. About 250 of these lived off-reserve in urban areas.

Usage in popular culture

Mohawk dialogue features prominently in Ubisoft Montreal's 2012 action-adventure open world video game Assassin's Creed III, through the game's main character, the half-Mohawk, half-English Ratonhnhaké:ton (/ˈrəduːnhəɡˈeɪduːn/; "ra-doon-ha-gai-doon"), also called Connor, and members of his native Kanièn:ke village around the times of the American revolution. Ratonhnhaké:ton was voiced and modelled by Crow actor Noah Bulaagawish Watts. Hiawatha, the leader of the Iroquoian civilization in Sid Meier's Civilization V, voiced by Kanentokon Hemlock, speaks modern Mohawk.

Dialects

Mohawk has three major dialects: Western (Ohswé:ken and Kenhté:ke), 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	/tsjáːta/	[ˈd͡ʒaːda]	[ˈd͡ʒaːda]	[ˈd͡zaːda]
nine	/tjóhton/	[ˈdjɔhdũ]	[ˈɡjɔhdũ]	[ˈd͡ʒɔhdũ]
I fall	/kjaʔtʌʔs/	[ˈɡjàːdʌ̃ʔs]	[ˈɡjàːdʌ̃ʔs]	[ˈd͡ʒàːdʌ̃ʔs]
dog	/érhar/	[ˈɛrhar]	[ˈɛlhal]	[ˈɛːɽhaɽ]

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.

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); 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		d͡ʒ
Fricative	s			h
Approximant	l	j	w
Rhotic	r

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
k	kt	kk	ks	kh					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				lh				lj
n				nh	nl			nj
d͡ʒ								d͡ʒj
w				wh

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	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.

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.

There are three core components to the Mohawk proposition: the noun, the predicate, and the particle.

As a polysynthetic language, Mohawk words are composed of many morphemes. It should be noted that what is expressed in English in many words can often be expressed by just one Mohawk word.

Nouns

Nouns are given the following form in Mohawk,

Nominal Prefix	Noun Stem	Nominal Suffix

Noun prefixes give information relating to gender, animacy, number and person and identify the word as a noun.

For example:

1) o'nenste “corn”

2) oien'kwa “tobacco”

Here, the prefix < o- > is generally found on nouns found in natural environments. Another prefix exists which marks objects that are made by humans.

3) kanhoha “door”

4) ka'khare “slip, skirt”

Here, the prefix < ka- > is generally found on manmade things. Phonological variation amongst the Mohawk dialects also gives rise to the prefix < ga- > to generally denote human made objects.

Nouns roots are similar to nouns in English in that the noun root in Mohawk and the noun in English have similar meanings.

(Caughnawaha)

5) –eri- “heart”

6) –hi- “river”

7) –itshat- “cloud”

These noun roots are bare. There is no information other than the noun root itself. It should be noted that morphemes can not occur individually. That is, < -eri- > uttered by itself to be well formed and grammatical. It needs nominal prefixes, or perhaps the root is incorporated into a predicate phrase.

Nominal suffixes aren’t necessary for a well-formed noun phrase. The suffixes give information relating to location and attributes. For example:

Locative Suffix:

8) i. onu'ta' “hill”

ii. onuta'ke “on the hill”

9) i. onekwvhsa' “blood”

ii. onekwvhsa'ke “in the blood”

Here the suffix < -ke > denotes location.

Attributive Suffix:

10) kvjy' “fish”

11) kvja'ko'wa “sturgeon” or “big fish”

Here, the suffix < ko'wa > denotes an augmentative suffix, which increases the attribute of the noun in question.

Verbs

Mohawk verbs are one of the more complex parts of the language, composed of many morphemes that describe grammatical relations. The verb takes the following structure:

Pre-Pronominal Prefix	Pronominal Prefix	Reflexive And Reciprocal Particle	Incorporated Noun Root	Verb Root	Suffixes

Mohawk grammar allows for whole propositions to be expressed by one word, which we classify as a verb. The other core elements (subjects, objects, etc.) can be incorporated into the verb. Well-formed verb phrases contain at the bare minimum a verb root and a pronominal prefix. The rest of the elements are not necessary.

Tense, aspect and modality are expressed via suffixes on the verb phrase as well.

Some examples:

12) katorats “I hunt”

k-atorat-s

I-hunt-habitual ASP

This is composed of three parts; the pronominal prefix, the verb root and a suffix which marks aspect. Mohawk seems to prefer aspect markers to tense to express grammaticalisation in time.

13) nya'tsvshayaya'ke' “…where he will cross over again from here to there…”

n-ya'-t-v-s-ha-yahya'k-e'

partitive-translocative-dualic-future-iterative-Noun-verb root-suffix

“Where over here to there will again he cross..”

This example shows multiple prefixes that can be affixed to the verb root, but certain affixes are forbidden from coexisting together. For example, the aorist and the future tense affix will not be found on the same well-formed sentence.

14) vsenatara' “You will make a visit”

v-se-natahr-a'

future tense+ nominative pronoun + verb root + momentary ASP suffix

15) asenatara' “You should make a visit”

a-se-natahr-a'

conditional mood prefix + nominative pronoun + verb root + momentary suffix

16) sanatahrune' “You were visiting”

Sa-natahr-u-hne'

Accusative Pronoun + verb root + stative suffix + momentary suffix

Here, different prefixes and suffixes are used that mark tense, aspect and modality.

Most grammatical relations in Mohawk are expressed through various different affixes unto a verb. Subjects, objects, and relationships between subjects and objects are given their own affixes. In Mohawk, each transitive relationship between subjects and objects are given their own prefix. For example:

17) a: ku-noruhkwa

I-you + love

“I love you”

b: ri-noruhkwa

I-him + love

“I love him”

c: ke-noruhkwa

I-it/her + love

“I love it/her”

Each of these affixes are denoting a transitive relationship between two things There are more affixes for denoting transitive relationships like “we-they”, they-us (inclusive/exclusive), etc.

Non incorporation

One of the features of Mohawk called noun incorporation allows verbs to absorb a noun into it. When incorporation happens, an infix is used that marks the noun as incorporated. For example:

18) Owira'a wahrake' ne o'wahru

Baby ate the meat

With noun incpororation:

19) Owira'a waha'wahrake'

Baby meat-ate

20) Wa'eksohare' “She dish-washed” ks = dish, ohare=wash

21) Wa'kenaktahninu' “I bed-bought” nakt=bed + a (increment) + hninu=buy

22) Wahana'tarakwetare' “He bread-cut” Na'tar=bread + a (increment) + kwetar=cut

Most of these examples take the infix < -a-> which marks the noun as incorporated. It can be omitted if the incorporated noun doesn’t give rise a complex consonant cluster in the middle of the word. If a complex consonant cluster were to arise, the epenthesis of< -a- > helps mitigate that.

Orthography

Plaque in English, Mohawk, and French describing the Grand River. Plaque located in Galt, Cambridge, Ontario

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, 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 [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].

The low-macron accent is not a part of standard orthography and isn't used by the Central or Eastern dialects. In standard orthography, /h/ is written before /n/ to create the [en] or [on]: kehnhó:tons 'I am closing it'.

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 occurs only once per word.

• Short-high tone usually (but not always) appears in closed syllables or before /h/. It is written with an acute accent: fruit káhi, road oháha.
• Long-rising 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/).

Learning Mohawk

Six Nations Polytechnic in Ohsweken, Ontario, offers Ogwehoweh language Diploma and Degree Programs in Mohawk or Cayuga.

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:

• Talk Mohawk, an iPhone app and Android app, includes words, phrases, and the Thanksgiving Address from Monica Peters and updated for 2014 through http://www.talkmohawk.com/
• 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 at Kahnawà:ke (secondary/high school level)
• 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)
• Nancy Bonvillain and Beatrice Francis, Mohawk-English, English-Mohawk Dictionary, 1971, University of the State of New York in Albany (word lists, by category)
• Chris W. Harvey, Sathahitáhkhe' Kanien'kéha (Introductory Level Mohawk Language Textbook, Eastern Dialect), ISBN 0-9683814-2-1 (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 Kahnawà:ke Cultural Center) (high school/college level)
• On October 8, 2013, "Daryl Kramp, Member of Parliament (Prince Edward-Hastings), on behalf of the Honourable Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, today announced support for the Tsi Kionhnheht Ne Onkwawenna Language Circle (TKNOLC) to develop Mohawk language-learning tools."

External links

• Kanehsatake Voices, online lessons, Bilingual Mohawk course in English and French
• TalkMohawk.com, Mohawk language mobile apps
• Mohawk - English Dictionary, Websters Online Dictionary
• Mohawk language, alphabet and pronunciation, Omniglot
• Marianne Mithun, "A grammar sketch of Mohawk", Conseil Supérieur de la Langue Française, Quebec Template:Fr icon
• List of Mohawk language resources
• Mohawk Language Texts, from the Boston Athenæum: Schoolcraft Collection of Books in Native American Languages. Digital Collection.