Onondaga language

Usage and revitalization

The Onondaga Nation Language Center (called Ne' Eñhadiweñnayeñde'nha', or "they will get to know the language") has been engaged in language revitalization efforts since 2010. Children learn the Onondaga language at Onondaga Nation School, and classes are also available for adults. In September 2015, it was announced that fifteen adults would enter a full-time language immersion class in Onondaga, after which they would become teachers of the language.

Phonology

This table shows the (consonant) phonemes that are found in Onondaga.

The two plosives, /t/, /k/ are allophonically voiced to [d] and [ɡ] before vowels and resonants (the bottom row of the chart labelled 'sonorant') 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 sometimes represented orthographically as ⟨ä⟩), and two nasal vowels, /ẽ/ and /ũ/. The nasal vowels, following the Iroquoianist tradition, are spelled with ogoneks in the scholarly literature and in Ontario (⟨ę⟩ and ⟨ǫ⟩ or ⟨ų⟩). In New York, they are represented with a following ⟨ñ⟩ (⟨eñ⟩ and ⟨oñ⟩). Vowels can be both short and long. When vowel length derives from the now lost consonant *r, it is phonemic. Vowel length is written with a following colon, ⟨:⟩ or raised dot ⟨·⟩.

Morphology

Onondaga is a polysynthetic language, exhibiting a great deal of inflectional and derivational morphology on the verbal forms (including noun incorporation). Nominal forms have less morphology. Additionally, there are particles, which are monomorphemic.

Verbal morphology

Onondaga verbs can be divided into three main classes according to their aspectual properties (discussed below). These are the active verbs, motion verbs, and stative verbs. We must distinguish between tense and aspect. Tense refers to when the event takes place, either in the past, the present or the future. Aspect refers to the event itself, such as whether it is finished or ongoing or occurs repeatedly.

There are four aspects in Onondaga. The first is the habitual aspect (HAB). This aspect is used to refer to an event that takes place repeatedly or on an ongoing basis. The second is the punctual aspect (PUNC) (also known as perfective aspect). This aspect refers to an entire event in its completeness. When used in the past tense, the event is described as “over and done-with.” It cannot describe an event that is interrupted or incomplete. The third aspect is the stative (STAT) (also known as imperfective) refers to an event that is ongoing or incomplete or, if it occurs in the past tense, that has some bearing on the present. Finally, there is the purposive aspect (PURP), which refers to imminent action and usually implies intent or volition on the part of the subject. Active verbs can appear with any of the first three aspects. Motion verbs can appear with any of all four aspects. Stative verbs can only appear with the stative aspect.

Verbal template

A typical Onondaga verb consists of several morphemes (components). The following chart outlines the order of the morphemes. Obligatory morphemes appear in boldface, and optional morphemes are in standard font. Note that some of the “optional” morphemes are obligatory with certain verb roots. The obligatory morphemes, however, must appear on each and every single verb.

Each of the following sections outlines the shapes that these morphemes can take.

Pre-pronominal prefixes

Modal pre-pronominal prefixes

The prepronominal prefixes express a variety of concepts and ideas. The first concept we cover is modality, which expresses the degree of urgency, certainty or likelihood of the event. There are three modal prefixes in Onondaga. The modal prefixes only appear with the punctual aspect. They also appear if there is a modalizer suffix. The first of these is commonly called the future modal prefix (FUT). This prefix expresses events that have not yet taken place at the time the speaker is talking. The second is the factual modal prefix (FACT). This prefix indicates that the speaker knows the event happened for a fact. It typically has a past tense reading (since we are normally only sure about events that happened in the past). The third is optative modal prefix (OPT). This prefix expresses the idea that the event should or ought to take place. It is also used to express untrue events or events that might have taken place but have not. Here are some examples.

(36) a. ęhayę́:twaʔ ę- ha- yętw- aʔ FUT- 3.SG.M.AG- plant- PUNC ‘He will plant it.’ b. waʔhayę́:twaʔ waʔ- ha- yę:tw- aʔ FACT- 3.SG.M.AG- plant- PUNC ‘He planted it.’ c. ahayę́:twaʔ a- ha- yę:tw- aʔ OPT- 3.SG.M.AG- plant- PUNC ‘He might plant it.’

The following chart lists forms of the three modal prepronominal prefixes and indicates when to use which form.

Non-modal pre-pronominal prefixes

In addition to the modal prefixes, there is also a set of prefixes that express a variety of concepts, some of which do not have a clearly distinct meaning, rather their meaning varies depending on context. The list of these includes repetitive, cislocative, dualic, translocative, partitive, coincident, contrastive, and negative.

Repetitive

The repetitive morpheme adds the meaning of doing something again or repeating some-thing. The basic form of the repetitive morpheme is /s-/. Here are some examples. Example (37) has the prepronominal prefix /sa-/, which is a combination of both repetitive and factual mood. Example (38) has the prepronominal prefix /ęs-/, which is a combination of repetitive and future. These contrast with example (39), which does not have the repetitive morpheme.

(37) sahayę́:twaʔ sa– ha– yętw– aʔ REP.FACT- 3.SG.M- plant-PUNC ‘He planted it again.’ (38) ęshayę́:twaʔ ęs– ha– yętw– aʔ REP.FUT- 3.SG.M- plant-PUNC ‘He will plant it again.’ (39) waʔhayę́:twaʔ waʔ– ha– yętw– aʔ FACT- 3.SG.M- plant-PUNC ‘He planted it.’

Cislocative

The cislocative (CLOC) morpheme is used to indicate movement toward the speaker. It can also mean that a particular event is pinpointed back in time. In some cases, the meaning of the cislocative is unpredictable. Some of these are listed below. There are two forms of the cislocative.

/t-/ default
/di-/ used with any 2nd person or 1st person inclusive, except 2.SG.AG

Translocative

The translocative (TLOC) morpheme is used to indicate movement away from the speaker. The form of the translocative is /he-/

Dualic

The dualic (DUC) does not have a specific meaning. The form of the dualic is /de-/, but changes when it appears in combination with other prepronominal prefixes. Whenever it appears with a verb stem, it changes the meaning in unpredictable ways. Usually, however, there is some notion of there being two of something or of some reciprocal activity such as trading. Also, some verb roots must appear with the dualic prepronominal prefix. In examples (41) and (42), the dualic prefix is obligatory. In example (43), the dualic prefix adds the meaning of becoming two pieces.

(41) deyǫshę́thwas de- yǫ- ashęthw-as DUC- 3.SG.F- cry-HAB ‘She is crying' (42) dehahahíyaʔks de- ha- ahah- iyaʔk- s DUC- 3.SG.M- road- cross- HAB ‘He crosses a road.’ (43) dehá:yaʔks de- ha- yaʔk- s DUC- 3.SG.M- break- HAB ‘He breaks it into two.’ (44) há:yaʔks ha- yaʔk- s 3.SG.M- break- HAB ‘He breaks it off.’

Pronominal prefixes

There are three series of pronominal prefixes in Onondaga. There is a transitive series, used with transitive verbs. Intransitive verbs use either the agent series or the patient series. The choice between the latter two is often complex, as we will see. The phonological shape of the pronominal prefix depends on the identity of the following sound. This gives rise to several series of pronominal prefixes, which are labelled according to the following segment. These include the c-series (for pronominal prefixes which precede a consonant), the a-series (for pronominal prefixes which precede /a/), the e-series, ę-series, o-series, ǫ-series, and i-series. Finally, the pronominal prefixes inflect for person, number and gender. We discuss each of these in turn.

Onondaga distinguishes three persons: first (I or we), second (you) and third (he, she, it or they). The first person can be either exclusive (EXCL), which excludes the listener, or inclusive (INCL), which includes the listener.

Here, when John says we, it does not include the person he’s talking to. In other words, Mary doesn’t get to go to the movies. This use of we is called the first person exclusive. English does not make a distinction between inclusive and exclusive we but Onondaga does. Consider the following two words. The pronominal prefix /dn-/ indicates a first person dual inclusive subject, and the pronominal prefix /agn-/ indicates a first person dual exclusive subject.

(45) weʔdnek weʔ– dn– ek– Ø FACT- 1.DU.INCL- eat- PUNC ‘We two (you and I) ate it.’ (46) waʔagnek waʔ– agn– ek– Ø FACT- 1.DU.EXCL- eat- PUNC ‘We two (someone else and I) ate it.’

Three numbers are also distinguished in Onondaga: singular (for one entity, SG), dual (for two entities, DU), and plural (for three or more entities, PL). In the glosses, ‘singular’ is marked with SG, ‘dual’ is marked with DU, and ‘plural’ is marked with PL.

(47) waʔsek waʔ– s– ek– Ø FACT- 2.SG- eat- PUNC ‘You (sing.) ate it.’ (48) weʔsnek weʔ– sn– ek– Ø FACT- 2.DU- eat- PUNC ‘You two ate it.’ (49) weʔswek weʔ– sw– ek– Ø FACT- 2.PL- eat- PUNC ‘You all ate it.’

Additionally, Onondaga distinguishes three genders, which are realized in the third person only. The first is masculine (M), which is used to refer to male humans and certain animals, either alone or in a group. The second is feminine (F). This is used to refer to female humans, certain animals, or some unknown person. It is sometimes called the feminine-indefinite. For groups of people that contain both men and women, the masculine is used. The third is neuter (N), which is used to refer to most animals and inanimate objects. In older texts, the neuter is used to refer to human females in certain circumstances, although this usage is no longer common. See Abrams (2006: 17) for more discussion. (Abbott, 1984 also discusses two feminine genders in Oneida.) Here are some examples.

(50) a. waʔek waʔ- e- k- Ø FACT- 3.SG.F- eat- PUNC ‘She ate it.’ OR ‘Someone ate it.’ b. waʔwek waʔ- we- k- Ø FACT- 3.SG.N- eat- PUNC ‘Something/it ate it.’ c. waʔhek waʔ- he- k- Ø FACT- 3.SG.M- eat- PUNC ‘Something/it ate it.’

Finally, we observe that there are two series of prefixes for intransitive verbs, the agent series (AG) and the patient series (PAT). As a general rule, verbs which involve active, purposeful movement or activity on the part of the subject are conjugated with the agent series. Verbs which involve involuntary action or states are conjugated with the patient series. There are so many exceptions to this generalization, however, that one has to simply learn for each intransitive verb whether it takes the agent or the patient series. There is an additional rule for the intransitive verbs that take the agent series. When these verbs appear with stative aspect, they use the patient series rather than the agent series. This rule does not have any exceptions.

There are six classes of conjugations which depend on the initial sound of the following morpheme (i.e., the first sound of the verb root or of the incorporated noun if there is one).

C-Stem

The following chart lists the pronominal prefixes for stems that begin with a consonant. Note that (y) or (w) in brackets disappears when preceded by a pre-pronominal prefix.

Intransitive, Agent-series

Intransitive, Patient-series

Transitive Series

A-Stem

The following chart lists the pronominal prefixes for stems that begin with a consonant. Note that (y) or (w) in brackets disappears when preceded by a pre-pronominal prefix.

Intransitive, Agent-series

Intransitive, Patient-series

Transitive Series

E-Stem

The following chart lists the pronominal prefixes for stems that begin with a consonant. Note that (y) or (w) in brackets disappears when preceded by a pre-pronominal prefix.

Intransitive, Agent-series

Intransitive, Patient-series

Transitive Series

Ę-Stem

The following chart lists the pronominal prefixes for stems that begin with /ę/. Note that (y) or (w) in brackets disappears when preceded by a pre-pronominal prefix.

Intransitive, Agent-series

Intransitive, Patient-series

Transitive Series

O-Stem

The following chart lists the pronominal prefixes for stems that begin with a consonant. Note that (y) or (w) in brackets disappears when preceded by a pre-pronominal prefix.

Intransitive, Agent-series

Intransitive, Patient-series

Transitive Series

Ǫ-Stem

The following chart lists the pronominal prefixes for stems that begin with a consonant. Note that (y) or (w) in brackets disappears when preceded by a pre-pronominal prefix.

Intransitive, Agent-series

Intransitive, Patient-series

Transitive Series

I-Stem

The following chart lists the pronominal prefixes for stems that begin with a consonant. Note that (y) or (w) in brackets disappears when preceded by a pre-pronominal prefix.

Intransitive, Agent-series

Intransitive, Patient-series

Transitive Series

Reflexive and semireflexive

This section discusses reflexive sentences such as “John saw himself,” and “We like ourselves,” and reciprocal sentences such as “We like each other.” The basic form of the reflexive marker (REFL) is /atat-/ and it appears right after the pronominal prefix and before the incorporated noun, if any. The reflexive is typically found only on transitive verbs, but because there is only one participant in the event, we use the intransitive series of pronominal prefixes. Here’s an example of a reflexive and a regular (non-reflexive) transitive for comparison.

(56) a. waʔgadadaehsę́thwaʔ waʔ- k- atat- aehsęthw- aʔ FACT- 1.SG.AG- REFL- kick- PUNC ‘I kicked myself.’ b. waʔsgaehsę́thwaʔ waʔ- sk- aehsęthw- aʔ FACT- 2.SG.AG:1.SG.PAT- kick- PUNC ‘You kicked me.’

In the non-reflexive transitive form there is a pronominal prefix, /sk-/ that indicates the subject (‘you’) and the object (‘me’). In the reflexive form, there is only one participant in the act of kicking (‘me’), so the intransitive form of the pronominal prefix is used, /k-/.

A reflexive action is something that you do to yourself. A reciprocal action is something people do to each other. Reciprocals must have at least two people involved. They are formed with the reflexive marker and the dualic prepronominal prefix discussed in section 3.4.1.1.2.4. Here is an example.

(57) waʔthyadadyǫ́dyahdęʔ waʔ- t- hy- atat- yǫtya- ht- ęʔ FACT- DUC- 3.DU.AG- REFL- laugh- CAUS- PUNC ‘They two made each other laugh.’

The semireflexive (SRFL) appears in a variety of circumstances that are not easy to pin down. The usual form of the semireflexive is /at-/, but certain verb roots take different forms. Listed here are some of the more common situations in which the semireflexive is used.

First, when a person’s own body part is the object of the action a semireflexive is normally used. Here is an example with and without a semireflexive. Again notice that the form with the semireflexive uses the intransitive pronominal prefix while the form without the semireflexive uses the transitive pronominal prefix.

(58) a. waʔgadnęntshagetsgwaʔ waʔ- k- at- nęntsh- a- getsgw- aʔ FACT- 1.SG.AG- SRFL- arm- JOIN- raise- PUNC ‘I raised my arm.’ b. waʔkhenęntshagetsgwaʔ waʔ- khe- nęntsh- a- getsgw- aʔ FACT- 1.SG.AG:3.SG.F.PAT- arm- JOIN- raise- PUNC ‘I raised her arm.’

Second, the semireflexive is used with verbs of grooming.

(59) John waʔhadyaʔdohaeʔ John waʔ- ha- at- yaʔt- ohae- ʔ John FACT- 3.SG.M.AG- SRFL- body- wash- PUNC ‘John washed (himself).’

Finally, the semireflexive is used to describe events or actions that are internally caused or spontaneous.

(60) a. waʔwadehnhóhwak waʔ- w- at- ehnhohw- aR- k FACT- 3.SG.NT.PAT- SRFL- door- apply- PUNC ‘The door closed.’ b. odųhwejiyáʔgi:h o- at- ųhwęjy- yaʔk- ih 3.SG.NT.PAT- SRFL- earth- break- STAT ‘The earth has caved in.’ waʔdyųdetgwęʔdaʔné·ga·ʔ waʔ-d-yų-adet-gwęʔd-ʔnega·-aʔ factual.mode-change.of.state-she-self-belly-burst-at.one.point.in.time "she blabbed, she revealed a secret" [literally, 'she burst her belly']

The constituent morphemes are separated by hyphens in the second line of the example. Each one is translated, as closely as possible, in the third line. It is important to understand that none of the component morphemes is a separate word, since they cannot be uttered, or understood, in isolation.

A second way in which linguists classify the morphology of languages is in terms of how the morphemes of a word combine. This distinction is between languages that are fusional and languages that are agglutinative. Fusion occurs in two ways: a single morpheme may have two or more functions (or meanings) in a given word or contiguous morphemes may affect each other's shape in such a way that it is difficult to segment the word into morphemes. A language is agglutinative if the morphemes composing a word each carries its own meaning and can be easily segmented from its neighbor. Onondaga is fusional (in the second sense of that term). Fusion is especially prevalent at the boundary between prefixes and the stem. Here certain phonological processes take place which change the shapes of one or both contiguous morphemes. For example:

gędé·ih ga-idę·-ih neuter.agent.prefix-help.out-stative.aspect "it is helping."

Languages are also classified in terms of the preeminent morphological processes they manifest. In Onondaga the two major morphological processes are prefixing and suffixing. Prefixes and suffixes are bound morphemes, that is, they are morphemes that cannot occur in isolation. Onondaga verbs must, minimally, begin in a pronominal prefix and inflect for aspect. For example:

hayę́thwas ha-yę́thw-as third.person.singular.masculine.agent-plant-habitual.aspect "he plants"

Nouns must, minimally, begin in a nominal prefix and end in a noun suffix. For example:

ganáʔjyaʔ ga-naʔjy-aʔ neuter.agent-pail-noun.suffix "pail"

Nominal Morphology

A basic noun is composed of the following three morphemes in this order: noun prefix, root, and noun suffix.

According to Woodbury (2003), nouns in Onondaga are categorized into two main classes. These are non-human and human. The inanimate nouns are further divided into natural and man-made. The prefix (NPRE) on the noun depends on these classes. For inanimate nouns, the prefix is either /o-/ for natural objects or /ka-/ for man-made objects. The noun forming suffix also depends on the noun class. It is / aˀ/ for non-human nouns and /-h/ for human nouns.

Noun incorporation

Noun incorporation is a process of compounding in which two stems, a noun and a verb stem, are combined into a new stem that is inflected with verbal morphology and that functions as a verb. Nouns occupying the semantic roles or thematic relations, of patient, theme, factitive theme, location, goal, path, or instrument are eligible for incorporation. Of these, it is nouns designating semantic patients and themes that are most frequently incorporated. Semantic agents, causers, and beneficiaries are not eligible for incorporation.

The first example shows that the nominal root -nęh- "corn" has been incorporated into the verbal complex forming a single word. The second example shows the noun /onęhaʔ/ ('corn') as a separate word and preceded by the particle neʔ, a particle which marks a following word or phrase as a nominal.

waʔhanęhayę́thwaʔ waʔ-ha-nęh-yęthw-aʔ factual.mode-he-corn-plant-punctual.aspect 'he planted corn' [literally, 'he corn-planted']. waʔhayę́thwaʔ neʔ onę́haʔ waʔ-ha-yęthw-aʔ neʔ o-nęh-aʔ factual.mode-he-plant-punctual.aspect nominal.particle it-corn-noun.suffix 'he planted (the) corn'

Noun incorporation is a highly productive process in Onondaga. However, its productivity is an attribute of individual nouns and verbs. Every noun and every verb is lexically marked in terms of its incorporation characteristics. Some nouns incorporate frequently, that is, they can combine with many different verbs, others almost never. Among the verbs that can incorporate—and some do not incorporate at all—there is a continuum of productivity. At their most productive, verbs can incorporate one of any number of nouns, in fact, some verbs can only occur together with an incorporated noun. Verbs at their most unproductive can incorporate only a single noun. Between these extremes are additional types: verbs that can incorporate only a restricted set of nouns; verb and noun combinations that are highly idiomatic—these often denote conventionalized activities (e.g., English 'he information-gathered)—so that separating the noun, though interpretable, is perceived as inappropriate.

The use of noun incorporation is governed by various discourse factors. It is often used as a way of backgrounding information.

Word order

Word order is typically free in Onondaga (though see question formation below). It depends on various discourse factors.

Question formation

Wh-questions begin with the interrogative word:

gaę nų́ tganųhsá·yęʔ gaę nų́ t-ga-nųhs-yę-ʔ where place here-it-house-be.lying-stative.aspect "Where is the house?" wadę́ʔ nihsa·dyé·haʔ wadę́ʔ ni-hs-adyé·-haʔ what thus-you-do-habitual.aspect "What are you doing?"

Yes-no questions are formed by appending the question-particle to the questioned item:

Sędáʔwih khę́h. sa-idáʔw-ih khę́h. you-be.asleep-stative.aspect question.particle "Are you asleep?"