Iroquoian languages

The Iroquoian languages are a family of languages spoken in North America. They include the languages of the Iroquois Confederacy and the Cherokee.

• Northern Iroquoian languages (languages Iroquois proper)
  • Iroquoian languages Lakes
    • Five Nations languages
      • Seneca-Onondaga languages
        • Seneca-Cayuga languages (Seneca)
          • seneca (or Seneca)
          • Cayuga (or Cayuga)
        • Onondaga (Onondaga or)
      • Mohawk-Oneida languages
        • Oneida (or Oneida)
        • Mohawk (Mohawk or)
      • Susquehannock (or Susquehannock) (off)
    • Laurentian (extinct; Classification uncertain: perhaps one or several dialects of a previous)
    • Huronian languages
      • Erie (off)
      • Attawandaron (or neutral) (off)
      • Languages Huron-Wendat
        • Wendat (or Huron or Huron former Lakes) (off)
        • ptun (or Khionontateronon) (off)
        • Wyandot (Huron or modern) (off)
  • Tuscarora-Nottoway language
    • Tuscarora (or toscarora) s
    • Nottoway (off)
• Iroquoian languages of South
  • cherokee

Characteristics of Iroquoian languages

The roots

The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic languages. They organize their vocabulary in three grammatical categories: the verbs , the names and particles.
The most notable of these languages is no doubt that verbs and nouns are all reducible to a root which occurs only with prefix and suffix.

• In Seneca , kakwihsa - shovel for nominal root /-kahwa-/.
  In Tuscarora , the root nominal uhwar teh - burden, body wrapping is /-HWAR-/.
  In Onondaga , /-ihn-/ is the root nominal kihnhneh - (on) my skin (literally: my skin).
• In Oneida , laythos - it crashes, refers to a verbal root /-ythw-/ - plant.

Composition

A speaker of a language can usually incorporate two Iroquoian roots in his speech. It is often even the most normal.

• In Oneida , (that one) says sip fresh bread talase which consists of the noun root /-natal-/ bread and the verb root /-ase-/ be cool, again. Even if the speaker analyzing such a form as a single unit, he remains aware that two elements are present.
• Some former compound forms are no longer understood. In Seneca the verb root /-atanyo-/ angling, Hata nyoa he fishes, can be analyzed by the etymology. It is divided into /-at-/ reflexive /-any-/ hook that does not exist in Seneca but Mohawk (/-ahry-/ rya) and /-o-/ put in the water.

Bibliography

• (In) Wallace L. Chafe , Seneca Morphology and Dictionary. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology no. 4. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1967
• (In) Wallace L. Chafe, Michael K. Foster, Prehistoric Divergences Between Cayuga and contacted and the Other Northern Iroquoian Languages. International Journal of American Linguistics 47: p.121-142, 1981
• (In) Frances Froman, Alfred Keye, Lottie Keye, Carrie Dick, Cayuga-Franais / Franais-Cayuga Dictionary. Gayogho: n / Hnyohneha: Wadwnaga: da: s Ohyadhsr: d. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002 ( ISBN 0-8020-3618-X )
• (In) Floyd G. Oneida Verb Morphology Lounsbury. Publications in Anthropology No.48. New Haven: Yale University, 1953 (reprint: Human Relations Area Files Press, 1976).
• (In) Gunther Michelson, A Thousand Words of Mohawk. Mercury Series paper no. 5. Ottawa: National Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada, 1973
• (In) Blair A. Rudes, Tuscarora-Franais / Franais-Tuscarora Dictionary. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999 ( ISBN 0-8020-4336-4 )
• (In) Hanni Woodbury, Onondaga-Franais / Franais-Onondaga Dictionary. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003 ( ISBN 0-8020-3733-X )

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