The Iroquoian languages (, ), occasionally referred to as the Ogwehoweh languages, are a family of indigenous languages of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking.

As of 2020, almost all surviving Iroquoian languages are severely or critically endangered, with some languages having only a few elderly speakers remaining. The two languages with the most speakers, Mohawk (Kanienʼkéha) in New York and Canada, and Cherokee in Oklahoma and North Carolina, are spoken by less than 10% of the populations of their nations.

Family division

  • Iroquoian
  • Northern Iroquoian
  • (Lake Iroquoian)<!-- may not be a valid clade-->
  • Iroquois Proper (Five Nations)
  • Seneca <small>(severely endangered)</small>
  • Cayuga <small>(severely endangered)</small>
  • Onondaga <small>(severely endangered)</small>
  • Susquehannock or Conestoga
  • Mohawk–Oneida
  • Oneida <small>(severely endangered)</small>
  • Mohawk <small>(definitely endangered)</small>
  • Huronian
  • Wendat/Wyandot (Huron)
  • Petun (Tobacco)
  • Tuscarora–Nottoway
  • Tuscarora
  • Meherrin
  • Nottoway
  • Unclassified
  • Wenrohronon or Wenro
  • Neutral
  • Erie
  • Laurentian
  • Scahentoarrhonon
  • Southern Iroquoian/Cherokee
  • South Carolina-Georgia dialect ( Lower dialect)
  • North Carolina dialect ( Middle or Kituwah dialect) <small>(severely endangered)</small>
  • Oklahoma dialect ( Overhill or Western dialect) <small>(definitely endangered)</small>

— language extinct/dormant

Evidence is emerging that what has been called the Laurentian language appears to be more than one dialect or language. Ethnographic and linguistic field work with the Wyandot tribal elders (Barbeau 1960) yielded enough documentation for scholars to characterize and classify the Wyandot and Petun languages.

The languages of the tribes that constituted the tiny Wenrohronon, the powerful Conestoga Confederacy and the confederations of the Neutral Nation and the Erie Nation are very poorly documented in print. The Wyandot referred to the Neutral people as Atiwandaronk, meaning 'they who understand the language'. The Wenro and Neutral are historically grouped together, and geographically the Wenro's range on the eastern end of Lake Erie placed them between the larger confederations. To the east of the Wenro, beyond the Genesee Gorge, were the lands of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. To the southeast, beyond the headwaters of the Allegheny River, lay the Conestoga (Susquehannock).

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

Starting in September 2017, the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario started offering a credit course in Mohawk; the classes are to be given at Renison University College in collaboration with the Waterloo Aboriginal Education Centre, St. Paul's University College.

See also

  • Proto-Iroquoian language
  • Dean R. Snow and William A. Starna – archeologists and historians who have conducted ground-breaking archeological research in the Mohawk Valley and other Iroquoian sites

Notes

References

Further reading

Linguistics

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General works

  • Driver, Harold E. 1969. Indians of North America. 2nd edition. University of Chicago Press.
  • Ruttenber, Edward Manning. 1992 [1872]. History of the Indian tribes of Hudson's River. Hope Farm Press.
  • Snow, Dean R. 1994. The Iroquois. Blackwell Publishers. Peoples of America.
  • Snow, Dean R.; Gehring, Charles T; Starna, William A. 1996. In Mohawk country: early narratives about a native people. Syracuse University Press. An anthology of primary sources from 1634 to 1810.

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