Cayuga language

Cayuga
Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫˀ
Cayuga for "our language"
Native to	Canada, United States
Region	Ontario: Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation; New York (state): Cattaraugus Reservation
Native speakers	<55 in Canada (2016 census)
Language family	Iroquoian Northern Lake Iroquoian Five Nations Cayuga
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cay
Glottolog	cayu1261
ELP	Cayuga
Cayuga is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Cayuga (Cayuga: Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫˀ) is a Northern Iroquoian language of the Iroquois Proper (also known as "Five Nations Iroquois") subfamily, and is spoken on Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, Ontario, by around 240 Cayuga people, and on the Cattaraugus Reservation, New York, by fewer than 10.

Cayuga is critically endangered, with only 115 people of the Indigenous population reporting Cayuga as their mother tongue in the 2021 Canadian census. The Cayuga people are working to revitalize the language. As an example of such, Six Nations Polytechnic has developed apps on IOS and study programs in Cayuga, Oneida, Mohawk and others.

Dialects

There are at least two distinct dialects of Cayuga. Two are spoken at Six Nations of the Grand River in southern Ontario. Another, called "Seneca-Cayuga", was spoken in Oklahoma until its extinction in the 1980s.

The two dialects of the Cayuga at Six Nations are often associated with the two Cayuga longhouses, Sour Springs or “Upper” Cayuga and “Lower” Cayuga. Differences between these two dialects of southern Ontario are known to include two phonological patterns. In the Lower Cayuga (LC) variety, underlying *tj sequences surface as /ky/, e.g. LC gyę:gwa’ /kjɛ̃ːkwaʔ/ vs (UC) ję:gwa’ /tjɛ̃ːkwaʔ/. Another apparent difference involves the metrical pattern of Laryngeal Spreading. In Lower Cayuga words, odd-numbered vowels preceding /h/ or /ʔ/ are pronounced with the voice quality of the following consonant. That is to say, such vowels are pronounced with whispered vowels when preceding /h/ or creaky voice before /ʔ/. An example of this occurs in the word for ‘nine,’ gyoHdo̜h [kjo̤htõh].

Phonology

Modern dialects

There are two varieties of Cayuga. The Lower Cayuga dialect is spoken by those of the Lower End of the Six Nations and the Upper Cayuga are from the Upper End. The main difference between the two is that the Lower Cayuga use the sound [kj] and the Upper use the sound [tj]. Also, pronunciation differs between individual speakers of Cayuga and their preferences.

Vowels

There are five oral vowels in Cayuga, as well as four long vowels, [iː], [aː], [oː], and [eː]. Cayuga also has three nasalized vowels, [ɛ̃], [õ], and [ã]. Both [u] and [ã] are rare sounds in Cayuga. The latter is not phonemic, but surfaces due to a phonological pattern of nasalization, where underlying /a/ becomes [ã] when following a nasal vowel. Sometimes, the sounds [u] and [o] are used interchangeably according to the speaker's preference. After long [eː] and [oː], an [n] sound can be heard, especially when before [t], [d], [k], [ɡ], [ts], and [j].

Vowels can be devoiced as [V̥] allophonically, indicated in the orthography used at Six Nations by underlining them.

Monophthongs

	Front			Back
	Oral	Long	Nasal	Oral	Long	Nasal
High	/i/ ⟨i⟩	/iː/ ⟨i꞉⟩
Mid	/e/ ⟨e⟩	/eː/ ⟨e꞉⟩	/ɛ̃/ /ɛ̃ː/ ⟨ę ę꞉⟩	/o/ ⟨o⟩	/oː/ ⟨o꞉⟩	/õ/ /õː/ ⟨ǫ ǫ꞉⟩
Low				/ɑ/ ⟨a⟩	/ɑː/ ⟨a꞉⟩	/ɑ̃/ ⟨a⟩ [sic]

/ɑ̃/ occurs in only a few words. /ɛ̃/ may be pronounced [ʌ̃], and /õ/ may be [ũ].

Long vowels

Length is important because it alone can distinguish two completely different meanings from one another. For example:
[haʔseʔ] you are going
[haʔseː] you went

Devoiced vowels

Following are some words that demonstrate what some vowels sound like when they occur before [h]. In words like [ehaʔ], [ẽhaʔ], [ohaʔ], and [õha], [e] and [ẽ] devoiced as [e̥, ẽ̥], sound like a whispered [j], and [o] and [õ] devoiced as [o̥, õ̥], sound like a whispered [w]. Furthermore, the [ã] in [ẽhãʔ] and [õhã] is nasalized because of [ẽ] and [õ]. The consonant before the nasalized vowel becomes voiceless. Also, odd-numbered vowels followed by [h] are devoiced, while even-numbered vowels followed by [h] are not.

Consonants

Like other Iroquoian languages, Cayuga has a very small consonant inventory.

Consonants

	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labiovelar	Glottal
Nasal	n ⟨n⟩
Plosive	t ⟨d, t⟩		k ⟨g, k⟩		ʔ ⟨ˀ⟩
Affricate	ts ⟨j, ts⟩
Fricative	s ⟨s⟩
Continuant	ɹ ⟨r⟩	j ⟨y⟩		w ⟨w⟩

Allophonic variations that occur in Cayuga:

• /t/ becomes voiced [d] before sonorants. The sound [d] does not exist word-finally.
• /k/ becomes voiced [g] before sonorants.
• /s/ becomes [ʃ] before /i/, /j/ or /ɹ/.
• /ts/ becomes [tʃ] when preceding front vowels /i/ and /e/, and as [dʒ] before sonorants. It can also be heard as [dz] and [ds] freely before [a] and [o], respectively. Speakers may use [dz] and [ds] interchangeably according to the speaker's preference.
• /w/ can be voiceless as [w̥] (sounds like [hw] or [ʍ]).
• /j/ can also be voiceless [j̊] (sounds like [hj]).
• /h/:
  • "A vowel devoices if the vowel and a following [h] are in an odd-numbered syllable." For example: the [õ] in [ehjátõ̥hkʷʰaʔ]
  • The vowel is voiced when it and a following /h/ are in an even-numbered syllable and in "absolute word-initial position or in word-final position, or preceded by another [h]." For example: [sʰehóːwih] 'tell her'; [ehjáːtõh] 'she writes'

Accent

Most words have accented vowels, resulting in a higher pitch. Where the stress is placed is dependent on the "position of the word in the phrase." The default location for stress for nouns is on final vowel. "In words that are at the end of a phrase, accent falls on the 2nd last vowel, the 3rd last vowel, or occasionally, on the 4th vowel from the end of the word." For example:

[neʔ kiʔ tsõːh akaːˈtʰõːteʔ]

'I just heard it'

These sounds are long, especially in an even-numbered position. When nouns and verbs are not at the end of a phrase, accent is placed on the final vowel. For example:

[akaːtʰõːtéʔ tsõːh tʰeʔ niːʔ teʔtéːkẽːʔ]

'I heard it, I didn't see it'

Morphosyntax

Cayuga is a polysynthetic language. As with other Iroquoian languages, the verbal template contains an optional prepronominal prefix, a pronominal prefix (indicating agreement), an optional incorporated noun, a verbal root, and an aspectual suffix. The nominal template consists of an agreement prefix (usually neuter for non-possessed nouns), the nominal root, and a suffix.

References

• Froman, Frances; Keye, Alfred; Keye, Lottie; Dyck, Carrie (2002). English-Cayuga/Cayuga-English Dictionary. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
• Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Rijkhoff, Jan (2002). The Noun Phrase. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-823782-0.
• Dyck C, Froman F, Keye A, Keye L (2024). A grammar and dictionary of Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ (Cayuga) (pdf). Berlin: Language Science Press. doi:10.5281/zenodo.10473483. ISBN 9783961104345.

Further reading

• Mithun, Marianne; Henry, Reginald (January 2007). Wadęwayę́stanih: A Cayuga Teaching Grammar (PDF) (2nd ed.). Brantford, ON: Woodland Indian Cultural Educational Centre. ISBN 978-0-919775-00-8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 October 2012.

• Dyck, Carrie, Frances Froman, Alfred Keye & Lottie Keye. LIN 6050 Structure of Cayuga. Course Package.. Ms. Memorial University of NL and Woodland Cultural Centre.

External links

• Cayuga: Our Oral Legacy (COOL)
• Cayuga: Our Oral Legacy (COOL)(NEW)
• Cayuga at LanguageGeek
• Ohwęjagehká: Ha’degaénage: Cayuga
• Sgę́nǫ’ Ga[?]hnawiyo'geh! - How to say "hello" in Cayuga
• "School fights to revive native Canadian language". Reuters. 15 February 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2008.
• "Government of Canada Announces New Research Project to Revitalize Cayuga Language at Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve, Ontario". Marketwire. 16 July 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
• OLAC resources in and about the Cayuga language