Contact and change in Oneida
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Clifford Abbott
Abstract
Oneida is the highly endangered Iroquoian language of several communities of Oneida people in Wisconsin, Ontario, and New York. It is most closely related to Mohawk and then to the languages of the other five nations of the League of the Iroquois, whose homelands stretched across New York from Mohawk near the Hudson west through the territories in the order of Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca near Lake Erie. Over the last four centuries the Oneida speakers have had increasing contact with speakers of other languages. An initial inspection of the language suggests that it has been remarkably resistant to borrowing from these other languages; that deserves an explanation. This paper reviews the history of language contact for Oneida with a focus on the opportunities and pressures for bilingualism and how that bilingualism may have effected change in Oneida.
Abstract
Oneida is the highly endangered Iroquoian language of several communities of Oneida people in Wisconsin, Ontario, and New York. It is most closely related to Mohawk and then to the languages of the other five nations of the League of the Iroquois, whose homelands stretched across New York from Mohawk near the Hudson west through the territories in the order of Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca near Lake Erie. Over the last four centuries the Oneida speakers have had increasing contact with speakers of other languages. An initial inspection of the language suggests that it has been remarkably resistant to borrowing from these other languages; that deserves an explanation. This paper reviews the history of language contact for Oneida with a focus on the opportunities and pressures for bilingualism and how that bilingualism may have effected change in Oneida.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Language contact and change in the Americas 1
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Part I North America: California
- Yuki, Pomoan, Wintun, and Athabaskan 17
- The role of passives in the formation of hierarchical systems in Northern California 33
- Assessing the effects of language contact on Northeastern Pomo 67
- Synchronic and diachronic accounts of phonological features in Central Chumash languages 91
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Part II North America: Athabaskan, Iroquoian, and Uto-Aztecan
- Contact and semantic shift in extreme language endangerment 107
- “Excorporation” in a Dene (Athabaskan) language 139
- Contact and change in Oneida 167
- Huron/Wendat interactions with the Seneca language 189
- The usual suspects 219
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Part III Northern Mexico, Mesoamerica, and South America
- Language documentation and historical linguistics 249
- The Jakaltek Popti’ noun classifier system 273
- Language contact and word structure 297
- Auxiliation and typological shift 315
- Discourse pattern replication in South Conchucos Quechua and Andean Spanish 339
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Part IV The Americas and beyond
- Measuring language typicality, with special reference to the Americas 365
- Words for ‘dog’ as a diagnostic of language contact in the Americas 385
- Index 411
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Language contact and change in the Americas 1
-
Part I North America: California
- Yuki, Pomoan, Wintun, and Athabaskan 17
- The role of passives in the formation of hierarchical systems in Northern California 33
- Assessing the effects of language contact on Northeastern Pomo 67
- Synchronic and diachronic accounts of phonological features in Central Chumash languages 91
-
Part II North America: Athabaskan, Iroquoian, and Uto-Aztecan
- Contact and semantic shift in extreme language endangerment 107
- “Excorporation” in a Dene (Athabaskan) language 139
- Contact and change in Oneida 167
- Huron/Wendat interactions with the Seneca language 189
- The usual suspects 219
-
Part III Northern Mexico, Mesoamerica, and South America
- Language documentation and historical linguistics 249
- The Jakaltek Popti’ noun classifier system 273
- Language contact and word structure 297
- Auxiliation and typological shift 315
- Discourse pattern replication in South Conchucos Quechua and Andean Spanish 339
-
Part IV The Americas and beyond
- Measuring language typicality, with special reference to the Americas 365
- Words for ‘dog’ as a diagnostic of language contact in the Americas 385
- Index 411
