Contact

Scott Manning Stevens, Director
314 Tolley Humanities Building
scsteven@syr.edu
315-443-8785

Faculty

Percy Abrams

Description

The Iroquois language family is a group of distinct but closely related languages. Of these languages, six are spoken by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. These languages share a common grammatical structure and cultural history. This certificate program will explore the commonalities and differences among the Iroquois languages.

The courses are designed for students and teachers of Iroquois languages, addressing many different needs. They provide an excellent foundation for Iroquois language students, teachers, linguists, anthropologists, and others. These courses will contribute to Iroquois language revitalization efforts and expand knowledge of the Iroquois languages.

The Certificate in Iroquois Linguistics provides a unique opportunity to study the linguistic principles and grammatical features that are unique to the Iroquois languages. This program also offers a unique opportunity to study Iroquois linguistics with rich examples from the six Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy) languages.

Iroquois linguistics entails the study of a number of interacting grammatical systems within the Iroquois languages. The Certificate Iroquois Languages (CIL) sequence of courses will study all of the grammatical systems within the Iroquois Languages. The student will study the grammatical systems that the Iroquois languages have in common as well as the parts of the grammatical system which makes each of the Iroquois languages distinct.

The Iroquois verb is especially complex. It is imperative that someone who is learning or teaching an Iroquois language has a complete understanding of the grammatical systems that are interacting within the verb; to achieve fluency in an Iroquois language requires a full understanding of the grammatical systems. The Native Speakers of the Iroquois Languages acquire the grammatical systems naturally. In Iroquois Linguistics one seeks to model their knowledge.

A student in the Certificate in Iroquois Linguistics will also explore and learn to use the vast scholarly resources which are available to those who learn the linguistic terminology and concepts that are employed within these resources.