Katie Klass September 2014
Tribes in the area in the early 1600s Wendat (Huron) Confederacy Included five Tribes: Attignawantan, Attigneenongahac, Arendahronon, Tahontaenrat, and Ataronchronon Tionontati (Petun) Tribe Atiwandaronk (Neutral) Tribe Wenro Tribe Was part of the Atiwandaronk (Neutral) Tribe early on Erie Tribe Iroquois (Five Nations) Confederacy Included five Tribes: Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk
1609 The Wendat Confederacy encountered the French 1630s Several epidemics killed half the Wendat people Tension was building because the Wendat Confederacy allied with France and the Iroquois Confederacy allied with England in the fur trade, and the Iroquois Confederacy changed military tactics and began wiping out entire villages 1649 The Wendat people left their villages on the Georgian Bay The Wendat Confederacy split off into many directions, with some joining with other friendly tribes and some being absorbed into hostile tribes
Current location of linguistic Wendat and Tionontati descendants Huron-Wendat Nation (Lorette, Canada) Wyandot of Anderdon Nation (Trenton, Michigan) Wyandot Nation of Kansas (Kansas City, Kansas) Wyandotte Nation (Wyandotte, Oklahoma)
Closely related languages (sister languages) Northern Iroquoian Lake Iroquoian Huronian Waⁿdat Wendat Tionontati, Atiwandaronk, Wenro, Erie Five Nations Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Susquehannock, Cayuga, Seneca Coast Iroquoian Tuscarora, Nottoway, Meherrin Southern Iroquoian Cherokee
Our last Waⁿdat speaker Frank Wilson (pseudonym) Alive in 1972, and spoke only Waⁿdat as a child Recordings in the 1950s and 1960s Ex. Sarah Dushane in 1966 in Miami, OK Marius Barbeau Canadian folklorist, lawyer, and anthropologist who worked for the Geological Survey of Canada Recorded Waⁿdat in 1911 and 1912 In Craig’s database, 25,641 words were preserved by Barbeau, and only 6,294 were preserved by others
Bruce Pearson Started working with the Wyandotte Nation in 1994 Uses a version of Americanist transcription, with some of Barbeau’s phonetic symbols maintained (ex. glottal stop is ʼ ) Compiled a handbook and dictionary of Waⁿdat based mostly on Barbeau’s 4o stories Translated the 40 stories Barbeau recorded into Americanist transcription
Craig Kopris Had contact with the Wyandot Nation of Kansas in the 1990s, started working with Waⁿdat in 1991, started compiling the databases in 1997, began attending Culture Days in 2010 Uses a version of Americanist transcript, but does not maintain Barbeau’s symbols (ex. glottal stop is ʔ ) Has created three electronic databases Vocabulary – 31,935 entries Roots – 1,147 entries Texts – 48 preserved texts Is currently putting together a high school level Waⁿdat language class
April 2012 Recorded artifact words and The Young Woman Fallen from Above story with Craig for the “Gathering of Traditions” Barbeau museum exhibit June 2013 Recorded conversational words and phrases with Craig for the the 2013 Culture Days language presentation
Verbs are very important and usually consist of three elements: Verb root – Conveys the basic action or state of being Pronominal prefix – Identifies the person associated with the action or state of being Suffix – Indicates the status of the action or state of being The way a word is pronounced can drastically modify its meaning “H” can do more things than it can in English Has “ⁿd” and “ⁿg” Has “ž” and “m”
Waⁿdat uses 14 consonants and seven vowels As opposed to the 24 consonants and 14 vowels in English, but this also depends on your dialect Nasalized vowels Ę – Like “mend” (not “med” or “meh”) ǫ́ – Like “honk” or “song”
Glottal stops ʔ – Like “uh-oh” or “hot tamale” Pre-nasal stops ⁿd and ⁿg – With the “n” sound being very faint Sounds you know but look different Š (s-wedge) – Like “sh” ž (z-wedge) – Like “pleasure”
Hello, friends Linguist spelling: kweh, ǫmateru ʔ Phonetic: kw/aye, om-ah-tear-oo My name is X Linguist spelling: X ižá:tsih Phonetic: X ee-jah/ht-zee I am Wyandotte Linguist spelling: Waⁿdát ⁿdi ʔ Phonetic: won-dot-n/dee Goodbye Linguist spelling: unęh Phonetic: oo-neh Thank you Linguist spelling: tižamęh Phonetic: tee-jah-meh
Not like English All verbs in Waⁿdat, so they change depending on the relationship (ex. “she mothers me” or “she mothers you”) Mother/Aunt (mother’s sister) Linguist spelling: anę́: ʔ ęh Phonetic: ah-neh-eh Father/Uncle (father’s brother) Linguist spelling: ha ʔ ístę ʔ Phonetic: ha-ee-st/eh
Little sister Linguist spelling: ye ʔ yę ʔ áha ʔ Phonetic: yay-yeh-ah-ha Big sister Linguist spelling: e ʔ yę́ ʔ ah Phonetic: aye-yeh-ah Little brother Linguist spelling: he ʔ yę ʔ áha ʔ Phonetic: hay-yeh-ah-ha Big brother Linguist spelling: he ʔ yę́: ʔ ah Phonetic: hay-yeh-ah
Grandmother Linguist spelling: ahšutá ʔ Phonetic: ah-shu-ta Grandfather Linguist spelling: hahšutá ʔ Phonetic: hah-shu-ta Spouse (speaking to that person) Linguist spelling: tiwéih Phonetic: tee-way-ee I love you Linguist spelling: yǫdurǫ́hkwa ʔ Phonetic: yon-dur-ohn-kwa
Turtle Linguist spelling: ⁿgyá ʔ wiš Phonetic: gyah-wish Sky Linguist spelling: yarǫ́nya ʔ Phonetic: yah-rohn-yah Don’t cry Linguist spelling: nǫhšarę́tę ʔ Phonetic: no-shuh-reh/eh-teh Let’s all dance Linguist spelling: ekwaⁿdrawah Phonetic: aye-qwah-drow-ah