Characteristics
of
Mingo/Seneca
and North-Iroquoian Languages in General
Overview
- Long Words
-
Words in North Iroquoian languages tend to be quite long
(compared to English).
This is because of the two following characteristics of these
languages: the fact that
they are polysynthetic
and the "all encompassing verb" phenomenon
(the fact that almost everything in the phrase
gets scooped up into the verb).
-
No "Article"
-
The Mingo/Seneca language
(as well as other North Iroquoian languages)
does not have a grammatical article,
i.e. words for "a" or "the".
For more on this, see
No Article,
-
Polysynthetic
-
The Mingo/Seneca language (as well as the other North-Iroquoian languages)
are polysynthetic.
This means that the words of the language are composed of stretches of
"building-blocks", each one contributing something to the meaning of the final word.
As a typical result, the words in these languages tend to be rather long.
Nevertheless, one can easily understand the wods by breaking them up
into their components.
For examples and futher details, see: Polysynthetic,
-
The All-Encompassing Verb
-
A particular peculiarity of the North-Iroquoian languages
is that almost everything in a sentence (or rather in a phrase)
becomes part of the verb.
So, for example, the English sentence "he saw me"
becomes one Iroquoian word
"he-saw-me"
(in Mingo/Seneca:
«waakékë'»),
where the parts of the word indicate who does what to whom.
Another example would be the word for "west".
In Mingo/Seneca it is
«hekææhkwë's»
which literally means
"the sun sets towards there".
We can still make the word longer by adding the direction-suffix
«-kwá»
(meaning "-ward" or "in that direction"),
and create the word "westward" (towards the west):
«hekææhkwë'skwá»
("towards where the sun sets").
For examples and futher details, see: Everything in the Verb,
No Article
Mingo/Seneca
(and other North Iroquoian languages)
does not have a grammatical article,
i.e. word for "a" or "the".
So, for example,
the word
«hayëstáni»
can mean either "a teacher" or "the teacher".
Consequently, the phrase
«waakékë'
ne
hayëstáni»
can mean either "a teacher saw me" or "the teacher saw me".
The exact meaning (i.e. whether "a teacher" or "the teacher")
is determined by the context
(of course, some uncertainty might still remain
if the context is not so clear).
Note that this characteristic is common
to many languages around the world,
including Chinese, Russian, and even Latin.
Polysynthetic
Mingo/Seneca and other Iroquoian languages are Polysynthetic.
This means that words are composed of a string of "parts"
each one giving an additional meaning to the final word.
For example:
The Mingo name for West-Virginia is
«Työtahsehtahkwa'ke».
This word literally means "at (the) Hiding Place" (the West-Virginia mountains
were used by the Mingo as a refuge place)
It is is composed of the following elements:
työtahsehtahkwa'ke
--
At the Hiding Place
|
työtahsehtahkwa'
|
-ke
|
|
Hiding Place
|
on / at someplace
(prepositional suffix)
|
The word työtahsehtahkwa'
("Hiding Place") literally means "hiding tool" or "instrument for hiding oneself"
(or "one hides onselef with it").
It, in turn, is composed of the following elements:
työtahsehtahkwa'
--
Hiding Place
|
t-
|
ye-
|
-atahseht-
|
-a-
|
-hkwa'
|
there
(verb-prefix)
See note [1]
|
"one" (i.e. anyone)
[2]
(pronomial prefix)
See note [3]
|
to hide oneself
(verb-root)
See note [1]
|
(linking vowel)
|
Instrumental
(verb-base suffix)
See note [4]
|
Notes:
- [1]
The «t-» prefix + the verb-root:
-
Here, the «t-» is the verb-prefix for the verb-base
«-atahseht-» (to hide oneself),
which comes after the pronomial prefix.
Together they mean "to hide someplace"
-
[2] The Anonymous Person
-
Literally, the pronomial prefix
«ye-»
means "she". However, it is also used to denote the
anonymous person (e.g. "one hides")
- [3]
«Ye-»
+ «a»
= «yö-»
-
When the pronomial prefix
«Ye-»
is followed by the letter
«a»,
the combination of both yields
«yö-»
-
[4] Form of «-hkwa'»
-
The root of this instrumentative suffix is
«-hkw-».
It appears here in its Habitual-aspect form.
It is very common to find "nouns" which are actually (grammatically)
verbs in the Habitual aspect (or in the Stative aspect).
The verb-base
«-atahseht-»
(to hide oneself),
itself is composed of the following parts
-atahseht-
--
To Hide Oneself
|
at-
|
-ahseht-
|
"Middle" prefix
(i.e. "oneself")
(verb-prefix)
|
to hide something
(verb root)
|
Everything in the Verb
- Everything in the Verb
-
In the North Iroquoian languages,
almost everything in the sentance (or, rather, phrase)
gets scooped up into the verb:
the pronoun (who is doing, to whom),
the action (the verb itself),
prepositions ("in", "at", "with", "from", etc.),
aspect of the action (usually, at one time, "have done so", etc.),
and so forth.
- Verbs as Nouns
-
In North Iroquoian languages,
it is very common to use
verbs (i.e. words whose grammatical form is a verb)
to express the meaning of a noun (a "thing", an object, whether concrete or abstract).
Examples
English
(noun)
|
Mingo/Seneca
(verb used as a noun)
|
Literal Meaning |
| teacher (male) |
hayëstáni |
he teaches |
| town |
kanötayë' |
a town (settlement) is laid-out |
- Same Word Treated as a Noun or Verb -- Depending on the Context
-
The same word (a grammatical verb)
may be treated either as a noun or as a verb,
depending on the context.
The semantic distinction
may be somewhat blurred,
and there may be little difference between meaning a action (verb)
and an actor (noun).
The sentence
«Hayëstáni
ne
John»
can mean
either "John teaches"
or "John is a teacher"
(or "John is the teacher").
- View Nouns as a form of a Verb
-
Most (if not all; I haven't really researched this)
of the nouns in Mingo/Seneca (i.e. words which are
actually categorized as a grammatical noun),
can be viewed as a verb
in the Stative aspect.
Only the treatment would be differnt.
For example,
the word for "word",
«uwënö'»
(or
«owënö'»)
is considered a noun.
But it can also be viewed as a verb
in the Stative aspect.
-
hayëstáni
-- (1) he teaches; (2) a teacher (male))
-
ha-
he (agent pronomial prefix: 3rd person, male, singular)
-yëstáni
: to teach
-
Verb base, in the Habitual-aspect.
The verb root is
-yëstani-
(in this case, the Habitual aspect form is identical to the root)
-
-yëst-
: to learn; to read
-
-yë-
: to know (how to do something); knowledge (verb root)
-st
: verb-base suffix
-a-
: a linking vowel
-
The vowel is lenghened according to the vowel-lengthening rules.
-ni
: dative, i.e. "to someone" (verb suffix)
-
hekææhkwë's
-- west
(literally: the sun set towards there)
-
he-
:
towards someplace (verb prefix)
ka-
:
it (Agent pronomial prefix; 3rd person, neuter [i.e. inanimate], singular)
-
The vowel «a»
changed into an «æ»
in assimilation to the following vowel «æ»,
yielding
«kæ-»
-æhkw-
:
sun
-
Noun root.
I assume (I have not research this)
that the historical root was
«-rahkw-».
The consonant «r»
dropped of over the years,
but in the process
caused the following vowel «a»
to change into an «æ».
This, in turn, caused the preceeding vowel
(of the pronomial prefix «ka-»)
to change into an «æ» as well.
-ë's
:
to drop down
-
Verb stem, in the Habitual aspect;
the verb root is
«-ë-» (??).
-
hekææhkwë'skwá
-- westward
-
hekææhkwë's
:
west
-kwá
:
"-ward", towards that direction.
-
kanötayë'
-- town
-
ka-
:
it (Agent pronomial prefix: 3rd person, neuter [i.e. inanimate], singular)
-nötayë'
:
to be a town laid out
-
Verb stem, in the Stative aspect;
the verb base is
«-nötayë-»
-nöt-
:
town, village, settlement
-
Noun root
Historically, the root is
«-nat-»,
and it still is in some other languages
(e.g. Mohawk);
in fact, the word "Canada" is based on that root
(probably
«kanáta'»,
for "town" or "settlement").
However, in Mingo (and Seneca)
the vowel
«a»
is nasalized into
«ö»
when preceeded by the consonant
«n».
-a-
:
linking vowel
-yë'
:
to be laid out
-
Verb stem, in the Stative aspect;
the verb root is
«-yë-»
Note:
This verb is an Agent-State verb.
It describes a state of being (rather than, say, an action),
in this case being laid out.
It can be found only in the Stative aspects, but always takes
Agent pronomial prefixes
(the Stative usually requires a Patient pronomial prefix).
As far as I know, it only comes with the neuter (i.e. inanimate)
pronomial prefix, meaning "it"
(i.e. I never heard of any other conjugations
such as "they are towns laid out", "we are towns laid out", etc.).
-
Kányö'ökhá'
-- Whitely, Englishly (i.e. in English))
-
ka-
: it (Agent pronomial prefix); the vowel is lengthened by the following verb-stem (type LX)
-nyö'ö
: o be a white person.
-
Verb stem, in the Stative aspect;
the verb root is
-nyö'ö-
(in this case there is no special ending for the Stative aspect).
-khá'
: characterizer suffix (such as "-ly" in English)
-
ne
-- (grammatical subordination)
-
The word
ne
is a particle
which denotes that the following word
(a noun, or verb used as a noun)
is the "participant" in the action
described in the verb of the sentence.
For further details,
see
The Particle «ne»
-
tekawënötenyô
-- It is translated
-
te-
: dual
(verb prefix of
«te-...-wënötenyô»)
ka-
: it
(Agent pronomial prefix:
3rd person,
neutral [i.e. inanimate -- neither feminine nor masculine],
singular)
te-...-wënötenyô
:
- to be translated (when used with Agent pronomial prefix);
- to have translated (when used with Patient pronomial prefix).
-
Verb stem, in the Stative aspect;
the verb root is
«te-...-wënöteny-»,
to translate something
(literally: "to change one word for another").
te-
:
dual (verb prefix); in this case: "one for another"
-...-
:
this is where the pronomial-prefix is placed
-wën-
:
sound, word
-
This is an incorporated noun; it serves as the object of the verb
(i.e. to change words)
-ö-
: linking-vowel
-
This linking vowel is actually an «a» nasalized to
«ö»
because of the preceding «n»
(in other languages, e.g. Mohawk, this assimilation does not happen,
and the linking vowel is actually «a»;
for example,
compare the Mohawk word
«owëna'»
for "word"
to the Mingo/Seneca equivalent,
«owënö'»).
-tenyô
:
- to be changed (when used with an Agent pronomial-prefix);
- to have changed (when used with a Patient pronomial-prefix)
-
Verb stem, in the Stative aspect.
the verb root is
-teny-,
to change.
-
Työtahsehtahkwa'ke
- at (a/the) hiding place (literal meaning)
- West Virginia
(West Virginia was used as a refuge place by the Mingo people).
The word should be capitalized
(«Työtahsehtahkwa'ke»)
when used to mean the place name "West Virginia".
-
Työtahsehtahkwa'
:
hiding place
-
t-
:
there, at someplace
-
Verb prefix, belonging to the following verb-base "to hide someplace"
(without this prefix, the verb would mean just "to hide").
ye-
:
(1) she; (2) one (i.e. "anyone")
-
Agent pronomial prefix (3rd person, feminine, singular)
The literal meaning of this pronomial prefix is "she".
However, it is also used as the "default" pronomial prefix,
when the meaning is "one", "anyone"
(as in "one hides there").
When the pronomial prefix
«ye-»
is followed by the vowel
«a»,
they are both combined into
«yö-»
t-...-atahseht-
:
to hide oneself someplace
-
Verb base.
t-
:
at someplace (verb prefix)
...
:
(this is where the pronomial-prefix goes)
-atahseht-
:
to hide oneself.
-
Verb base.
When preceeded by the verb-prefix
«t-»
(at someplace),
this verb means "to hide oneself (at) someplace".
at-
:
"middle" prefix; in this case, it means "oneself"
-ahseht-
:
to hide (something).
-
Verb root.
When preceeded by the verb-prefix
«t-»
(at someplace),
this verb means "to hide something (at) someplace".
-a-
:
linking vowel
-hkwa'
:
Instrumentative
(to be instrumentative for some purpose;
to a tool for some purpose)
-
Base-suffix, in the Habitual aspect;
the base's root is
«-hkw-»
-ke
:
at someplace (prepositional suffix)
-
uwënö'
-- sound; word; language;
-
u-
:
it
(Patient pronomial prefix; 3rd person, neuter [i.e. inanimate], singular)
-wën-
:
sound (noun root)
-ö-
:
linking vowel
-
This is actually the vowel «a»,
nasalized to
«ö»
when preceeded by the consonant «n»
In Mohawk, for instance,
the word is
«owëna'»
-'
:
noun ending
-
waakékë'
-- he saw me
-
wa'-
:
Factual
-
Verb-mode prefix.
The Factual denotes an action that definitely happened.
The form
«wa'-»
is used before a vowel (or «h»+vowel);
the form,
«u'-»
(Mingo)
or
«o'-»
(Seneca)
is used before a consonant.
Both the glottal stop («'») and the «h» drop
when the factual pefix is followed by an «h»+vowel.
hake-
:
he to me
(interactive pronomial prefix)
-
The form
«hak-»
is used before a vowel or a single consonant (other than «k»);
the form
«hake-»
is used before two or more consonants,
or the consonant «k».
The «h» is dropped when preceded
by a vowel or
by the Factual mode-prefix.
The vowel «e»
(which occurs here as the penultimate vowel in the word)
is lengthened according to the vowel-lengthening rules.
-kë'
:
to see
-
Verb stem, in the Punctual aspect;
the verb root is
«-kë-»
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