Home > Iroquoian languages

Every language in this family has at least one nasal vowel phoneme. Cherokee's is a nasal schwa, written in transliteration as 'v' (e.g. "Hv?" sounds like "Huh?" nasalized, and means the same thing).

The Iroquois were made up of a group or league of tribes that settled much of the land which presently spans from western New York to western Ohio. They were not nomadic but preferred to live in villages with houses built of saplings and bark or thatch commonly called long houses . Food such as corn, squash, beans, and other crops were cultivated and stored in various types of pottery jars. Excavated grains, pottery and other evidence suggests that a typical Indian meal consisted of soup made from different plants and animals, with corn as a staple in their diets.

Some linguists group the Iroquoian languages with the Siouan languages as the Macro-Siouan family, but this larger family is not recognized by a consensus of linguists.

Iroquoian languages

• Northern Iroquoian languages (8)
  • Five Nations languages (5)
    • Mohawk-Oneida languages (2)
      • Mohawk languageMohawk is a Native American language spoken in the United States and Canada. It is part of the Iroquoian family. Phonology Based on sound files available at http://www. ohwejagehka. htm, the phoneme inventory appears to be as follows (using SAMPA notation
      • Oneida language
    • Seneca-Onondaga languages (3)
      • Onondaga language
      • Seneca-Cayuga languages (2)
        • Seneca language
        • Cayuga language
  • Huron languages (1)
    • Wyandot languageWyandot is the Iroquoian language traditionally spoken by the people known variously as Wyandot, Wendat, or Huron. It is spoken primarily in Oklahoma and Quebec. In Wendake, Quebec, Wyandot no longer has any native speakers, but is being studied and promo
  • Laurentian languages
    • Tuscarora-Nottoway languages (1)
      • Tuscarora language
• Southern Iroquoian languages (1)
  • Cherokee languageCherokee is an Iroquoian language spoken by the Cherokee people. It is the only known Southern Iroquoian language that remains spoken. Phonology Cherokee only has one labial consonant, being /m/, which is relatively new to the language, unless you count C
• Susquehannock language ( extinct languageAn extinct language is a language which is no longer natively spoken. One of the most well known extinct languages is Latin. See also: Last native speakers Endangered language List of extinct languages.)