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Karin
Michelson: Research My
research has been focused on the Northern Iroquoian languages and in
particular on Oneida, which I have worked on since 1979 at Oneida Nation of the Thames in Ontario,
Canada. The
Northern Iroquoian languages (which include Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca,
Tuscarora, and Huron in addition to Oneida) are among the better-documented
languages of North America. The early descriptions by the Jesuits (such as
the 17th century Mohawk dictionary by Jacques Bruyas and the 19th century
dictionary and grammatical sketch by J.A. Cuoq), the cosmologies by J.N.B.
Hewitt, and the wonderful rendition of an Iroquois Condolence Council by
Horatio Hale provide a rich record of important aspects of Iroquois culture
as well as of the languages. And in modern times, we are fortunate to have
Floyd Lounsbury's Oneida Verb Morphology (1953) as a basis for further study. (List of
references cited) Oneida,
like other Iroquoian languages, is polysynthetic with many morphemes per
word, extensive noun incorporation and bound obligatory pronouns that form
extremely large verbal paradigms. The organization of Michelson and Doxtator
(2002), An
Oneida-English English-Oneida Dictionary, is an attempt to confront the
challenges of Oneida morphology (sample page from
dictionary.) One source of data for the dictionary was a substantial
stock of recordings from about ten speakers (mostly life histories, often
humourful). Since the publication of the dictionary I have continued to
record excellent speakers who have helped me understand the Oneida language.
Because these also give us a perspective on Oneida life in the early to
late-mid 20th century, I have been preparing the recorded material for
eventual distribution (sample text). Other
current research interests in Oneida: ¥ Instrumental phonetic
studies: Tsan Huang and I have been doing an instrumental study of Oneida plosives
(pdf). ¥ Argument stucture: I have
become interested, in collaboration with Jean-Pierre Koenig, in how arguments
are realized in noun incorporation structures (involving two lexical roots),
in complex utterances (involving more than one clause), and in kin terms
(involving more than one referent). ¥ Oneida grammar: Under
preparation is a comprehensive Oneida grammar.
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