Editing Oneida language (section)

==Ecology==

===Speakers and location===
Historically, the Oneida tribe was located in [[upstate New York]] in what is now the [[Utica, New York|Utica]] area. During the early to mid-19th century, significant groups of Oneida migrated to Wisconsin and Ontario as a result of displacement driven by New York State following the [[American Revolutionary War]].<ref>{{harvp|Michelson|1988|p=4}}</ref> Today the population in New York includes about 1,100 members enrolled in the tribe;<ref>{{harvp|Wonderley|2004|p=xiii}}</ref> approximately 16,000 are in the [https://web.archive.org/web/20081113121112/http://businesscommittee.oneidanation.org/ Wisconsin tribe]. The majority of these individuals speak English and use Oneida as a [[second language]], if at all. Additional Oneida live in Ontario at the [[Six Nations of the Grand River]] and the [[Oneida Nation of the Thames]] settlement.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

According to the [[National Virtual Translation Center]], there are 250 speakers of Oneida, located in the Wisconsin and Ontario nations.<ref name="nvtc"/> Another source specifies that, in 1991, 200 Oneida speakers resided in the Thames (Ontario) Nation, and 50 in Wisconsin.<ref name="Ethno">See [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=one Ethnologue's page].</ref> Like many Indigenous peoples, the Oneida adopted and [[Cultural assimilation|assimilated]] individuals of other tribes captured in warfare, and they would learn Oneida.<ref>{{harvp|Wonderley|2004|p=14}}</ref> Today the vast majority of current speakers are of Oneida descent.

===Role of Oneida language in Oneida society===
The Oneida culture places a strong focus on [[oral tradition|oral narrative tradition]]:<ref>{{harvp|Wonderley|2004|p=xiv}}</ref> so much so that in the absence of use as primary communication, this is the major societal role of the Oneida language. In the words of the Oneida Men's Council and Clan Mothers, the "traditional Oneida language is a vital link to our ancestors and national identity".<ref name="Elm_vii">{{harvp|Elm|Antone|2000|p=vii}}</ref> These stories have long been used to develop social norms and pass along cultural capital via [[myths]], [[Folklore|folktales]], and [[legend]]s.

The Iroquois used three separate common names for these similar narratives: "things which truly happened," "it is as if an animal walked," and "they went to the woods to hunt for meat".<ref>{{harvp|Wonderley|2004|p=xix}}</ref> Respectively, these are stories of the mythology of the [[supernatural]], of (often [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]]) animals, and of parables or fables of human deeds.
The Oneida similarly have an extensive tradition of formal oratory and ritual tradition.<ref name="Wonderley_9">{{harvp|Wonderley|2004|p=9}}</ref> Many Oneida political and [[diplomacy|diplomatic]] processes are highly formalized in this way, and spoken words are reinforced by the use of [[wampum]], strings of symbolic shell beads, both in gesturing and as a gift indicating truth or seriousness.<ref>{{harvp|Wonderley|2004|p=xx–xxi, 9, 117}}</ref>

The [[condolence ceremony]], a ritual of succession of [[tribal chief|chiefdom]], played a central role in the maintenance of the [[Iroquois Confederacy]]; the Three Bare Words ceremony, a [[metaphor]]ical opening of the eyes, ears, and throat, preceded any diplomacy.<ref>{{harvp|Wonderley|2004|p=1}}</ref> Religious rituals as well made specific use of prescribed language, including the Onnonhouaroia ([[winter solstice|Midwinter]]) ceremony, a psychologically oriented celebration of dreams, and [[shamanism|shamanistic]] medicine ceremonies<ref>{{harvp|Wonderley|2004|p=12}}</ref> Traditions of both oral narrative as well as ritual are in general a lesser part of Oneida culture today than they were up until post-colonial times. As the clan leaders indicate, the culture is valued, and the Oneida language is integral in enacting that culture.<ref name="Elm_vii"/>

===Situation of Oneida with regard to multilingualism and language shift===
Oneida is a secondary language: Oneida leaders write in English about the value of preserving Oneida language and culture.<ref>{{harvp|Elm|Antone|2000|pp=vii–viii}}</ref> Almost all Oneida are either bilingual or monolingual English speakers; according to M. Dale Kincade, only six monolingual Oneida speakers remained in the United States in 1991. The Oneida have embraced the use of English since the colonial years, but Oneida Nation leaders continue to promote their language's cultural relevance and work to preserve it through maintenance of the Oneida language and bilingualism.<ref>{{cite web |title=Language Dreams Take Form |url=http://www.oneidaindiannation.com/culture/language/26874924.html |date=August 12, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100103164928/http://www.oneidaindiannation.com/culture/language/26874924.html |archive-date=January 3, 2010}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=October 2020}}

During the Depression era, the Folklore Project was created to preserve and promote the Oneida language.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Campisi|first1=Jack|last2=Hauptman|first2=Laurence|date=December 18, 1981|title=Talking Back: The Oneida Language and Folklore Project, 1938–1941|journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|volume=125|pages=441–448}}</ref>

Due to its disuse as a common communicative language – and its extensive use as a prescribed ritual language – the alteration of Oneida by its speakers is minimized. Demus Elm's retelling of the Creation Story, a linguistic act for which the form is not tightly prescribed, has limited space for language change.<ref>{{harvp|Elm|Antone|2000|pp=2–3}}</ref> But, oral narratives change over time; Anthony Wonderley confirms that they do. Having fewer speakers to tell the stories reduces possibilities for mutation.<ref>{{harvp|Wonderley|2004|p=xviii}}</ref> Gick notes one of several minor changes from Elm's morphology to Antone's over the 25-year span between their narratives: the omission of the final syllable from one particular verb. He assesses that "such differences simply indicate the two speakers' different ways of storytelling, or of speaking in general," rather than an appreciable linguistic shift.<ref>{{harvp|Elm|Antone|2000|p=29}}</ref>

===Assessment of the "health" of the Oneida language===
Oneida speakers were originally settled in New York State.<ref name=":1">Johnsen, John; Hlebowicz, Bartosz; Schuler, Harry (April 24, 2012). [http://www.ecmi.de/fileadmin/downloads/publications/JEMIE/2012/JHS.pdf "Land and Language: The Struggle for National, Territorial, and Linguistic Integrity of the Oneida People"] (PDF). ''Journal no Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe''. '''11''': 117–141.</ref> They have since been factionalized, and are now found in three different communities in New York State, Wisconsin, and Ontario, Canada. The division began with the influence of a number of missionaries in the late 18th century to the early 19th century who convinced many Oneida to either accept Christianity or maintain their more traditional Oneida beliefs. [[Eleazer Williams]], a Mohawk Indian, further convinced many Oneida to convert to Christianity and leave New York State to settle in an area near Green Bay, Wisconsin. As part of the larger conquest, the communities were further divided by the [[American Revolution]] when the governor of [[New York (state)|New York]] gave returning American soldiers parcels of Oneida land and they were told to relocate.<ref name="Our History {{!}} Oneida"/> Oneida took the side of the United States and the rest of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (also sometimes referred to as the Iroquois Confederacy) took the side of the English.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Watson, K. (2016). Oneida Indian Nation: A Personal History. ''Juniata Voices'', ''16''115–128.</ref> Further division was created within the Wisconsin Oneida community, in which Oneida speaking children were taken away from their families and brought to boarding schools where they were only allowed to speak English. All of these factors have led to the decrease in speakers.

The [[UNESCO]] Major Evaluative Factors of Language Vitality consists of a detailed set of nine factors to access the vitality of a language.<ref name="Course Readings">{{Cite web|title=Course Readings|url=https://ares.lib.uwo.ca/ares/ares.dll?Action=10&Type=10&Value=76046|access-date=2020-12-08|website=ares.lib.uwo.ca}}</ref> According to Factor 1: Intergenerational Transmission, Oneida is graded as a 1 or a degree of critically endangered.<ref name="Course Readings"/> Oneida is used by very few speakers and most users are among the great-grandparent generation. Oneida is primarily spoken by the elders or leaders in the community, but the majority of speakers use it as a secondary language. Factor 2: Absolute Number of Speakers would consider Oneida critically endangered because of the low number of speakers in the population makes it vulnerable.<ref name="Course Readings"/> The 2016 Canadian Census lists 55 mother tongue Oneida speakers in Ontario,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Government of Canada|first=Statistics Canada|date=2017-02-08|title=Census Profile, 2016 Census – Southwold, Township [Census subdivision], Ontario and Ontario [Province]|url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CSD&Code1=3534024&Geo2=PR&Code2=35&SearchText=Southwold&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&GeoLevel=PR&GeoCode=3534024&TABID=1&type=0|access-date=2020-12-08|website=www12.statcan.gc.ca}}</ref> making it at risk. Oneida would be graded as a 1 or a degree of highly limited domains on Factor 4: Trends in Existing Language Domains scale.<ref name="Course Readings"/> Under this categorization, Oneida is used only in very restricted domains and for few functions. Oneida is spoken in the community for formal purposes surrounding topics related to their culture.

While numbers of native speakers are limited, the viability of the Oneida nations and their efforts of cultural and linguistic preservation are at their highest level in 150 years. All three Oneida nations, New York, Wisconsin, and Thames (Ontario), have relatively well-developed websites (www.oneidaindiannation.com; www.oneidanation.org; www.oneida.on.ca/index.htm) publicizing the current events of the tribes and their governmental actions. The presence of these sites is known to the public: the ''[[Central New York Business Journal]]'' reported that the site of the Oneida Nation of New York is the oldest nationally.<ref>Gregory, Traci. "Oneida Nation Unveils New Web Home," ''[[Central New York Business Journal]]'' 19 Sep 2008: 16.</ref> These sites use a limited amount of Oneida language, almost exclusively in a context of explicit cultural preservation. The [[Oneida Nation of the Thames]] utilize their website to provide the public with information about their people, culture, community, and plans for the future.<ref name="oneida.on.ca"/> The site links to the Oneida Language and Cultural Centre website which provides additional information about the Oneida culture with links to videos, clothing, cultural symbols, prayers, clans, recipes, songs, stories, and history.<ref name="Oneida Language & Cultural Centre"/> In addition, information about Oneida language learning resources include lessons, classroom resources, learning resources, games, language proficiency tests, podcasts, written and spoken dictionaries, and videos to learn the language through their website.<ref name="Oneida Language & Cultural Centre"/>

Efforts to increase the number of bilingual Oneida speakers, however, have been extensive. Oneida language study has been formally sanctioned by the ''New York Oneida Nation'' for the past fifteen years and, through a collaboration with [[Berlitz Corporation|Berlitz]] to promote intensive language study, has been progressing rapidly since 2004.<ref name="language">[http://www.oneidaindiannation.com/culture/language/26874924.html "Language Dreams Take Form"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100103164928/http://www.oneidaindiannation.com/culture/language/26874924.html |date=2010-01-03 }}. Aug 12, 2008.</ref> The Berlitz representative acting as liaison to the Oneida Nation identified the task as a particularly difficult one:

<blockquote>Berlitz divides languages into two sections of difficulty, A and B ... I'm going to make up a C list for Oneida. It is a very hard language. It will take a student more hours to learn because of the vocabulary. Word lengths are so long. Learning English can be compared to a train with one car following another and another; in Oneida it's a circle.<ref name="language"/></blockquote>

Some language revitalization and preservation efforts have been made. Beginning in 1936 and led by Morris Swadesh, the Folklore Project, started at the University of Wisconsin, was an important program for the preservation and expansion of the Oneida language.<ref name=":0" /> It was later led by Floyd Lounsbury and formally started in January 1939. It lasted for nineteen months. Twenty-four Oneidas were placed in a two-week training session, in which they were told to write their language. Those considered the best writers would then complete the project. These writers were to meet every weekday and were to get paid 50 cents an hour as compensation for their time spent doing the study. By the end of the project, the participants, which was reduced to eight throughout the project, were able to write in their language. They collected stories, which were then also brought to the university staff, and were then transcribed.

The new revenues from casinos are helping the Oneida undertake language preservation. Extant literary works are recent: Elm & Antone's ''Creation Story'' was published in 2000, and Wonderley's collection of stories in 2004. Although the time of the Oneida language as a primary language is almost certainly ending if it has not already ended, signs point to its continued use in a cultural context.

Primary products of documentation can be found at the [[Smithsonian Institution]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Search|url=https://www.si.edu/search/collection-images|access-date=2020-12-08|website=Smithsonian Institution|language=en}}</ref> the [[American Philosophical Society]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Search Results|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/collections/search?keyword=oneida&title=&creator=&identifier=&subject=&year=&year-max=&smode=advanced&smode=advanced|access-date=2020-12-08|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> [[Syracuse University Library]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Summon 2.0|url=https://syracuse.summon.serialssolutions.com/search?q=oneida#!/search?ho=t&fvf=ContentType,Archival%20Material,f&l=en&q=oneida|access-date=2020-12-08|website=syracuse.summon.serialssolutions.com}}</ref> and [[The Oneida Language Audio Collection]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Oneida Nation {{!}} Archives|url=https://oneida-nsn.gov/our-ways/language/archives/|access-date=2020-12-08|language=en}}</ref> The archives include documents relating to vocabulary, grammar, prayers, handwritten letters, photographs, census copies, exhibitions, books, manuscripts, pamphlets, analytics, maps, correspondences, documents, and audio files. Additionally, secondary products of documentation consist of dictionaries, grammar information, and texts. The dictionaries consist of complete entries of all Oneida lexicon, while grammar books describe sounds, words and sentence structure, and meanings.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Oneida Language {{!}} dictionary and grammar {{!}} citation scan|url=https://www.uwgb.edu/dictionary/dictionaryScan.aspx|access-date=2020-12-08|website=www.uwgb.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Oneida Language {{!}} dictionary and grammar {{!}} dictionary|url=https://www.uwgb.edu/dictionary/|access-date=2020-12-08|website=www.uwgb.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Oneida Nation {{!}} Structure of Language|url=https://oneida-nsn.gov/our-ways/language/explore/|access-date=2020-12-08|language=en}}</ref> Among the texts, stories, hymns, prayers, videos, songs, language learning resources, and websites<ref>{{Cite web|title=' Oneida language—Texts' Search Results for Toronto Public Library|url=https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/search.jsp;jsessionid=ICvqBxSbBsD1C2Zo4PGk7PF2.tplapp-p-2b?Ntt=Oneida+language--Texts&Ntk=Subject_Search_Interface|access-date=2020-12-08|website=Toronto Public Library|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Learn Our Language {{!}} Oneida|url=https://oneidalanguage.ca/learn-our-language/|access-date=2020-12-08|website=oneidalanguage.ca}}</ref> are present.