Our catch phrase is on its way.

Dear Fellow Earthlings,

One of the reasons why I have not been writing blog installments on a daily basis is that I am extremely involved in designing Jingles for the Seneca language. Currently, I am still analyzing various phonemes of Seneca so that I can get a feel for where the various synergies of Seneca lie. Here are a few of my preliminary findings, based on work various linguists have done as they seek to describe the phonology of Seneca: 1) the lenis stops described by linguists (t/d/k/g/ ’) of Seneca appear to be parallelled by two affricates (dz/dzh), three fricatives (s/s̈/h), two semivowels (W/y), and seven vowels (i/e/ä/Ë/o/A/ö). 2) n is the only nasal consonant – but appears to be part of a different synergetic paradigm (n/ä /Ë/ö). Using “Jingles logic”, a third synergy can then be posited: 3) (W/o/ö). The above gestures are still being analyzed, but I would venture to say that, based on the fact that all of them go no deeper into the body than the region of the glottis, that the PRIMARY SYNERGY (S1) for Seneca is located in the region of the mouth (unlike English, where it lies in the region of the navel; or in French, where it lies in the region of the stomach; or in Arabic, where it lies in the region of the pharynx. I would even speculate that S1 for Seneca is located around the full circumference of the lips! We shall see! One other point to be mentioned today: All of this systematization is still rather tenuous and subject to revision! But it IS a BEGINNING!

Steve Walker, Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.