Our catch phrase is on its way.

Dear Fellow Earthlings,

Seneca is not yet out of the woods. I am trying to revive the patient, but the patient is ill. I do not wish to imply here that Seneca is old. All languages are old! French is old. Chinese is old. Bengali is old. English is old. So we are not talking about a language that is dying due to old age. Let me make that clear.

What is happening is that Seneca has been injured, battered, and abused. Even as “G” has worked hard as the doctor/nurse/caregiver of her native language, the support system that she needs in order to get Seneca back up on its feet is not there. The roles that the language used to play for the Seneca community have been taken over by English. Just as Spanish and Portuguese have taken over the roles of most of the indigenous languages of the Americas, so has English taken over the roles of the Seneca language. Such instances of one language’s functions being replaced by those of another language is something that has happened numerous times throughout history.

What really hurts is that until the disaster that befell the Seneca people in the vicinity of Salamanca, New York was created by the American government (and in violation of treaties between the United States government and the Seneca Nation’s government), there had been a thriving Seneca language speaking community in the area. A dam was built that covered the land of the Seneca people, drowning it. The reservoir that formed as a result of the construction of this dam (the Kinzua Dam) – a dam that the Seneca people did not want! – wiped out a way of life, dragging the native language (Seneca) of the victims under the water with it.

Relating all this to myself: At a time when I was trying to establish my identity as a person back in the mid-1960s, the Seneca Nation was experiencing the agony of seeing their culture drown. The shock to the Seneca people has been tremendous.

I am feeling the resignation of the old people that “all is lost”. As for the Seneca children, to whom I am “Steve” (I am not yet “Hadënöhšyö:nis” -- which is the Seneca name “G” has bestowed upon me – and which means “song or jingles writer or composer “), there is a very strong likelihood that they will grow up knowing about their language – but not really knowing it! My “Gaënö’” are going to have to stir the hearts and minds of the Seneca people – and not just their allophonomes (ability to pronounce Seneca in a nativelike manner) – if the Seneca language is to survive!

Steve Walker, Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

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