Our catch phrase is on its way.

Dear Fellow Earthlings,

Gajehsöh’s eldest grandson DaEdzO:n (whom I introduced to my readers in Installment 277) , in pursuit of developing his Seneca language skills as much as possible, has, over the past two years, made it a point to look for whatever historical information on the Seneca language that he can.

DaEdzO:n has become somewhat familiar with “The Jingles” and their Seneca equivalent the“ Gaënö’shö’ ’öh (the plural form for “ gaënö’ “) since he works closely with Gajehsöh on an almost daily basis. When “Jordy” (DaEdzO:n’s English nickname) discovered a PhD dissertation written by a Seneca woman named Hazel Virginia Jimerson Dean-John back in 1983, and entitled “Seneca Phonetics; An Articulatory and Acoustic Investigation”, he knew that I would be interested in its contents.

I am happy to say that DaEdzO:n emailed me the manuscript today. It is going to take a few days for me to go through Dean-John’s work and to see how it compares and contrasts to my own work. I thank DaEdzO:n for finding that paper for me...

Today Gajehsöh and I continued to work on new Seneca worksheets and to investigate various aspects of Seneca phonology. Both of us are committed to not allowing Seneca phonology to be taken lightly as we try to help learners of Seneca to gain a greater physical “feel” for the dynamics of Seneca oral production and aural reception.

On this my last day in Seneca country, Gajehsöh drove me to see another Seneca nation town, called Cattaraugus (known by the name “Ga’ dä ges” in the Seneca language). I lament the fact that the Seneca people in Cattaraugus, similar to their countrymen in Salamanca -- for the most part -- speak no Seneca!

My stay here in Seneca land has been short. However, it has been educational, productive, and meaningful. Its effects will aid in my continuing development of the Gaënö’.

Hadënöhšyö:nis (English name: Steve Walker) Earthsaver and Gaënö’’composer,

EarthSaver

Steve Walker

Our catch phrase is on its way.