Seneca Immersion Group

Nya:wëh Sgë:nö’!

Welcome to the Deadiwënöhsnye’s Gëjóhgwa’ website.

The Deadiwënöhsnye’s (They Protect the Language) Gëjóhgwa’ (Group of people) "Immersion Program", is designed to contribute to the revitalization efforts of Onöndowa'ga:' Gawë:nö’ (Seneca Language). This program is dedicated to providing adult learners the opportunity to exponentially increase their Onöndowa'ga:' Gawë:nö’ verbal proficiency through various teaching methods and practical applications, in turn, creating teachers, resource developers, transcribers, etc. to increase Onöndowa'ga:' Gawë:nö’ use within the Seneca Nation.

The goal of the Deadiwënöhsnye’s Gëjóhgwa’ Immersion Program is to enable students to converse in Onöndowa'ga:' Gawë:nö’ with fluent speakers on a limited number of subjects involving common situations (but not events). They will learn to describe their friends and family members, their physical appearance, clan and nation, health, mental state, aches and pains, location, place of residence, age, children, marital situation, personal possessions, and the weather. They will learn to describe people, objects, where and how they are located, their ownership, color and number. They will learn to talk about all these situations in the past, present, and future. Students will also be able to name common domestic and “wild” animals, birds, and insects. They will be able to name geographic features, along with common local, regional and world place names. They will also gain an understanding, but not a mastery, of how to speak about everyday actions and events.

Students will learn to read and become familiar with writing Onöndowa'ga:' Gawë:nö’ orthography, and will also be taught dialectical differences between different Onöndowa'ga:' communities.

Deadiwënöhsnye’s Gëjóhgwa’ would like to thank everyone who has supported our efforts in developing this immersion program, and in our endeavors to produce new Onöndowa'ga:' Gawë:nö’ speakers with a proven pedagogy.

Da:ne'hoh