Irokees

Irokees
Pronunciation	[iɹɔ.kiːs]
Region	Irokesenland
Ethnicity	Irokees
Language family	Scythian Germanic West Germanic Netherlandic Amerikaens Irokees
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	Tussenland

Irokees (/iɹo.kiːs/; French: langue iroquoien), alternatively spelled Irokîs, is a variety of Amerikaens chiefly spoken in Irokesenland. It originally developed among speakers of creole languages in North America in the 18th century. Over time, a process of language shift occurred, where speakers tried to emulate a more prestigious Amerikaens pronunciation. Today, the vernacular is spoken predominantly by the descendants of Iroquois migrants in the 19th century, maintaining unique characteristics from Iroquoian languages and some influences from the neighboring French dialects of Meerenland.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Dorsal	Glottal
Nasal		m	n
Plosive	voiceless	p	t			k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d			g
Affricate	voiceless			tʃ
	voiced			dʒ
Fricative		f	s	ʃ			ɦ
Approximant			ɹ		j	w
Rhotic			r

Vowels

	Front			Central	Back
	oral	long	rounded		oral	long
Close	i	iː	y		u
Close-mid	e			ə ə̃	o
Open-mid		ɛː ɛ̃	œ			ɔː ɔ̃
(Near)Open	æ	æː			ɑ	ɑː

Hypercorrection

Irokees speakers tend to over-apply language rules deemed to be 'proper Amerikaens', such as the use of labials, the rhotic trilled [r], the fricative [ʃ], the voiced consonants [g] and [ɦ], as well as the over-rounding and lengthening of vowels. This is often realized in epenthesis, where sounds are added to words where they previously would not have been in standard Amerikaens.

See also

• Table of named indigenous American peoples