Mohawk is a
Native American language spoken by the
Mohawk nation in the
United States and
Canada. It is part of the
Iroquoian family.
Mohawk has three major dialects Western (Six Nations and Tyendinaga), Central (Ahkwesáhsne), and Eastern (Kahnawàke and Kanehsatàke); the differences between them are largely phonological. The pronunciation of /r/ and several consonant clusters may differ in the dialects.
The phoneme inventory is as follows (using the International Phonetic Alphabet). Phonological representation (underlying forms) are in /slashes/, and the standard Mohawk orthography is in bold.
An interesting feature of Mohawk (and Iroquoian) phonology is that there are no labials, except in a few adoptions from French and English, where [m] and [p] appear (e.g., mátsis matches and aplám Abraham); as such, these sounds are late additions to Mohawk phonology and were introduced after widespread European contact.
