Tuscarora (Sgaroorehʼ)

Tuscarora is a Northern Iroquoian language with about 13 speakers in southern Ontario in Canada, and in New York state and parts of North Carolina in the USA. The native name for the language, Sgaroorehʼ, means 'hemp people'.

The Tuscarora tribe was a member of the Iroquois Confederacy, or Kanonsionni (league of clans), along with the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga and Onondaga. The tribes now refer to themselves as the Haudenosaunee (people of the longhouse) or Six Nations.

There two spelling systems for Tuscarora. The one shown below was developed by the Tuscarora Nation in western New York.

Tuscarora alphabet and pronunciation

Tuscarora alphabet and pronunciation

Sample text in Tuscarora

Haʼ Goonehrayehnehʼ gwehneeʼ oodaʼreh, deehsnehʼ hehʼtu gwehneeʼ nehyoohseht eehsgah haʼ oogyehrheh areh oogehʼ oorehseh aryooyehʼnak, gayatheh udaʼroohsgehʼ hehnehʼ yoohsehʼnawehʼ oohgeehrehʼ haʼ nehgee deewahsooʼnehhaʼnehʼ;

Source: http://www.languagegeek.com/rotinonhsonni/tus_example.html


Information about the Tuscarora people and language

Words for Tuscarora animals

Article on Tuscarora language loss and preservation
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/ILAC/ILAC_9.pdf (PDF)

Iroquoian languages


Other languages written with the Latin alphabet

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