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( Tuscarora language)
Tuscarora, sometimes called Skarure(h/?), is an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people, spoken in southern Ontario, Canada, and northwestern New York around Niagara Falls, in the United States. The original homeland of the Tuscarora was in North Carolina, and some, though few, still live in this region. The name Tuscarora is pronounced approximately "Tuh-skuh-roar-uh", and comes from the tribe's name, which means "hemp people," after the Indian hemp, also called milkweed, that they use in many aspects of their society. Tuscarora is a living but severely endangered language. As of the mid-1970s, only about 52 people spoke the language in the Tuscarora Reservation (Lewiston, New York) and the Six Nations Reserve (near Brantford, Ontario). The Tuscarora School in Lewiston has striven to keep the language alive, teaching children from pre-kindergarten to sixth grade. Despite this, the Ethnologue reports a total of only 11 to 13 speakers in the 1990s, all of whom are older adults. The Tuscarora language can appear complex to those unfamiliar with it, more in terms of the grammar than of the sound system. Many ideas can be expressed in a single word, and most words involve several components that must be considered before speaking (or writing). It is written using mostly symbols from the Roman alphabet, with some variations, additions, and diacritics. Tuscarora has four oral vowels, one nasal vowel, and no diphthongs. The vowels can be both short and long, which makes a total of eight oral vowels, /i ? a u i? ?? a? u?/, and two nasal vowels, /?~ ?~?/. Nasal vowels are customarily indicated with an ogonek, long vowels with a following colom, <>, and /?/ (which may actually be [æ]) with <e>.
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