“Nya’teká:yen tsi yonhrónkha’” is a term used by first-language Onkwehonwehnéha (Mohawk Language) speakers to describe a person who is a gifted orator, characterized as a learner’s polished and refined (Green, 2017) language use. Such a speaker embodies a high level of proficiency, enabling them to maintain, transmit, and further develop authentic Onkwehonwehnéha: the expression of vast knowledge, collective experience, and imagined futures of Kanyen’kehá:ka civilization, accumulated over millennia and sustained for the benefit of future generations.
Deliberate and supported engagement with first-language speakers—or with documentary resources derived from their speech—can play a critical role in supporting learners’ movement toward advanced proficiency. This presentation explores the opportunities and challenges of collaborative, practitioner-driven documentation as both a process and a pedagogical resource for Onkwehonwehnéha learning.
Drawing on my experiences planning, implementing, analyzing, and disseminating documentation initiatives, I examine how such work can be designed to support advanced language development. Particular attention is given to recent efforts and future directions in developing transcription-based learning activities for adult learners, with a focus on their potential to deepen linguistic awareness and proficiency.
Tahohtharátye' (Joe Brant) is from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory . He is an Onkwehonhwehnéha learner and has been an elementary, secondary, and post-secondary educator for over 20 years. Tahohtharátye’ and his partner Tewahséhtha’ have created and maintained a Onkwehonhwehnéha speaking home since 2007 with their children Tsyora’séhstha’ and Yakowén:nare. In 2024, he completed his Ph.D. in Indigenous Language Revitalization from the University of Victoria in a culminating dissertation titled: Tó: nya’teká:yen tsi entewà:ronke’ - Onkwehonwehnéha documentation for advanced adult Kanyen’kéha learning. In this work, he demonstrates a collaborative practitioner documentation approach to planning, implementing, analyzing, and disseminating firstlanguage documentation designed for proficiency development in andragogy. He currently works as an assistant professor at the University of Toronto in the Center for Indigenous Studies and Department of Linguistics and works in partnership with Tsi Tyónhnheht Onkwawén:na in their Ratiwennókwas language documentation program.
Join Dr. Tahohtharátye' Joe Brant (University of Toronto) on Tuesday, April 7 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in Kingston Hall 213 (Reflection Room) to learn more.