Cayuga, an Iroquoian language, was originally spoken in what is now New York State. When first encountered by Europeans, the Cayuga lived in villages around Cayuga Lake, surrounded by the other related Five Nations Iroquois. To the west were the Seneca, to the east the Onondaga, beyond them the Oneida, and finally, the Mohawk. Due to a series of unfortunate events, Cayuga speakers now live in two distantly separated communities, one in Ontario and the other in Oklahoma. While the language is still very much alive in Ontario, it is receding in Oklahoma, as fewer and fewer speakers use it on rarer and rarer occasions. Not surprisingly, the Cayuga spoken in Oklahoma has begun to differ in subtle ways from that spoken in Ontario.

Historical background

The Cayuga had occupied the same land for centuries before the American Revolution. When war erupted, they were drawn into battle on the side of the British, and in 1779 an American expedition destroyed their villages. This led to their dispersal. Some Cayugas remained with their land, but others went to live with Senecas at Buffalo Creek, and still others went with other Iroquoians to Ontario to form the Six Nations Reserve. By the end of the Revolution, only about 130 Cayugas remained at Cayuga Lake, 350 were with the Seneca at Buffalo Creek, and 382 were at Six Nations. (For a detailed discussion of the history of the Cayuga, see Sturtevant 1978; White, Englebrecht and Tooker 1978.)