Books by Wallace Chafe

This text demonstrates how the study of language and consciousness together can provide an understanding of the way the mind works. Chafe shows that comprehending the nature of consciousness is essential to understanding many linguistic phenomena, such as pronouns and clause structure.

The Seneca language belongs to the Northern Iroquoian branch of the Iroquoian language family, where its closest relatives are Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora. Seneca holds special typological interest because of its high degree of polysynthesis and fusion. It is historically important because of its central role in the Longhouse religion and its place in the pioneering linguistic work of the 19th century missionary Asher Wright. This grammatical description, which includes four extended texts in several genres, is the culminatin of Chafe's long term study of the language over half a century.