Phyllis Eileen Williams Bardeau (Gayanögwad) (April 2, 1934 – September 1, 2023) was a Seneca () author, and educator, and

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...

. She was best known for her work on the

Seneca language Seneca (; in Seneca, , or ) is the language of the Seneca people, one of the Six Nations of the (Iroquois League); it is an Iroquoian language, spoken at the time of contact in the western part of New York. While the name ''Seneca'', attested ...

, including Seneca language dictionaries.

Biography

Bardeau was born on April 2, 1934 on the Allegany Indian Reservation () in

Cattaraugus County, New York Cattaraugus County (locally known as Catt County) is a county in Western New York, with one side bordering Pennsylvania. As of the United States 2020 census, the population was 77,042. The county seat is Little Valley. The county was created ...

. She grew up speaking Seneca with her grandmother on a farm in Coldspring, New York. Following her marriage she moved to the Cattaraugus Reservation () In 1951, Bardeau began to teach the Seneca language, first to a class of adults, then at the high school in

Gowanda, New York Gowanda is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in western New York (state), New York, United States. It lies partly in Erie County, New York, Erie County and partly in Cattaraugus County, New York, Cattaraugus County. The ...

. She then attended the

State University of New York at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public research university in Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. The university was founded in 1846 a ...

, earning a masters' degree in American Studies in 1994. She served as an instructor there, and developed a syllabus for courses in the Seneca Language, which were offered beginning in 2019. She worked on standardizing the Seneca

syllabary In the Linguistics, linguistic study of Written language, written languages, a syllabary is a set of grapheme, written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) mora (linguistics), morae which make up words. A symbol in a syllaba ...

. She also collaborated with

Wallace Chafe Wallace L. Chafe ( ; September 3, 1927 – February 3, 2019) was an American linguist. He was Professor Emeritus and research professor at The University of California, Santa Barbara. Biography Chafe was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He wa ...

on his ''English–Seneca Dictionary''. In 1990 she returned to the Allegany Reservation, where she now works on writing, research and documentation of the Seneca Language, and providing support for Seneca Language programs there. Bardeau died on September 1, 2023, at the age of 89.

Publications

Bardeau was the author of several books on Seneca Language and culture. * * * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bardeau, Phyllis 1934 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American lexicographers Deer Clan of the Iroquois Iroquois women Native American language revitalization Native American people from New York (state) Seneca Nation of New York people University at Buffalo alumni Women lexicographers