Phyllis Eileen Williams Bardeau (Gayanögwad) is a Seneca (Onödowáʼga:) author, and educator, and lexicographer. She is best known for her work on the Seneca language, including Seneca language dictionaries.
Bardeau was born in 1934 on the Allegany Indian Reservation (Ohi:yo’) in Cattaraugus County, New York. She grew up speaking Seneca with her grandmother on a farm in Coldspring, New York. Following her marriage she moved to the Cattaraugus Reservation (Ga’dä:gë́́sgë:ö’) [1]
in 1951, and began to teach the Seneca Language, first to a class of adults, then at the high school in Gowanda, New York. She then attended the State University of New York at Buffalo, earning a masters' degree in American Studies in 1994. She served as an instructor there, [2] and developed a syllabus for courses in the Seneca Language, which were offered beginning in 2019. [3] [1]
She worked on standardizing the Seneca syllabary. She also collaborated with Wallace Chafe on his English–Seneca Dictionary. [4]
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. [1]
Bardeau is the author of several books on Seneca Language and culture.
Phyllis Eileen Williams Bardeau (Gayanögwad) is a Seneca (Onödowáʼga:) author, and educator, and lexicographer. She is best known for her work on the Seneca language, including Seneca language dictionaries.
Bardeau was born in 1934 on the Allegany Indian Reservation (Ohi:yo’) in Cattaraugus County, New York. She grew up speaking Seneca with her grandmother on a farm in Coldspring, New York. Following her marriage she moved to the Cattaraugus Reservation (Ga’dä:gë́́sgë:ö’) [1]
in 1951, and began to teach the Seneca Language, first to a class of adults, then at the high school in Gowanda, New York. She then attended the State University of New York at Buffalo, earning a masters' degree in American Studies in 1994. She served as an instructor there, [2] and developed a syllabus for courses in the Seneca Language, which were offered beginning in 2019. [3] [1]
She worked on standardizing the Seneca syllabary. She also collaborated with Wallace Chafe on his English–Seneca Dictionary. [4]
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. [1]
Bardeau is the author of several books on Seneca Language and culture.