Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa (OK) is based on a “root-word” method of teaching and understanding Kanyen’kéha, the Mohawk language. The concept was developed by Kanatawakhon, David Maracle, in the late 1990s. It uses root-words, or morphemes, rather than the common and ineffective practice of using whole words to teach the language.

Kanatawakohn believed that teaching with root-words would be an easier and more effective way for adults to learn Kanyen’kéha because of its polysynthetic structures, which it shares with many other Indigenous languages in the Americas. Once acquainted with the root-word method, Owennatekha (Brian Maracle) and Onekiyohstha (Audrey Maracle) organized a weekly community language root-word program under the umbrella of the Iroquoian Institute in 1998.

The fullt-time adult immersion program began in September 1999, with Kanatawakhon as the instructor, assisted by Owennatekha and several community members: Tehahenteh (Frank MIller), Isabel Maracle (deceased), Ruth Isaacs (deceased), Ray Miller (deceased), and Vina Loft (deceased). Eleven students enrolled and nine students completed the program in May 2000.

Owennatekha became the lead instructor in September. When the Iroquoian Institute ceased functioning in the early 2000s, Owennatekha and Onekiyohstha established Onkwawenna Kenyohkhwa as an independent community-based organization. OK has been housed in the GREAT building since 2002, and holds full-time classes for eight months each year, from September to May.

Enrolment in the first year program over the years has ranged from as few as four students to as many as fifteen students, averaging ten students per year. Until 2004, there were no prerequisites to enroll in the immersion program; it was open to anyone. In 2004, OK began using an admissions test to screen applicants to the program. The test required applicants to memorize a list of 40 Kanyen’kéha words using one verb root combined with the 40 most commonly used personal prefixes. The test is still being used today to determine applicants’ eligibility.

As there was no established method of enabling adults to become proficient speakers of polysynthetic languages at its inception, OK had to devise its own curriculum, including the starting point and sequencing of program content. For the first seven years, the curriculum compressed all of Kanyen’kéha’s grammar and basic vocabulary into an eight-month program. In 2006, OK altered the curriculum to spread the content over two years. Nouns, simple verbal descriptions, and all the grammar in the first year. The second year taught more complex verb forms. The curriculum has stayed the same since. From the first day of the first year program, all content, including instruction, explanations, drills, discussions, activities, games, and tests, is delivered in Kanyen’kéha.

In 2007, OK entered into an articulation agreement with the University of Western Ontario that provides OK graduates with three credits if they enroll at the university. In the same year, the Six Nation Language Commission was formed to co-ordinate language activities and funding in the community.

In May 2011, OK began using the assessment procedures devised by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) to determine students’ speaking proficiency. It was found then that most first year students achieved an Intermediate-Low level of speaking proficiency while second year students achieved an Advanced-Low level. A few students exceeded that level each year, to speak at the Intermediate-Mid or Advanced-Mid level. These achievement levels have been maintained since OK’s adoption of ACTFL assessments, and now function as the program’s goal proficiency for graduating students.

To meet the needs of people who could not attend the full-time immersion program in Ohsweken, OK began teaching an online program in 2014. The program uses the same curriculum and content sequence as the adult immersion program. The online program was prepared and taught by Karahkwenhawi, Zoe Hopkins, until 201. One notable student was Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, who made a speech in Kanyén’keha in Parliament in 2017, and since then speaks Kanyén’keha in formal and informal contexts.

In 2017, OK began collaborating with Roland Kuhn, Principal Research Officer in the Digital Technologies Research Centre at the National Research Council on the creation of a digital Kanyen’kéha verb generator called Kawennonis, it makes words. OK staff supplied the National Research Centre (NRC) with 260 verb roots along with the corresponding prefixes and suffixes used in assembling basic verbs. The NRC staff then created Kawennonis, which can generate more than 125,000 verbs.

OK’s collaboration with the NRC expanded in 2020 when work started on the creation of a Kanyen’kéha voice synthesizer, a digital application that can produce lifelike vocalizations of Kanyen’kéha text. OK is supplying the NRC with thousands of voice recordings from a number of Kanyen’kéha speakers. The application is called Kawennineken’s, it speaks words. When completed, Kawennineken’s will be paired with digital texts used in OK’s immersion and online programs to provide vocalizations of individual words and long passages, which will help students’ speech and pronunciation.

OK began collaborating with Linguistics Professor Ivona Kucerova at McMaster University on securing a Connections Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) in 2018. The grant is funding an ongoing project in conjunction with two sister languages’ adult programs; one on the Oneida reserve in southern Ontario and the other on the Tuscarora reserve in western New York State. The joint project aims to document the best practices used in creating adult speakers and to share the finding with other language groups elsewhere. This website is the product of that collaboration.

In 2022, Owennatekha retired from teaching but continues to work on special projects at OK. He was replaced by OK graduate Rohahiyo (Jordan Brant) as Program Director and Lead Instructor.

In 2023, McMaster University established a Diploma in Indigenous Language Revitalization which will be awarded to OK graduates. Earning the diploma will allow OK graduates to reduce the coursework required for a bachelor’s degree by one year.