Nuxalk language

Nuxálk (also Bella Coola) is a Salishan language spoken in the vicinity of the Canadian town Bella Coola, British Columbia by approximately 20-30 elders. Until recently, the language was also called Bella Coola, but the native designation Nuxálk is now preferred.

Though the number of truly fluent speakers has not increased, the language is now taught in both the Provincial (British Columbia – B.C.) school system and the Nuxálk Nation's own school – Acwsalcta. Nuxálk language classes, if taken to at least the Grade 11 level, are considered adequate second language qualifications for entry to the major B.C. universities.

Sounds

Consonants

The 28 consonants of Nuxálk:

		Bilabial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
			central	lateral		palatalized	labialized	plain	labialized
Stop	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ			kʲʰ	kʷʰ	qʰ	qʷʰ	ʔ
	ejective	pʼ	tʼ			kʼʲ	kʼʷ	qʼ	qʼʷ
Affricate	aspirated		ʦʰ
	ejective		ʦʼ	tɬʼ
Fricative			s	ɬ		xʲ	xʷ	χ	χʷ	(h)
Sonorant		m	n	l	j		w

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Low		a

Syllables

The notion of syllable is challenged by Nuxálk in that it allows long strings of consonants without any intervening vowel or other sonorant. Salishan languages, and especially Nuxálk, are famous for this. For instance, the following word contains only obstruents:

xłp̓x̣ʷłtłpłłskʷc̓  [xɬpʼχʷɬtɬpɬːskʷʦʼ]   'he had had in his possession a bunchberry plant.'     (Nater 1984, cited in Bagemihl 1991: 16)

Many words in Nuxálk are similar:

• [ps] 'shape, mold'
• [pʼs] 'bend'
• [pʼχʷɬt] 'bunchberry'
• [ʦktskʷʦ] 'he arrived'
• [tʦ] 'little boy'
• [skʷp] 'saliva'
• [sps] 'northeast wind'
• [tɬʼp] 'cut with scissors'
• [sʦʼq] 'animal fat'
• [sʦʼqʦtx] 'that's my animal fat over there'
• [tɬ] 'strong'
• [qʼt] 'go to shore'
• [qʷt] 'crooked'

See also

• Coast Salish
• Interior Salish

Bibliography

• Bruce Bagemihl (1991). "Syllable structure in Bella Coola". Proceedings of the New England Linguistics Society. 21: 16–30.
• Bruce Bagemihl (1991). "Syllable structure in Bella Coola". Linguistic Inquiry. 22: 589–646.
• Bruce Bagemihl (1998). Maximality in Bella Coola (Nuxalk). In E. Czaykowska-Higgins & M. D. Kinkade (Eds.), Salish languages and linguistics: Theorectical and descriptive perspectives (pp. 71-98). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
• Philip W. Davis & Ross Saunders (1973). "Lexical suffix copying in Bella Coola". Glossa. 7: 231–252.
• Philip W. Davis & Ross Saunders (1975). "Bella Coola nominal deixis". Language. 51: 845–858.
• Philip W. Davis & Ross Saunders (1976). "Bella Coola deictic roots". International Journal of American Linguistics. 42: 319–330. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
• Philip W. Davis & Ross Saunders (1978). Bella Coola syntax. In E.-D. Cook & J. Kaye (Eds.), Linguistic studies of native Canada (pp. 37-66). Vancouver: University of British Columbia.
• Philip W. Davis & Ross Saunders (1979). "Bella Coola phonology". Lingua. 49: 169–187.
• Philip W. Davis & Ross Saunders (1980). Bella Coola texts. British Columbia Provincial Museum heritage record (No. 10). Victoria: British Columbia Provincial Museum. ISBN 0-7718-8206-8.
• Philip W. Davis & Ross Saunders (1997). A grammar of Bella Coola. University of Montana occasional papers in linguistics (No. 13). Missoula, MT: University of Montana. ISBN 1-8797-6313-3.
• Forrest, Linda. (1994). The de-transitive clause in Bella Coola: Passive vs inverse. In T. Givón (Ed.), Voice and inversion (pp. 147-168). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Montler, Timothy. (2004-2005). (Handouts on Salishan language family).
• Nater, Hank F. (1977). Stem list of the Bella Coola language. Lisse: Peter de Ridder.
• Nater, Hank F. (1984). The Bella Coola language. Mercury series; Canadian ethonology service (No. 92). Ottawa: National Museums of Canada.
• Nater, Hank F. (1990). A concise Nuxalk-English dictionary. Mercury series; Canadian ethonology service (No. 115). Hull, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization. ISBN 0-6601-0798-8.
• Newman, Stanley. (1947). Bella Coola I: Phonology. International Journal of American Linguistics, 13, 129-134.
• Newman, Stanley. (1969). Bella Coola grammatical processes and form classes. International Journal of American Linguistics, 35, 175-179.
• Newman, Stanley. (1969). Bella Coola paradigms. International Journal of American Linguistics, 37, 299-306.
• Newman, Stanley. (1971). Bella Coola reduplication. International Journal of American Linguistics, 37, 34-38.
• Newman, Stanley. (1974). Language retention and diffusion in Bella Coola. Language in Society, 3, 201-214.
• Newman, Stanley. (1976). Salish and Bella Coola prefixes. International Journal of American Linguistics, 42, 228-242.
• Newman, Stanley. (1989). Lexical morphemes in Bella Coola. In M. R. Key & H. Hoenigswald (Eds.), General and Amerindian ethnolinguistics: In remembrance of Stanley Newman (pp. 289-301). Contributions to the sociology of language (No. 55). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 0-8992-5519-1.

External links

• Ethnologue entry
• First Nations Languages of British Columbia Nuxalk page
• Nuxalk bibliography
• Rosetta Project page