Liqʼwala

Liqʼwala
Liqʼwala
Native speakers	12
Language family	Wakashan Northern Liqʼwala; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
	Laich-kwil-tach territory

Liqʼwala (also rendered Liq̓ʷala and Lik'wala), is an endangered dialect of Kwakʼwala spoken by the Laich-kwil-tach people of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.^[2]

In 2017, according to Laurie Lewis of the Liqʼwala Language Revitalization Committee, only 12 individuals, all over 70, were fluent Liqʼwala speakers.^[1] The Campbell River Mirror reported in 2017 that an attempt would be made to teach the dialect through a Liqʼwala language immersion pilot program:

Lewis says they already have a mentor-apprentice program where a fluent elder works one-on-one with a qualified teacher for 300 hours, and between that elder and teacher, she is confident they could create a three-year pilot program that would provide a full immersion program. “We just want three years to make some fluent speakers so we can save our language,” Lewis says, “and I want to have the conversation about how we can do that. We believe we can do it.”

Phonology

Consonants
		Bilabial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
		Bilabial	central	lateral	Palatal	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	Glottal
Nasal	plain	m	n
Nasal	glottalized	mˀ	nˀ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		c	k	kʷ	q	qʷ	ʔ
	voiced	b	d			ɡ	ɡʷ	ɢ	ɢʷ
	ejective	pʼ	tʼ		cʼ	kʼ	kʷʼ	qʼ	qʷʼ
Affricate	voiceless		ts	tɬ
	voiced		dz	dɮ
	ejective		tsʼ	tɬʼ
Fricative			s	ɬ		x	xʷ	χ	χʷ	h
Approximant	plain			l	j		w
Approximant	glottalized			lˀ	jˀ		wˀ

Vowels^[3]
	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Low		a

Orthography

Liq'wala follows an orthography based on Americanist phonetic notation and thus varies significantly from the orthography employed by other dialects of Kwak'wala.^[3]^[4]

Revitalization efforts

In January 2019, School District 72 Campbell River passed a motion to pilot a Liq'wala immersion program at Ripple Rock Elementary in Campbell River, BC.

References

^ ^a ^b Davies, Mike (2017-04-19). "How do you save a dying language?". Campbell River Mirror. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
^ Inglis, Joy; Assu, Harry (2011-11-01). Assu of Cape Mudge: Recollections of a Coastal Indian Chief. UBC Press. ISBN 9780774843065.
^ ^a ^b "The Liq̓ʷala Language". www.languagegeek.com. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
^ Adam, Werle (2010). "Appendix A. Kwak̓wala alphabets and transliteration" (PDF). University of Victoria.

External links

Liq̓ʷala interactive alphabet

This indigenous languages of the Americas–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[Mirror-1] Davies, Mike (2017-04-19). "How do you save a dying language?". Campbell River Mirror. Retrieved 2019-06-13.

[2] Inglis, Joy; Assu, Harry (2011-11-01). Assu of Cape Mudge: Recollections of a Coastal Indian Chief. UBC Press. ISBN 9780774843065.

[:0-3] "The Liq̓ʷala Language". www.languagegeek.com. Retrieved 2019-06-13.

[4] Adam, Werle (2010). "Appendix A. Kwak̓wala alphabets and transliteration" (PDF). University of Victoria.

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