Gitxsan language
| Gitxsan | |
|---|---|
| Gitxsanimaax, Gitxsanimx | |
| Native to | Canada |
| Region | Skeena region, British Columbia |
| Ethnicity | 5,680 Gitxsan |
Native speakers | 1,020 (2016 census)[1] |
Tsimshianic
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | git |
| Glottolog | gitx1241 |
| ELP | Gitsenimx̱ |
The Gitxsan language /ˈɡɪtsæn/,[2] or Gitxsanimaax (also rendered Gitksan, Giatikshan, Gityskyan, Giklsan), is an endangered Tsimshianic language of northwestern British Columbia, closely related to the neighboring Nisga’a language. The two groups are, however, politically separate and prefer to refer to Gitxsan and Nisga'a as distinct languages. According to the 2016 census there were 1,020 native speakers.[1]
Gitxsan means "People of the Skeena River" ("Ksan" being the name of the Skeena in Gitxsan).
Phonology
The Gitxsan inventory is as follows:[3]
| i iː | u uː | |
| (e) eː | (ə) | (o) oː |
| a aː |
The mid and high vowels are nearly in complementary distribution, suggesting that Gitxsan once had a three-vowel system. Short mid vowels are emerging. Schwa may not be phonemic.
| Obstruents | p | t | t͡s | c[4] | kʷ | q | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pʼ | tʼ | t͡sʼ | t͜ɬʼ | cʼ | kʷʼ | qʼ | ||
| s | ɬ | ç | xʷ | χ | ||||
| Sonorants | m | n | l | j | w | h | ||
| mˀ | nˀ | lˀ | jˀ | wˀ | ʔ |
The palatal obstruents become velar before /s/ and /l/.
References
- ^ a b "Language Highlight Tables, 2016 Census - Aboriginal mother tongue, Aboriginal language spoken most often at home and Other Aboriginal language(s) spoken regularly at home for the population excluding institutional residents of Canada, provinces and territories, 2016 Census – 100% Data". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Government of Canada, Statistics. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-01-23. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Bruce Rigsby & John Ingram (1990) "Obstruent Voicing and Glottalic Obstruents in Gitksan". International Journal of American Linguistics, vol. 56, no. 2, pp. 251–263.
- ^ The palatals are written ⟨k⟩, ⟨x⟩, ⟨y⟩ in orthography, and transcribed ⟨kʸ⟩, ⟨xʸ⟩, ⟨y⟩ in Americanist notation.
Further reading
- Bicevskis, Katie; Davis, Henry; Matthewson, Lisa (2017). "Quantification in Gitksan". In Paperno, Denis; Keenan, Edward L. (eds.). Handbook of Quantifiers in Natural Language. Vol. II. Springer. pp. 281–382. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44330-0_6.
- Brown, Jason; Davis, Henry; Schwan, Michael; Sennott, Barbara (2016). "Gitksan". Illustrations of the IPA. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 46 (3): 367–378. doi:10.1017/S0025100315000432.
- Halpin, Marjorie, and Margaret Seguin (1990) "Tsimshian Peoples: Southern Tsimshian, Coast Tsimshian, Nishga, and Gitksan." In Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 7: Northwest Coast, ed. by Wayne Suttles, pp. 267–284. Washington: Smithsonian Institution).
- Hindle, Lonnie and Bruce Rigsby (1973) A Short Practical Dictionary of the Gitksan language, Northwest Anthropological Research Notes 1:1-60.
- Matthewson, Lisa (2013). "Gitksan Modals". International Journal of American Linguistics. 79 (3): 349–394. doi:10.1086/670751.
External links
- Official website of the Gitxsan People
- First Voices Gitsenimx̱ community language portal
- First Nations Languages of British Columbia Gitksan page, with link to bibliography
- A Selection of Prayers Translated from the Book of Common Prayer in the Giatikshan Language for Use at the Public Services 1881 translation by Anglican missionary William Ridley
- OLAC resources in and about the Gitxsan language
- ELAR archive of Gitskan