Though the number of truly fluent speakers has not significantly 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.
The 28 consonants of Nuxálk:
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 Obstruent s:
: 'he had had in his possession a bunchberry plant.' (Nater 1984, cited in Bagemihl 1991: 16)
Many words in Nuxálk are similar:
- 'shape, mold'
- 'bend'
- 'bunchberry'
- 'he arrived'
- 'little boy'
- 'saliva'
- 'northeast wind'
- 'cut with scissors'
- 'animal fat'
- 'that's my animal fat over there'
- 'strong'
- 'go to shore'
- 'crooked'
- 1
- 2
- 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.
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 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.
- 6
- 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.
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