Nootka Language

Kim (2003) estimates the number of Nuu-chah-nulth speaker at approximately 150-200, while the 2001 Canadian census puts the figure at about 505. Linguists find the language fascinating because of its Morphological and Phonological complexity. It also is the first native language in the Pacific Northwest to have documentary written materials describing it, dating from the 1780s by John R. Jewitt (the English captive held by Maquinna at Nootka Sound ) and Captains Vancouver and Quadra and others who frequented Nootka Sound and the other Nuu-chah-nulth communities in that time.

Nuu-chah-nulth has 12 different dialects:

Ahousaht

Ehattesaht (a.k.a. Ehattisaht)

Hesquiat

Kyuquot

Mowachaht

Nuchatlaht

Ohiaht

Clayoquot (a.k.a. Tla.o.qui.aht)

Toquaht

Tseshaht (a.k.a. Sheshaht)

Uchuklesaht (a.k.a. Uchucklesaht)

Ucluelet

The Nuu-chah-nulth orthography follows the Americanist linguistics tradition, with the goal of "one letter, one sound".

A dictionary of the language, with some 7,500 entries, was created after 15 years of research. It is based on both work with current speakers and notes from linguist Edward Sapir , taken almost a century ago. The dictionary, however, is a subject of controversy, with a number of Nuu-chah-nulth elders questioning the accuracy of the terminology, and the author's right to represent their language.

Nuu-chah-nulth has phonemic short and long vowels. Traditionally, a third class of vowels, known as "variable length" vowels, is recognized. These are vowels that are long when they are found within the first two syllables of a word, and short elsewhere.

The Nuu-chah-nulth language contributed many words to the vocabulary of the Chinook Jargon and it is believed that oceanic commerce and exchanges between the Nuu-chah-nulth and other Southern Wakashan speakers with the Chinookan -speaking peoples of the lower Columbia River led to the foundations of the trade jargon that became known as Chinook in later years. Nootkan words in Chinook Jargon include ''hiyu'' - "many", from Nuu-chah-nulth for "ten", ''siah'' - "far", from the Nuu-chah-nulth for "sky".

Sounds

Consonants

The 35 consonants of Nuu-chah-nulth:

Glottalized resonants are realized as resonants with pre-glottalization.

is an Approximant , not a Fricative ( IPA does not have a unique symbol for this sound). This Phoneme functions phonologically as a Pharyngeal stop which is realized as a glottalized pharyngeal Semivowel (approximant).

Vowels

The 6 vowels of Nuu-chah-nulth:

EXTERNAL LINKS

An extract from the forthcoming Nuuchahnulth Dictionary

Nootka Texts

Bibliography of Materials on the Nuuchanulth Language (YDLI)

Nuuchahnulth (Nootka) (Chris Harvey’s Native Language, Font, & Keyboard)

--- Nuuchahnulth Example Text

The Wakashan Linguistics Page

REFERENCES

Kim, Eun-Sook. (2003). Theoretical issues in Nuu-chah-nulth phonology and morphology. (Doctoral dissertation, The University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics).

Sapir, Edward. (1938). Glottalized continuants in Navaho, Nootka, and Kwakiutl (with a note on Indo-European). ''Language'', ''14'', 248-274.

Sapir, Edward; & Swadesh, Morris. (1939). ''Nootka texts: Tales and ethnological narratives with grammatical notes and lexical materials''. Philadelphia: Linguistic Society of America.

Sapir, Edward; & Swadesh, Morris. (1955). ''Native accounts of Nootka ethnography''. Publication of the Indiana University Research Center in Anthropology, Folklore, and Linguistics (No. 1); International journal of American linguistics (Vol. 21, No. 4, Pt. 2). Bloomington: Indiana University, Research Center in Anthropology, Folklore, and Linguistics. (Reprinted 1978 in New York: AMS Press, ISBN 0-4041-1892-5).

Shank, Scott; & Wilson, Ian. (2000). Acoustic evidence for ʕ as a glottalized pharyngeal glide in Nuu-chah-nulth. In S. Gessner & S. Oh (Eds.), ''Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages'' (pp. 185-197). UBC working papers is linguistics (Vol. 3).

Information About

Nootka Language