Citizendia

Nuxálk
Spoken in:Canada 
Region:Bella Coola, western Central Coast Regional District, British Columbia
Total speakers:20[1]
Language family:Salishan
 Nuxálk
Language codes
ISO 639-1:none
ISO 639-2:sal
ISO 639-3:blc
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Bella Coola is a community of approximately 600 at the western extremity of the Bella Coola valley British Columbia (ˌbrɪtɨʃ kəˈlʌmbiə ( BC) ( (la Colombie-Britannique C List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family This article is about the Salish/Salishan language For the Tacoma Washington neighborhood see Salishan Tacoma Washington. ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's

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. This article is about the Salish/Salishan language For the Tacoma Washington neighborhood see Salishan Tacoma Washington. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Bella Coola is a community of approximately 600 at the western extremity of the Bella Coola valley Until recently, the language was called Bella Coola, but the native designation Nuxálk is now preferred. [2]

Though the number of truly fluent speakers has not increased, the language is now taught in both the Provincial (British Columbia – B. British Columbia (ˌbrɪtɨʃ kəˈlʌmbiə ( BC) ( (la Colombie-Britannique C C. ) school system and the Nuxálk Nation's own school, Acwsalcta, which means "a place of learning". 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.

Contents

Sounds

Consonants

The 28 consonants of Nuxálk:

 BilabialAlveolarPalatalVelarUvularGlottal
 centrallateral palatalizedlabializedplainlabialized 
Stopaspiratedpʰtʰ  kʲʰkʷʰqʰqʷʰʔ
ejectivepʼtʼ  kʼʲkʼʷqʼqʼʷ 
Affricateaspirated ʦʰ       
ejective ʦʼtɬʼ      
Fricative  sɬ xʲxʷχχʷ(h)
Sonorant mnlj w   

Vowels

 FrontCentralBack
Highi 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. In Phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a Consonant articulated with both Lips The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior Alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets Palatal consonants are Consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the Hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth Uvulars are Consonants articulated with the back of the Tongue against or near the uvula, that is further back in the mouth than Velar consonants Glottal consonants are Consonants articulated with the Glottis. A syllable ( Greek:) is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds In Articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a Speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper Vocal tract, the upper vocal In Phonetics and Phonology, a sonorant is a Speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the Vocal tract. Salishan languages, and especially Nuxálk, are famous for this. This article is about the Salish/Salishan language For the Tacoma Washington neighborhood see Salishan Tacoma Washington. For instance, the following word contains only obstruents:

xłp̓x̣ʷłtłpłłskʷc̓
[xɬpʼχʷɬtʰɬpʰɬːskʷʰʦʼ]
'he had had in his possession a bunchberry plant. In Phonetics, articulation may be divided into two large classes obstruents and Sonorants An obstruent is a Consonant sound formed by '
    (Nater 1984, cited in Bagemihl 1991: 16)

Other examples are:

Linguists disagree as to how to count the syllables in such words, what if anything constitutes the nuclei of those syllables, and if the concept of 'syllable' is even applicable to Nuxálk. Some assign every stop consonant in such words to a separate syllable, whereas others attempt to consolidate them. For example, /tɬ/ 'strong' at first appears to be a single syllable with /ɬ/ as the syllable nucleus. However, [tʰʦʰ] 'little boy' (phonemically /tʦ/) may be thought of as having one syllable or two (/t. ʦ/). If one, /ʦ/ would make an unusual nucleus, with /t/ the syllable onset; and if two, both /t/ and /ʦ/ would be considered nuclei, since most theoretical approaches require every syllable to have a nucleus, as part of the definition of 'syllable'. In Phonetics and Phonology, a syllable onset is the part of a Syllable that precedes the Syllable nucleus. If that assumption is relaxed, so that Nuxálk syllables can be modeled without nuclei, then /tɬ/ 'strong' could be thought of as onset and coda of a single syllable, but it would still not be clear if the /t/ and /ʦ/ of 'little boy' should be considered onset and coda of one syllable, or two onset-only syllables. In Phonology, a syllable coda comprises the Consonant sounds of a Syllable that follow the nucleus, which is usually a Vowel

See also

References

  1. ^ Ethnologue
  2. ^ Suttles, Wayne (1990). Coast Salish refers to a cultural or ethnographic designation of a subgroup of the First Nations or Native American cultures in British Columbia, "Introduction". In "Northwest Coast", ed. Wayne Suttles. Vol. 7 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant, pg. 15

Bibliography

External links

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