Klallam language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Klallam
Nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əmúcən
Spoken in: United States 
Region: Washington
Total speakers: 4 native;5 linguists
Language family: Salishan
 Central
  Straits
   Klallam
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: sal
ISO/FDIS 639-3: clm
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.

Klallam or Clallam (native name: Nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əmúcən) is a nearly extinct Straits Salishan language that was traditionally spoken by the Klallam peoples at Becher Bay on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and across the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the north coast of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. Today it has only 4 remaining native speakers, though revival efforts exist.

Klallam is closely related to North Straits Salish, but not mutually intelligible.

Jamie Valadez is a high school and middle school teacher who is working to revitalize Klallam in Port Angeles, Washington.

Timothy Montler is an American linguist who is one of the foremost experts in the Klallam language.

Contents

[edit] Sounds

Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for a pronunciation key.

[edit] Consonants

The 34 consonants of Klallam written in orthography with International Phonetic Alphabet symbols is brackets when different:

  Bilabial Alveolar Post-
alveolar		 Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
central lateral plain labial plain labial
Stop plain p t       (k) kʷ q qʷ  
glottalized pʼ tʼ         kʼʷ qʼ qʼʷ ʔ
Affricate plain   c [tˢ]   č [ʧ]            
glottalized   cʼ [tˢʼ] ƛʼ [tɬʼ] čʼ [ʧʼ]            
Fricative     s ɬ š [ʃ]     xʷ x̣ [χ] x̣ [χʷ] h
Nasal plain m n           ŋ [ɴ]    
glottalized mʼ nʼ           ŋ [ɴʼ]    
Approximant plain     l   y [j]   w      
glottalized         yʼ [jʼ]   wʼ      
  • Glottalized resonants /mʼ, nʼ, ɴʼ, jʼ, wʼ/ are realized either
  1. with creaky voice: [m̰, n̰, ɴ̰, j̰, w̰],
  2. as decomposed glottal stop + resonant: [ʔm, ʔn, ʔɴ, ʔj, ʔw], or
  3. as decomposed resonant + glottal stop: [mʔ, nʔ, ɴʔ, jʔ, wʔ]
  • /k/ is borrowed from English and occurs in only a few words.
  • /l/ also rarely occurs in Klallam.
  • Alveolar affricate /tˢ/ contrasts with a sequence of stop + fricative /ts/.

[edit] Vowels

The 4 vowels of Klallam:

  Front Central Back
High i   u
Mid   ə  
Low   a  
  • Vowels may be stressed or unstressed. Unstressed vowels are shorter and lower in intensity than stressed vowels.
  • Vowels are lowered when followed by a glottal stop /ʔ/:
'bird'   /ʦʼiʔʦʼəmʼ/ → [ ʦʼɛʔʦʼəmʼ ]
'deer'   /huʔpt/ → [ hoʔpt ]
'salmon backbone'   /sχəʔqʷəʔ/ → [ sχaʔqʷaʔ ]
  • Vowels are also often lowered when followed by a glottalized resonant (i.e., /mʼ/, /nʼ/, /ɴʼ/, /jʼ/, /wʼ/).

[edit] Grammar

This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

[edit] External links

[edit] Bibliography

  • Brooks, Pamela. (1997). John P. Harrington's Klallam and Chemakum place names. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages, 32, 144-188.
  • Fleisher, Mark. (1976). Clallam: A study in Coast Salish ethnolinguistics. (Doctoral disseration, Washington State University).
  • Fleisher, Mark. (1977). Aspects of Clallam phonology and their implication of reconstruction. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salishan Languages, 12, 132-141.
  • 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. (1996). Languages and dialects in Straits Salishan. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages, 31, 249-256.
  • Montler, Timothy. (1996). Some Klallam paradigms. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages, 31, 257-264.
  • Montler, Timothy. (1998). The major processes affecting Klallam vowels. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages, 33, 366-373.
  • Montler, Timothy. (1999). Language and dialect variation in Straits Salishan. Anthropological linguistics, 41 (4), 462-502.
  • Montler, Timothy. (2005). [Personal communication].
  • Thompson, Laurence; & Thompson, M. Terry. (1969). Metathesis as a grammatical device. International Journal of American Linguistics, 35, 213-219.
  • Thompson, Laurence; & Thompson, M. Terry. (1971). Clallam: A preview. University of California Publications in Linguistics, 65, 251-294.
  • Thompson, Laurence; Thompson, M. Terry; & Efrat, Barbara. (1974). Some phonological developments in Straits Salish. International Journal of American Linguistics, 40, 182-196.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../k/l/a/Klallam_language.html"