Haida language

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Haida
X̲aat Kíl
Spoken in: Canada (Haida Gwaii / Queen Charlotte Islands), Alaska (Prince of Wales Island)
Total speakers: First language: 45
Second language: 275 
Ranking: Endangered
Language family: language isolate
 Haida 
Writing system: Latin alphabet 
Official status
Official language in: Council of the Haida Nation
Regulated by: No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: none
ISO 639-3: hai 
Pre-European distribution of Haida
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Haida language (X̲aat Kíl, X̲aadas Kíl, X̲aayda Kil) is the language of the Haida people. It contains eight vowels and well over 30 consonants. Formerly linked to the Na-Dené languages[1], it is usually considered to be a language isolate,[2] especially now that the Na-Dené languages have been linked to Yeniseian in Siberia.[3] In addition to finding the link between Yeniseian and Na-Dené compelling, this seminar came to the conclusion that the comparison "shows conclusively that Haida, sometimes associated with Na-Dene, is not related."[3]

While approximately one hundred years ago the entire Haida population was fluent[4], today the Haida language is extremely endangered, with only about 45 native speakers,[5] nearly all of whom are older adults.[6][7] Although the number of native speakers has diminished along the years, according to a 2001 Canadian Census there are now about 275 speakers in British Columbia alone,[4] and with revived interest in the language, this figure is expected to grow.

Currently Haida citizens and friends in all three dialect communities are working to revitalizing the language. In Skidegate, fluent speakers gather on a daily basis to work on the southern or Skidegate dialect and have produced a large series of recordings. In Masset, a group of younger learners is working with their fluent elders to reintegrate the northern or Masset dialect into their daily lives. In Alaska, the community conducts regular language classes for teens and adults, and has built a website complete with on-line recordings of the Kaigani dialect.

Contents

[edit] Sounds

[edit] Consonants

  Bilabial Alveolar Postalveolar
/ palatal		 Velar Uvular Epi-
glottal		 Glottal
central lateral
Plosive plain1 b̥ d̥     g̊ ɢ̥   ʔ
aspirated pʰ tʰ     kʰ qʰ    
ejective p’ t’     k’ q’    
Affricate lenis     d̥͡l² d̥͡ʒ̊        
fortis   t͡s t͡ɬʰ t͡ʃ³     ʡ͡ʜ  
ejective   t͡s’ t͡ɬ’ t͡ʃ’        
Fricative voiceless   s ɬ   x χ ʜ4 h
Nasal plain m n     ŋ      
glottalized mˀ nˀ          
Approximant plain     ɫ j w      
glottalized     lˀ        
  1. Inside words, the plain stops can be voiced.
  2. Technically [d̥͡l] is not an affricate; it is released as an approximant rather than a fricative.
  3. For some speakers, [t͡ʃ] occurs only at the beginning of syllables, while [t͡s] does not occur there. They are the same phoneme. A similar situation applies with [t͡s’] and [t͡ʃ’].[citation needed]
  4. Instead of an epiglottal fricative, the Masset dialect uses an epiglottal trill.

[edit] Tone

Haida features phonemic tone, the nature of which differs by dialect. In Kaigani the system is one of pitch accent, with at most one syllable per word featuring high tone; in Masset and Skidegate tone is contrastive in heavy syllables. All the above systems feature two tones: high and low.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dene-Yeniseic Symposium, February 2008 (10 February 2008). Retrieved on 2008-03-17.
  2. ^ Schoonmaker, Peter K.; Bettina Von Hagen, Edward C. Wolf (1997). The Rain Forests of Home: Profile Of A North American Bioregion. Island Press, 257. ISBN 1559634804. 
  3. ^ a b Dene-Yeniseic Symposium.
  4. ^ a b UBC World Language Fair’s HAIDA webpage. Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
  5. ^ Alaska Native Language Population and Speaker Statistics (1 January 1999). Retrieved on 2008-03-17.
  6. ^ Ethnologue report for language code:hdn. Retrieved on 2008-03-17.
  7. ^ Haida Language Mainpage. Retrieved on 2008-05-23.

[edit] External links