Thompson language

Thompson
Nłeʔkepmxcín
Native to Canada, United States
Region British Columbia, Washington
Ethnicity 6,140 Nlaka'pamux (2014, FPCC)[1]
Native speakers
 130 (2014, FPCC)[1]
Salishan
Duployan shorthand (historical)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 thp
Glottolog thom1243[2]

The Thompson language, properly known as Nlaka'pamuctsin also known as the Nlaka'pamux ('Nthlakampx') language, is an Interior Salishan language spoken in the Fraser Canyon, Thompson Canyon, Nicola Country of the Canadian province of British Columbia, and also (historically) in the North Cascades region of Whatcom and Chelan counties of the state of Washington in the United States. A dialect distinct to the Nicola Valley is called Scw'exmx, which is the name of the subgroup of the Nlaka'pamux who live there.

Phonology

Nlaka'pamuctsin is a consonant-heavy language. The consonants can be divided into two subgroups: obstruents, which restrict airflow, and sonorants or resonants, which do not.[3] The sonorants are often syllabic consonants, which can form syllables on their own without vowels.

Consonants

Labial Dental Lateral Post-dental Alveopalatal Simple (pre)-Velar Rounded (pre-)Velar Simple Post-velar Rounded Post-velar Laryngeal
Obstruents Stops, Glottalized Ejective p' (t') ƛ' c' k' k'w q' q'wʔ
Stops, Plain p t ɬ c̣ c k kw q qw
Spirants ṣ s x xw x̣ x̣w h
Resonants Plain m n l z y γ w ʕ ʕw
Laryngealized m' n' l' z' y' γ' w' ʕ' ʕ'w

Vowels

Front Central Back
nor. ret. nor. ret.
Close i ~ i̠ u
Mid e ə ~ ə̠ o
Open a

Stress is used with an acute accent; á.[4][5]


Morphology and Syntax

Conventional wisdom about Salishan languages has long maintained an absence of lexical categories in that family. Many researchers believe there is a lack of contrast between parts of speech like nouns and verbs in Nlaka'pamuctsin, based on a lack of clear morphological differences.[6][7] Instead, linguists discuss morphology and syntax in Salishan based on a framework of predicates and particles.[7] However, recent work suggests a changing understanding of Salishan grammar. Now, most Salishanists believe that functional categories are not prescriptive of lexical categories, and that morphological evidence does not prove that the latter categories do not exist, only that the distinction is more subtle in some languages than in others.[8][9]

Lexical Suffixes

One morphological feature of Nlaka'pamuctsin is lexical suffixes.[7] These are words that add nuance to predicates and can be affixed to the ends of root words to add their general meaning to that word.[3] Thompson and Thompson assert that as a result of English language influence, speakers are using these more complex predicates less and less in favor of simpler predicates with complements and adjuncts, resulting in “a general decline in the exploitation of the rich synthetic resources of the language.”[3]

SuffixSuffix Meaning Root Root MeaningSuffixed Form Header text
꞊uyəm’xwearth, land, place; in vicinity; (earth) oven; baked goods /q’íx̣-t strong, secure/q’íx̣꞊ym’xw firm, hard ground
√c’əɬ cold/c’ɬ꞊úym’xwit is a cold country
kw[ʔá]l’ turn green/kwa[ʔ]l’꞊úym’xw the grass turns green
√c’áp ferment n/c’áp꞊ym’xw sour-dough, yeast bread
꞊ekst hand, arm √kiyèʔ ahead, in front, principal, the eldest s/kiyèʔ꞊qín'꞊kst thumb
꞊qin head
꞊xn foot, leg s/kiyèʔ꞊qín'꞊xn big toe
√k'əm focal area n/k'm꞊énk꞊xn sole of foot
꞊ene(ʔ)k belly, under side

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Thompson at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Thompson". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. 1 2 3 Thompson, Lawrence C.; Thompson, M. Terry (1992). The Thompson Language. University of Montana Press.
  4. ↑ Koch, Karsten A. (2011). A Phonetic Study of Intonation and Focus in Nłeʔkepmxcin (Thompson River Salish).
  5. ↑ "Nłeʔkepmxcin - Nlha7kápmx Thompson". Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  6. ↑ Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 117.
  7. 1 2 3 Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 64.
  8. ↑ Haag, Marcia (October 1998). "Word-Level Evidence for Lexical Categories in Salishan Languages". International Journal of American Linguistics. 64 (4): 379–393.
  9. ↑ Koch, Karsten; Matthewson, Lisa (2009). "The Lexical category debate in Salish and its relevance for Tagalog". Theoretical Linguistics. 35 (1): 125–137.


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