Nuu-chah-nulth language

This article is about the Nuu-chah-nulth language, often called Nootka. For other uses of the word Nootka, see Nootka (disambiguation).

Nuu-chah-nulth
Nootka
nuučaan̓uɫ, T̓aat̓aaqsapa
Pronunciation	[nuːt͡ʃaːnˀuɬ]
Native to	Canada
Region	West coast of Vancouver Island, from Barkley Sound to Quatsino Sound, British Columbia
Ethnicity	7,680 Nuu-chah-nulth (2014, FPCC)
Native speakers	130, (2014, FPCC (280 native speakers and 665 learners in 2021 ))
Language family	Wakashan Southern Nuu-chah-nulth
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nuk
Glottolog	nuuc1236
ELP	Nuuchahnulth (Nootka)
Nootka is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Nuu-chah-nulth (nuučaan̓uɫ), a.k.a. Nootka (/ˈnuːtkə/), is a Wakashan language in the Pacific Northwest of North America on the west coast of Vancouver Island, from Barkley Sound to Quatsino Sound in British Columbia by the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples. Nuu-chah-nulth is a Southern Wakashan language related to Nitinaht and Makah.

It is the first language of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast to have documentary written materials describing it. In the 1780s, Captains Vancouver, Quadra, and other European explorers and traders frequented Nootka Sound and the other Nuu-chah-nulth communities, making reports of their voyages. From 1803–1805 John R. Jewitt, an English blacksmith, was held captive by chief Maquinna at Nootka Sound. He made an effort to learn the language, and in 1815 published a memoir with a brief glossary of its terms.

Name

The provenance of the term "Nuu-chah-nulth", meaning "along the outside [of Vancouver Island]" dates from the 1970s, when the various groups of speakers of this language joined together, disliking the term "Nootka" (which means "go around" and was mistakenly understood to be the name of a place, which was actually called Yuquot). The name given by earlier sources for this language is Tahkaht; that name was used also to refer to themselves (the root aht means "people").

Status

Using data from the 2021 census, Statistics Canada reported that 665 individuals could conduct a conversation in Nuu-chah-nulth. This represents a 23% increase over the 2016 census. The total included 280 speakers who reported the language as a mother tongue.

Phonology

Consonants

The 35 consonants of Nuu-chah-nulth:

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar			Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Pharyn- geal	Glottal
			central	sibilant	lateral		plain	labial	plain	labial
Plosive/ Affricate	plain	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩	t͡s ⟨c⟩	t͡ɬ ⟨ƛ⟩	t͡ʃ ⟨č⟩	k ⟨k⟩	kʷ ⟨kʷ⟩	q ⟨q⟩	qʷ ⟨qʷ⟩		ʔ ⟨ʔ⟩
	ejective	pʼ ⟨p̓⟩	tʼ ⟨t̓⟩	t͡sʼ ⟨c̓⟩	t͡ɬʼ ⟨ƛ̓⟩	t͡ʃʼ ⟨č̓⟩	kʼ ⟨k̓⟩	kʷʼ ⟨k̓ʷ⟩
Fricative				s ⟨s⟩	ɬ ⟨ł⟩	ʃ ⟨š⟩	x ⟨x⟩	xʷ ⟨xʷ⟩	χ ⟨x̣⟩	χʷ ⟨x̣ʷ⟩	ħ ⟨ḥ⟩	h ⟨h⟩
Sonorant	plain	m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩			j ⟨y⟩		w ⟨w⟩			ʕ ⟨ʕ⟩
	glottalized	ˀm ⟨m̓⟩	ˀn ⟨n̓⟩			ˀj ⟨y̓⟩		ˀw ⟨w̓⟩

The pharyngeal consonants developed from mergers of uvular sounds; /ħ/ derives from a merger of /χ/ and /χʷ/ (which are now comparatively rare) while /ʕ/ came about from a merger of /qʼ/ and /qʷʼ/ (which are now absent from the language).

Vowels

Vowels of Nuu-chah-nulth. From Carlson, Esling & Fraser (2001)

Nuu-chah-nulth vowels are influenced by surrounding consonants with certain "back" consonants conditioning lower, more back vowel allophones.

Vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	long	short	long	short	long	short
Close	iː	i			uː	u
Mid1	(ɛː)			(ə)	(ɔː)
Open			aː	a

The mid vowels [ɛː] and [ɔː] appear in vocative forms and in ceremonial expressions. [ə] is a possible realization of /a/ after a glottalized sonorant.

In the environment of glottalized resonants as well as ejective and pharyngeal consonants, vowels can be "laryngealized" which often means creaky voice.

In general, syllable weight determines stress placement; short vowels followed by non-glottalized consonants and long vowels are heavy. In sequences where there are no heavy syllables or only heavy syllables, the first syllable is stressed.

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.

Grammar

Nuu-chah nulth is a polysynthetic language with VSO word order.

A clause in Nuu-chah-nulth must consist of at least a predicate. Affixes can be appended to those clauses to signify numerous grammatical categories, such as mood, aspect or tense.

Aspect

Aspects in Nuu-chah-nulth help specify an action's extension over time and its relation to other events. Up to 7 aspects can be distinguished:

Aspect	Affix
Momentaneous	–(C)iƛ, –uƛ
Inceptive	–°ačiƛ, –iičiƛ
Durative	–(ʔ)ak, –(ʔ)uk, –ḥiˑ
Continuative	–(y)aˑ
Graduative	[lengthens the stem's first vowel and shortens its second one]
Repetitive	–ː(ƛ)–ː(y)a
Iterative	R–š, –ł, –ḥ

Where each "–" signifies the root.

Tense

Tense can be marked using affixes (marked with a dash) and clitics (marked with an equal sign).

Nuu-chah-nulth distinguishes near future and general future:

General future	Near future
=ʔaqƛ, =ʔaːqƛ	–w̓itas, –w̓its

The first two markings refer to a general event that will take place in the future (similar to how the word will behaves in English) and the two other suffixes denote that something is expected to happen (compare to the English going to).

Past tense can be marked with the =mit clitic that can itself take different forms depending on the environment and speaker's dialect:

Environment	Clitic	Example (Barkley dialect)	Translation
Consonant–vowel stem	=mi(t), =nit	waa → waamit	said
Long vowel, /m/, /n/	=mi(t), =nt	saasin → saasinmit	dead hummingbird
Short vowel	=imt, =int, =mi(t), =um(t)	ciiqciiqa → ciiqciiqimt	spoke
Consonant	=it, =mi(t), =in(t)	wiikapuƛ → wiikapuƛit	passed away
=!ap	=mi(t), =in(t), =!amit	hił=!ap → hiłʔamit	hosted at
=!at	=mi(t), =in(t), =!aːnit, =!anit	waa=!at → waaʔaanit	was told

Mood

Grammatical mood in Nuu-chah-nulth lets the speaker express the attitude towards what they're saying and how did they get presented information. Nuu-chah-nulth's moods are:

Mood	Affix
Absolutive	=∅
Indicative	=maˑ
Assertive	=ʔiˑš
Indefinite relative	=(y)iː, =(y)iˑ
Definite relative	=ʔiˑtq, =ʔiˑq
Subordinate	=qaˑ
Dubitative relative	=(w)uːsi
Conditional	=quː, =quˑ
Quotative	=waˑʔiš, =weˑʔin
Inferential	=čaˑʕaš
Dubitative	=qaˑča
Purposive	=!eeʔit(a), =!aːḥi
Interrogative	=ḥaˑ, =ḥ
Imperative	=!iˑ
Future imperative	=!im, =!um
go–imperative	=čiˑ
come–imperative	=!iˑk
Article	=ʔiˑ
Quotative article	=čaˑ

Not counting the articles, all moods take person endings that indicate the subject of the clause.

Vocabulary

The Nuu-chah-nulth language contributed much of the vocabulary of the Chinook Jargon. It is thought 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. Nootkan words in Chinook Jargon include hiyu ("many"), from Nuu-chah-nulth for "ten", siah ("far"), from the Nuu-chah-nulth for "sky".

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 author's right to disclose their language.

Dialects

Nuu-chah-nulth has 12 different dialects:

• Ahousaht  [ʕaːħuːsʔatħ]
• Ehattesaht (AKA Ehattisaht)  [ʔiːħatisʔatħ]
• Hesquiat  [ħiʃkʷiːʔatħ]
• Kyuquot  [qaːjʼuːkʼatħ]
• Mowachaht  [muwat͡ʃʼatħ]
• Nuchatlaht  [nut͡ʃaːɬʔatħ]
• Ohiaht  (AKA Huu.ay.aht) [huːʔiːʔatħ]
• Clayoquot (AKA Tla.o.qui.aht)  [taʔuːkʷiʔatħ]
• Toquaht  [tʼukʼʷaːʔatħ]
• Tseshaht (AKA Sheshaht)  [t͡ʃʼiʃaːʔatħ]
• Uchuklesaht (AKA Uchucklesaht)  [ħuːt͡ʃuqtisʔatħ]
• Ucluelet  (AKA Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ) [juːɬuʔiɬʔatħ]

Translations of the First Nation names

• Nuu-Chah-Nulth - "all along the mountains and sea." Nuu-chah-nulth were formerly known as "Nootka" by colonial settlers (but they prefer not to be called that, rather Nuu-chah-nulth which better explains how each First Nation is connected to the land and the sea). Some of the names following (Ditidaht, Makah) are not part of the Nuu-chah-nulth political organization, however; all are atḥ (people). The term nuučaanułatḥ is also used, meaning "people all along the mountains and the sea."
• Ahousaht - People of an open bay/People with their backs to the mountains and lands
• Ucluelet - People with a safe landing place for canoes.
• Ehattesaht - People of a tribe with many clans
• Checkleset – People from the place where you gain strength
• Hesquiaht - People who tear with their teeth
• Kyuquot - Different people
• Mowachaht - People of the deer
• Muchalaht – People who live on the Muchalee river
• Nuchatlaht - People of a sheltered bay
• Huu-ay-aht - People who recovered
• Tseshaht - People from an island that reeks of whale remains
• Tla-o-qui-aht - People from a different place
• Toquaht - People of a narrow passage
• Uchucklesaht - People of the inside harbour
• Ditidaht - People of the forest
• Hupacasaht - People living above the water
• Quidiishdaht (Makah) - People living on the point
• Makah - People generous with food

Translations of place names

Nuuchahnulth had a name for each place within their traditional territory. These are just a few still used to this day:

• hisaawista (esowista) – Captured by clubbing the people who lived there to death, Esowista Peninsula and Esowista Indian Reserve No. 3.
• Yuquot (Friendly Cove) – Where they get the north winds, Yuquot
• nootk-sitl (Nootka) – Go around.
• maaqtusiis – A place across the island, Marktosis
• kakawis – Fronted by a rock that looks like a container.
• kitsuksis – Log across mouth of creek
• opitsaht – Island that the moon lands on, Opitsaht
• pacheena – Foamy.
• tsu-ma-uss (somass) – Washing, Somass River
• tsahaheh – To go up.
• hitac`u (itatsoo) – Ucluelet Reserve.
• t’iipis – Polly’s Point.
• Tsaxana – A place close to the river.
• Cheewat – Pulling tide.

Resources

A Ehattesaht iPhone app was released in January 2012. An online dictionary, phrasebook, and language learning portal is available at the First Voices Ehattesaht Nuchatlaht Community Portal.

See also

• Nuu-chah-nulth alphabet
• Nuu-chah-nulth people
• Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council
• Nootka Jargon, a Nuu-chah-nulth-based predecessor of Chinook Jargon
• Nitinaht language
• Makah

References

• Carlson, Barry F.; Esling, John H.; Fraser, Katie (2001), "Nuuchahnulth", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 31 (2): 275–279, doi:10.1017/s0025100301002092
• Kim, Eun-Sook. (2003). Theoretical issues in Nuu-chah-nulth phonology and morphology. (Doctoral dissertation, The University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics).
• Nakayama, Toshihide (2001). Nuuchahnulth (Nootka) morphosyntax. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-09841-2
• 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.
• Adam Werle. (2015). Nuuchahnulth grammar reference for LC language notes. University of Victoria
• 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).
• 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).

External links

• An extract from the forthcoming Nuuchahnulth Dictionary
• Bibliography of Materials on the Nuuchanulth Language (YDLI)
• Nuuchahnulth (Nootka) (Chris Harvey’s Native Language, Font, & Keyboard)
  • Nuuchahnulth Example Text
• The Wakashan Linguistics Page
  • Grammatical Possession in Nuu-Chah-Nulth
  • Deriving the definiteness effects in Nuu-chah-nulth locatives1
  • Condition C in Nuu-chah-nulth*
• Nootka Language and the Nootka Indian Tribe at native-languages.org
• Nuu-chah-nulth (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)