Halkomelem language
Encyclopedia
Halkomelem is a language of the First Nations
peoples of southeastern Vancouver Island
from the west shore of Saanich Inlet
northward beyond Nanoose Bay, and of the mainland around the Fraser River
Delta upriver to Harrison Lake
and the lower boundary of Fraser Canyon
in British Columbia
. In the classification of Salishan languages
, Halkomelem is a member of the Central Salish branch. There are four other branches of the family: Tsamosan, Interior Salish, Bella Coola, and Tillamook. Speakers of the Central and Tsamosan languages are often identified in ethnographic literature as "Coast Salish
."
The word "Halkomelem" is an anglicization for the language which has three distinguishable dialect
groups: (1) an Island group, spoken by six separate but closely related First Nations in the Georgia Strait area around the mouth of the Fraser River: the Chemainus, Cowichan, Halalt, Lake Cowichan, Lyackson, and Penelakut, (2) a Downriver group, the Lower Sto:lo,spoken by the Tsawwassen, Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, Qayqayt, Kwikwetlem, and Katzie First Nations, and (3) an Upriver group, the Upper Sto:lo, spoken from the Matsqui First Nation on upstream. The language differences (namely, in phonology and lexicon) are greatest between the Island and Upriver dialects, with the Downriver dialect (especially the Tsawwassen First Nation) providing a central link between the other two. The diversity of the Halkomelem dialects is noted to be the result of complex social and economic forces and linguistic change, as many Island people crossed the Georgia Strait to camp along the Fraser River (in both the Downriver and Upriver areas) for the summer runs of salmon. Arranged marriages between children in different dialect areas was also common, helping to establish a regional social network in the Strait of Georgia-Puget Sound
Basin.
The Halkomelem language is near extinction largely due to the extensive transportation of First Nations children to residential schools. In 2000, it was estimated that the number of fluent Halkomelem speakers was less than one dozen. Most are middle-aged or older, and few are monolingual, as there was a flood of English-speaking settlers in the region in the mid-nineteenth century. Language programs at the Stó:lō Nation
, Seabird Island First Nation
, and Cowichan First Nation have been developed to save the language. A program aimed at adults at Musqueam is a collaboration between the band and the University of British Columbia
First Nations Language Program.
of the Island and Upriver dialects are noted at the foot of the phoneme
charts.
Four of these vowel phonemes (/i/, /e/, /a/, and /ə/) are common, while /u/ occurs mainly in loan words.
All five vowel phonemes vary considerably phonetically. The phoneme /i/ has three distinct allophones. It is realized as [e] following unrounded uvulars. It is realized as [ɪ] with a central off-glide preceding both unrounded and rounded uvulars. Elsewhere, it is realized as low [i] or high [e]. The /e/ is realized as a low to mid-front vowel, usually between [ɛ] or high [æ]. The /a/ is low and central to back, often close to [ɑ]. The /u/ is high, back, and rounded, realized somewhere between low [u] or high [o].
When stressed, the schwa /ə/ appears in most environments as a mid-central, but it is fronted and raised before /x/, approaching [ɪ]; before /y/ it is also fronted, approaching [ɛ]; before /w/ it is lower and back, approaching [ɑ]; and before rounded velars it is mid-back, close to [o]. Unstressed /ə/ can be as high as [i] before /x/ and /y/, and before labialized velars it is realized as [o] or [u]. This phoneme can also be assimilated to a stressed /e/ or a stressed /a/ in an adjacent syllable, by vowel harmony.
Of the forty-three consonants that have been recorded by Suttles (2004) in the Musqueam Downriver dialect of Halkomelem, five (enclosed in parentheses) are of recent and/or peripheral phonemic status, five glottalized resonants (enclosed in square brackets) pose a problem in phonemic analysis (although they occur frequently), and five (enclosed in braces) occur only in a few foreign and imitative words. The stops and affricates are grouped together for simplification purposes.
The plain plosives are less aspirate
before vowels than in English, but they are more aspirate finally. Although the glottalized plosives are ejectives, they are not usually strongly released.
Suttles (2004) made several interesting notes on the Musqueam obstruent
s. The labiodental fricative /f/ occurs in recent loans from English and their derivatives such as in káfi “coffee” and in číf “chief.” According to Suttles (2004), the stops /t/ and /tʼ/ are articulated at a point slightly forward of that of the usual English “t” and “d,” while the affricates /c/ and /cʼ/ are somewhat more retracted than these English phonemes. The affricate [j] has only been recorded in kinjáj “Englishmen” and kinjájqən “English (language).” The glottalized lateral affricate /ƛʼ/ [tʼɬ] is produced when the apex of the tongue
at the onset is in the position for the lateral release rather than for a /t/, and there is less friction produced than with other affricates. The phonemes /k/ and /kʼ/ occur in “baby talk” as substitutes for /q/ and /qʼ/. The uvular fricative /x̌/ [χ] is produced with a great deal of friction and/or uvular vibration, and it contrasts strongly with the velar fricative /x/.
There is variation in the extent to which Musqueam speakers glottalize resonants. Phonetically, there are glottalized resonants and resonants preceded or followed by glottal stops, however, Suttles (2004) found no instances of contrastive distribution
among any of the three. He puts forth two explanations for these facts: that there are two sequences of phonemes, /Rʔ/ and /ʔR/, with overlapping [Rˀ] allophones, or that there is a single phoneme /Rˀ/ that is realized in three distinct ways. In preferring the latter explanation, Suttles holds that there may be five glottalized resonant phonemes in the dialect, although Downriver speakers glottalize resonants very lightly, making them difficult to detect.
In most Upriver dialects, glottalized resonants do not exist, while in Island dialects, they are more sharply articulated (tenseness
is a key feature of Island speech). As is the case with many other phonological features, Downriver Halkomelem stands as a link between the other dialect areas, and it is possible that its speakers vary depending on Island or Upriver influence. Other differences between dialects include: Island and Downriver have both /n/ and /l/, while Upriver has merged these as /l/. Upriver lacks the post-vocalic glottal stops of the other two dialects, and vowel length usually appears in that environment for speakers of that dialect. Additionally, Upriver dialects have greater pitch
differences, and some words are differentiated by pitch alone.
in Halkomelem consists of an increase in intensity and an accompanying rise in pitch
. The three levels of stress are primary (marked /׳/), secondary (marked /`/), and weak (unmarked). There is one vowel with primary stress in every full word, however, its occurrence is not completely predictable.
In uninflected
words with more than one vowel
, the primary stress usually falls on the first vowel (e.g. as in céləx “hand” and léləmʼ “house”). There are exceptions to this general pattern (e.g. as in xəmén “enemy”). As shown by the preceding example, if the word contains both a full vowel and one or more schwas, the stress is placed on the full vowel. Again, there are exceptions to this pattern, such as in words with a final glottal stop
that cannot be preceded by schwa
(e.g. as in nə́cʼaʔ “one”).
Although minimal pair
s contrasting stress are rare, they do exist in the language. The primary stress of a verb root consisting of a resonant, a schwa, and an obstruent
followed by the suffix
/-t/ “transitive” can fall on either the root or the suffix, allowing for minimal pairs such as mə̀kʼʷət “salvage it” and məkʼʷə́t “finish it all.”
The secondary stress appears most often in words that are composed of a root that has retained its stress and a stressed suffix (e.g. as in cʼéwəθàmx “help me”). It may be the case, however, that the secondary stress recorded by Suttles (2004) in words like cʼéwəθàmx is actually a falling pitch; this seems to be characteristic of the last stressed syllable of a phrase in the language. Additional analyses of the sentential intonation
patterns are needed.
Resonants
only appear adjacent to vowels. When these sounds occur in the middle of words, they are found in sequences of resonant-obstruent, resonant-resonant, and obstruent-resonant. An initial resonant is always followed a vowel, and a final resonant must be preceded by one.
The laryngeals are more restricted than members of the other natural classes in Halkomelem. The glottal stop occurs only adjacent to a vowel, and, within words, it does not follow any obstruent except (the prefix) /s/. It can never occur in final position following a schwa
. /h/ occurs only before vowels, following a resonant or one of the fricatives at morpheme boundaries, but never following other obstruents. Interestingly, it can appear between an unstressed and a stressed vowel, but it cannot occur between a stressed and an unstressed vowel.
.
, Halkomelem is polysynthetic. A word in Halkomelem may consist of a root standing alone and unaltered, or of a root altered by one or more processes of internal modification and/or accompanied by one or more affixes. Since all words (with the exception of a few adverbs) can function as predicate
heads, there is no basis for distinguishing verbs, nouns, and adjectives. There are other bases, however, for distinguishing these classes. Verbs have progressive
forms and do not take possessive
affixes, while nouns do not have progressive forms and do take possessive affixes. Adjectives have neither progressive forms, nor do they take possessive affixes. Compounding
is non-existent in the language, although some scholars believe to have found a few possible examples.
The majority of verb roots have the shapes CAC, CəC, CəCC, while noun roots typically have the shape CVCVC (V is any vowel). The most common shapes of adjective roots are CəC and CAC. There is a prefix that nominalizes verbs and adjectives, and there are several prefixes that make verbs out of nouns. Additionally, there are several ways to make adjective-like words from nouns. Processes of internal modification of the root include reduplication
(of initial CV and CVC), shift in stress and vowel grade, and glottalization
of resonants (which also affects suffixes). Roots of different shapes often undergo different processes to produce forms that are grammatically identical.
, as opposed to progressive, aspect.
Several verbs also have a durative aspect, which can occur in both forms.
A number also have an iterative-dispositional aspect. For a few of these verb roots, this aspect can appear in both a progressive and in a perfective form.
The majority of verbs have a resultative
form which is adjective-like and does not carry a progressive-perfective distinction.
The plural can be optionally marked in all of these forms. The diminutive
is also marked, optionally, in only the progressive and resultative aspects.
A few nouns may have resultative forms. They do not have progressive forms, but they may be made into a verb with a verbalizing affix and then express this form.
Complex adjectives are formed from adjective roots and lexical suffixes.
es, suffix
es, and infix
es. All infixes of the language have been described in the preceding sections. Affixes are typically divisible into inflectional or derivational
and grammatical
or lexical categories, depending on their involvement in paradigms and meaning, however, a number of Halkomelem affixes mix these categories. Suttles (2004) identifies the following classes of suffixes and prefixes; a sampling of these affixes follow.
Most verbs roots are semantically inactive/patient oriented (e.g. they have glosses like “get hit” or “get washed”), while few verbs are semantically active/agent oriented (e.g. “look” or “see”). All are grammatically intransitive
and take subjects only. These relations are different with the suffixes of the voice
system. A verb that is made up of an inactive root and an intransitive suffix is grammatically intransitive, but semantically active. An inactive or active root that takes on a transitive suffix is grammatically transitive and takes an object. The transitive suffix is the base for an object or passive person suffix. Two of the most commonly used transitive suffixes distinguish actions performed with limited control or accidentally from those performed with full control or purposely.
Aspectual prefixes, which precede predicate heads, have adverbial meaning and express temporal distinctions. Modal
suffixes follow the suffixes of the voice system and indicate desire or intention and search or arrangement.
Lexical suffixes can be related to verb roots as objects
, locus, or instruments; to adjective roots as noun heads
; and to noun roots as noun possessors or the noun heads of modifiers
.
The personal affixes
distinguish first, second, and third person in singular and plural. There are neither dual forms
nor inclusive/exclusive
distinctions in this language. There is also a set of possessive affixes (prefixes for first and second person singular, suffixes for first-person plural and third person, and a combination of prefix and suffix for second-person plural). This system will be covered, in detail, in the "Syntax" section.
prefixes and suffixes form an inner layer around the word root, while inflectional affixes form an outer layer around the root. Among derivational affixes, those with lexical meaning stand closer to the root than those with purely grammatical meaning. Among inflectional affixes, those of the voice and person systems stand closer to the root than the aspectual prefixes and modal
suffixes.
. Predicate heads
can be bare roots
(e.g. cákʼʷ "far"), derived forms (e.g. spéʔeθ "black bar"), inflected forms (e.g. cʼéwət "help him/her/them"), and forms including both derivational
and inflectional affixes (e.g. kʷə́xnəct "name-base-transitive," as in "name a price"). Predicate heads can also be words that are definable morphologically. This includes verbs (e.g. ném "go"), adjectives (e.g. θí "big"), nouns (e.g. swə́yʼqeʔ "man"), members of the closed sets of personal words (see the following section), and interrogative words (e.g. stém "what").
A verbal predicate may be expanded with the addition of one or two auxiliary verbs before the head and/or one or more adverbs preceding or following the head.
Verb heads are also found with verb complements
and compound verbs.
Like verbal predicates, adjectival and nominal predicates can be expanded with other elements. Nominal predicate heads can appear alone, followed by particles and adverbs.
Syntactically, adjectival and nominal predicate heads appear with auxiliaries less often than verbs. Adjectives and nouns can appear together in nominal predicates expanded with adjectives. A nominal predicate head can be preceded by a modifying adjective or numeral.
Adjectives usually appear as predicate heads accompanied by particles
only, but they can be preceded by auxiliaries and adverbs acting as intensifier
s.
). As mentioned in the "Morphology" section, there is no dual number
or inclusive/exclusive
distinction in the language, however, some scholars believe that the forms identified here as second-person "singular" were once used in addressing a married couple, a pair of brothers, or even a family, while the "plural" forms were used for a larger or less integrated group.
subject particles pattern like a nominative–accusative case marking system. In other words, the same particles mark first- and second-person subjects in both intransitive and transitive predicates in main clauses (coordinate constructions).
Suttles (2004) classified the first- and second-person subject
particles as second-position predicate
particles, along with about twenty other particles that can appear within the predicate. Most of the second-position predicate particles are mobile, appearing after the first word of the predicate (whatever that may be). If the only word in the predicate is the head, the first- and second-person subject particles will follow it; if the head is preceded by an auxiliary verb, they will follow the auxiliary; if the head is preceded by an adverb
, they will follow the adverb.
person marker can only be suffixed to a transitive verb (i.e. a verb stem that has a transitive suffix). The four forms appear to be composed of identifiable elements: /-S/ and /-am/ "non-third-person singular," /-al-/ "non-third-person plural," /-x/ and /-xʷ/ "first person," and /-ə/ second person. Third-person objects are unmarked.
The element /-S/ occurs with the transitivizer /-t/, and they coalesce as /θ/. With the root cʼéw- "help" and /-t/ "transitive," we find:
These forms are normally accompanied by subject person markers.
With a transitive predicate head in a main clause, on the other hand, a third-person subject must be marked by the suffix /-əs/. It always follows the transitivizer and object person marker, if any. Unlike the first- and second-person subject particles, the suffix does not move to follow an auxiliary or adverb. Again, the plurality of the third-person may be indicated by the particle ʔé·ɬtən.
paradigm, a third person cannot be the subject with a second person as the object. Instead, we find passive forms.
Only third persons can be agents in the passive
. Other relations (e.g. the forms "*I am seen by you" or "*he is seen by me") can be expressed only in the active (e.g. "you see me" and "I see him").
subject person marker with a subordinate subject person marker. Subordinate subject person markers are the same in both intransitive and transitive active predicates.
Subordinate clauses usually follow main clauses, but there are a few exceptions.
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
peoples of southeastern Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
from the west shore of Saanich Inlet
Saanich Inlet
Saanich Inlet is a body of salt water that lies between the Saanich Peninsula and the Malahat highlands of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Located just northwest of Victoria, the inlet is 24 km long , has a surface area of 65 km2 , and its maximum depth is 225 m . Great...
northward beyond Nanoose Bay, and of the mainland around the Fraser River
Fraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...
Delta upriver to Harrison Lake
Harrison Lake
Harrison Lake is the largest lake in the southern Coast Mountains of Canada, being about 250 square kilometres in area. It is about 60 km in length and at its widest almost 9 km across. Its southern end, at the resort community of Harrison Hot Springs, is c. 95 km east of...
and the lower boundary of Fraser Canyon
Fraser Canyon
The Fraser Canyon is an 84 km landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley...
in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. In the classification of Salishan languages
Salishan languages
The Salishan languages are a group of languages of the Pacific Northwest...
, Halkomelem is a member of the Central Salish branch. There are four other branches of the family: Tsamosan, Interior Salish, Bella Coola, and Tillamook. Speakers of the Central and Tsamosan languages are often identified in ethnographic literature as "Coast Salish
Coast Salish
Coast Salish languages are a subgroup of the Salishan language family. These languages are spoken by First Nations or Native American peoples inhabiting the territory that is now the southwest coast of British Columbia around the Strait of Georgia and Washington state around Puget Sound...
."
The word "Halkomelem" is an anglicization for the language which has three distinguishable dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
groups: (1) an Island group, spoken by six separate but closely related First Nations in the Georgia Strait area around the mouth of the Fraser River: the Chemainus, Cowichan, Halalt, Lake Cowichan, Lyackson, and Penelakut, (2) a Downriver group, the Lower Sto:lo,spoken by the Tsawwassen, Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, Qayqayt, Kwikwetlem, and Katzie First Nations, and (3) an Upriver group, the Upper Sto:lo, spoken from the Matsqui First Nation on upstream. The language differences (namely, in phonology and lexicon) are greatest between the Island and Upriver dialects, with the Downriver dialect (especially the Tsawwassen First Nation) providing a central link between the other two. The diversity of the Halkomelem dialects is noted to be the result of complex social and economic forces and linguistic change, as many Island people crossed the Georgia Strait to camp along the Fraser River (in both the Downriver and Upriver areas) for the summer runs of salmon. Arranged marriages between children in different dialect areas was also common, helping to establish a regional social network in the Strait of Georgia-Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
Basin.
The Halkomelem language is near extinction largely due to the extensive transportation of First Nations children to residential schools. In 2000, it was estimated that the number of fluent Halkomelem speakers was less than one dozen. Most are middle-aged or older, and few are monolingual, as there was a flood of English-speaking settlers in the region in the mid-nineteenth century. Language programs at the Stó:lō Nation
Stó:lo Nation
The Sto:lo Nation is a First Nations Tribal Council in the Fraser Valley region of the Canadian province of British Columbia that is the tribal council for First Nations band governments in the area of Chilliwack, Abbotsford and at NIcomen Island. This tribal council should not be confused with...
, Seabird Island First Nation
Seabird Island First Nation
The or Seabird Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people located on Sea Bird Island in the Upper Fraser Valley region, 3kms east of Agassiz, British Columbia, Canada...
, and Cowichan First Nation have been developed to save the language. A program aimed at adults at Musqueam is a collaboration between the band and the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
First Nations Language Program.
Phonology
Note: All examples are drawn from Musqueam, a band which speaks the Downriver dialect of Halkomelem. Relevant differences in the phonologyPhonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
of the Island and Upriver dialects are noted at the foot of the phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
charts.
Vowels
Musqueam has five vowel phonemes. Long and short vowels (but not schwa) contrast. Vowel length is written in the native orthography as ⟨·⟩.| Short Vowel length In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in... |
Long Vowel length In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in... |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... (rounded) |
Front | Central | Back (rounded) | |
| High | i | u | iː ⟨i·⟩ | uː ⟨u·⟩ | ||
| Mid Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel... |
e | ə | eː ⟨e·⟩ | |||
| Low | a | aː ⟨a·⟩ |
Four of these vowel phonemes (/i/, /e/, /a/, and /ə/) are common, while /u/ occurs mainly in loan words.
All five vowel phonemes vary considerably phonetically. The phoneme /i/ has three distinct allophones. It is realized as [e] following unrounded uvulars. It is realized as [ɪ] with a central off-glide preceding both unrounded and rounded uvulars. Elsewhere, it is realized as low [i] or high [e]. The /e/ is realized as a low to mid-front vowel, usually between [ɛ] or high [æ]. The /a/ is low and central to back, often close to [ɑ]. The /u/ is high, back, and rounded, realized somewhere between low [u] or high [o].
When stressed, the schwa /ə/ appears in most environments as a mid-central, but it is fronted and raised before /x/, approaching [ɪ]; before /y/ it is also fronted, approaching [ɛ]; before /w/ it is lower and back, approaching [ɑ]; and before rounded velars it is mid-back, close to [o]. Unstressed /ə/ can be as high as [i] before /x/ and /y/, and before labialized velars it is realized as [o] or [u]. This phoneme can also be assimilated to a stressed /e/ or a stressed /a/ in an adjacent syllable, by vowel harmony.
Consonants
| Labial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
Dental | Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Alv. Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... sibilant Sibilant consonant A sibilant is a manner of articulation of fricative and affricate consonants, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the sharp edge of the teeth, which are held close together. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English words sip, zip, ship, chip,... |
Lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth.... |
Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
Labialized Velar Labialisation Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.The most common... |
Uvular Uvular consonant 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. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and... |
Labialized Uvular Labialisation Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.The most common... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | plain | p [p] | (tθ) [tθ] | t [t] | c [ts] | (č) [t͡ʃ] | (k) [k] | kʷ [kʷ] | q [q] | qʷ [qʷ] | ||
| glottalized Glottalization Glottalization is the complete or partial closure of the glottis during the articulation of another sound. Glottalization of vowels and other sonorants is most often realized as creaky voice... |
pʼ [pʼ] | tʼθ [tθʼ] | tʼ [tʼ] | cʼ [tsʼ] | ƛʼ [tɬʼ] | (kʼ) [kʼ] | kʼʷ [kʷʼ] | qʼ [qʼ] | qʼʷ[qʷʼ] | ʔ [ʔ] | ||
| voiced | {b} [b] | {d} [d] | {j}[d͡ʒ] | |||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | {f} [f] | θ [θ] | s [s] | ɬ [t͡ʃ] | (š) [ʃ] | x [x] | xʷ [xʷ] | x̌ [χ] | x̌ʷ [χʷ] | h [h] | |
| Resonant Sonorant In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; fricatives and plosives are not sonorants. Vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like and . Other consonants, like or , restrict the airflow enough to cause turbulence, and... |
plain Phonation Phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology... |
m [m] | n [n] | l [l] | y [j] | w [w] | {r} [ʀ] | |||||
| glottalized Glottalization Glottalization is the complete or partial closure of the glottis during the articulation of another sound. Glottalization of vowels and other sonorants is most often realized as creaky voice... |
(mʼ) [mˀ] | (nʼ) [nˀ] | (lʼ) [lˀ] | (yʼ) [jˀ] | (wʼ) [wˀ] |
Of the forty-three consonants that have been recorded by Suttles (2004) in the Musqueam Downriver dialect of Halkomelem, five (enclosed in parentheses) are of recent and/or peripheral phonemic status, five glottalized resonants (enclosed in square brackets) pose a problem in phonemic analysis (although they occur frequently), and five (enclosed in braces) occur only in a few foreign and imitative words. The stops and affricates are grouped together for simplification purposes.
The plain plosives are less aspirate
Aspiration (phonetics)
In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...
before vowels than in English, but they are more aspirate finally. Although the glottalized plosives are ejectives, they are not usually strongly released.
Suttles (2004) made several interesting notes on the Musqueam obstruent
Obstruent
An obstruent is a consonant sound formed by obstructing airflow, causing increased air pressure in the vocal tract, such as [k], [d͡ʒ] and [f]. In phonetics, articulation may be divided into two large classes: obstruents and sonorants....
s. The labiodental fricative /f/ occurs in recent loans from English and their derivatives such as in káfi “coffee” and in číf “chief.” According to Suttles (2004), the stops /t/ and /tʼ/ are articulated at a point slightly forward of that of the usual English “t” and “d,” while the affricates /c/ and /cʼ/ are somewhat more retracted than these English phonemes. The affricate [j] has only been recorded in kinjáj “Englishmen” and kinjájqən “English (language).” The glottalized lateral affricate /ƛʼ/ [tʼɬ] is produced when the apex of the tongue
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
at the onset is in the position for the lateral release rather than for a /t/, and there is less friction produced than with other affricates. The phonemes /k/ and /kʼ/ occur in “baby talk” as substitutes for /q/ and /qʼ/. The uvular fricative /x̌/ [χ] is produced with a great deal of friction and/or uvular vibration, and it contrasts strongly with the velar fricative /x/.
There is variation in the extent to which Musqueam speakers glottalize resonants. Phonetically, there are glottalized resonants and resonants preceded or followed by glottal stops, however, Suttles (2004) found no instances of contrastive distribution
Contrastive distribution
Contrastive distribution in linguistics, as opposed to complementary distribution or free variation, is the relationship between two different elements, where both elements are found in the same environment with a change in meaning.-Phonology:...
among any of the three. He puts forth two explanations for these facts: that there are two sequences of phonemes, /Rʔ/ and /ʔR/, with overlapping [Rˀ] allophones, or that there is a single phoneme /Rˀ/ that is realized in three distinct ways. In preferring the latter explanation, Suttles holds that there may be five glottalized resonant phonemes in the dialect, although Downriver speakers glottalize resonants very lightly, making them difficult to detect.
In most Upriver dialects, glottalized resonants do not exist, while in Island dialects, they are more sharply articulated (tenseness
Tenseness
In phonology, tenseness is a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. It has also occasionally been used to describe contrasts in consonants. Unlike most distinctive features, the feature [tense] can be interpreted only relatively, that is, in...
is a key feature of Island speech). As is the case with many other phonological features, Downriver Halkomelem stands as a link between the other dialect areas, and it is possible that its speakers vary depending on Island or Upriver influence. Other differences between dialects include: Island and Downriver have both /n/ and /l/, while Upriver has merged these as /l/. Upriver lacks the post-vocalic glottal stops of the other two dialects, and vowel length usually appears in that environment for speakers of that dialect. Additionally, Upriver dialects have greater pitch
Pitch accent
Pitch accent is a linguistic term of convenience for a variety of restricted tone systems that use variations in pitch to give prominence to a syllable or mora within a word. The placement of this tone or the way it is realized can give different meanings to otherwise similar words...
differences, and some words are differentiated by pitch alone.
Stress and Pitch
Based on Suttles’ (2004) recordings of several speakers of the Downriver (Musqueam) dialect, stressStress (linguistics)
In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.The stress placed...
in Halkomelem consists of an increase in intensity and an accompanying rise in pitch
Pitch accent
Pitch accent is a linguistic term of convenience for a variety of restricted tone systems that use variations in pitch to give prominence to a syllable or mora within a word. The placement of this tone or the way it is realized can give different meanings to otherwise similar words...
. The three levels of stress are primary (marked /׳/), secondary (marked /`/), and weak (unmarked). There is one vowel with primary stress in every full word, however, its occurrence is not completely predictable.
In uninflected
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
words with more than one vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
, the primary stress usually falls on the first vowel (e.g. as in céləx “hand” and léləmʼ “house”). There are exceptions to this general pattern (e.g. as in xəmén “enemy”). As shown by the preceding example, if the word contains both a full vowel and one or more schwas, the stress is placed on the full vowel. Again, there are exceptions to this pattern, such as in words with a final glottal stop
Glottal stop
The glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those using a preservative pronunciation of...
that cannot be preceded by schwa
Schwa
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
(e.g. as in nə́cʼaʔ “one”).
Although minimal pair
Minimal pair
In phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a particular language, which differ in only one phonological element, such as a phone, phoneme, toneme or chroneme and have distinct meanings...
s contrasting stress are rare, they do exist in the language. The primary stress of a verb root consisting of a resonant, a schwa, and an obstruent
Obstruent
An obstruent is a consonant sound formed by obstructing airflow, causing increased air pressure in the vocal tract, such as [k], [d͡ʒ] and [f]. In phonetics, articulation may be divided into two large classes: obstruents and sonorants....
followed by the suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
/-t/ “transitive” can fall on either the root or the suffix, allowing for minimal pairs such as mə̀kʼʷət “salvage it” and məkʼʷə́t “finish it all.”
The secondary stress appears most often in words that are composed of a root that has retained its stress and a stressed suffix (e.g. as in cʼéwəθàmx “help me”). It may be the case, however, that the secondary stress recorded by Suttles (2004) in words like cʼéwəθàmx is actually a falling pitch; this seems to be characteristic of the last stressed syllable of a phrase in the language. Additional analyses of the sentential intonation
Intonation (linguistics)
In linguistics, intonation is variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to distinguish words. It contrasts with tone, in which pitch variation does distinguish words. Intonation, rhythm, and stress are the three main elements of linguistic prosody...
patterns are needed.
Phonotactics
All obstruents (except the glottals) typically follow one another in sequences of up to four, although a sequence of five is also possible (e.g. as in txʷstx̌ʷásʔal “just standing in shock”). There are no specific restrictions on the types of obstruent sequences that can occur. Plosives appearing in sequences are rearticulated, and sequences of /ss/ are common in the language.Resonants
Sonorant
In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; fricatives and plosives are not sonorants. Vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like and . Other consonants, like or , restrict the airflow enough to cause turbulence, and...
only appear adjacent to vowels. When these sounds occur in the middle of words, they are found in sequences of resonant-obstruent, resonant-resonant, and obstruent-resonant. An initial resonant is always followed a vowel, and a final resonant must be preceded by one.
The laryngeals are more restricted than members of the other natural classes in Halkomelem. The glottal stop occurs only adjacent to a vowel, and, within words, it does not follow any obstruent except (the prefix) /s/. It can never occur in final position following a schwa
Schwa
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean the following:*An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel...
. /h/ occurs only before vowels, following a resonant or one of the fricatives at morpheme boundaries, but never following other obstruents. Interestingly, it can appear between an unstressed and a stressed vowel, but it cannot occur between a stressed and an unstressed vowel.
Morphophonemics
Certain processes affect the realization of underlying sounds in Halkomelem. Alternations that occur fairly commonly are discussed in this section, rather than in the following section on morphologyMorphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
.
- In rapid speech, there is optional lossElisionElision is the omission of one or more sounds in a word or phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to pronounce...
of some instances of schwa, glottal stop, glottalization of resonants, and /h/.- An unstressed schwa following an initial nasal stop may be lost, if there is a vowel preceding; the nasal is sometimes heard as part of that syllable (e.g. as in tənəmén ~ tən mén “my father”).
- /nə/ with no preceding vowel sometimes appears as syllabic [n] (e.g. as in xʷnəcʼáwəθ ~ xʷncʼáwəθ “one kind”).
- A glottal stop after an unstressed final vowel may be lost, in which case the vowel will be reduced to a schwa (e.g. as in méqeʔ ~ méqə).
- The glottalization of resonants following unstressed vowels is often inaudible (e.g. as in smənʼé·m ~ sməné·m “descendants”).
- /h/ before a stressed vowel may be lost when preceded by a spirant (e.g. as in shá·yʼ ~ sá·yʼ “finished”).
- An unstressed schwa may take on the quality of an adjacent full vowel, or one that is separated from it by a glottal stop (e.g. as in spéʔəθ ~ spéʔeθ “black bear”).
- When a root with the shape of /CARˀ/ (C is any consonant, A is a full vowel, Rˀ is a glottalized resonant), takes the suffix /-ət/ “transitive,” the resulting form is /CAʔəRt/. It appears that the resonant and schwa have switched positions (a form of metathesisMetathesis (linguistics)Metathesis is the re-arranging of sounds or syllables in a word, or of words in a sentence. Most commonly it refers to the switching of two or more contiguous sounds, known as adjacent metathesis or local metathesis:...
), but the glottal stop protects the schwa from assimilatingAssimilation (linguistics)Assimilation is a common phonological process by which the sound of the ending of one word blends into the sound of the beginning of the following word. This occurs when the parts of the mouth and vocal cords start to form the beginning sounds of the next word before the last sound has been...
to the full vowel (e.g. as in wílʼ “appear” and wíʔəlt “make it appear”). - Several roots appear alone, without having undergone affixation (e.g. as in ʔí “big” and pá “get blown on”). When this type of root is followed by a suffixSuffixIn linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
that begins with a stressed vowel, (e.g. as in /-ínəs/ “chest”), an /h/ appears (e.g. as in θəhínəs “barrel-chested”). A final /h/ is never realized after a stressed vowel. - A number of suffixes beginning with /n/ have forms with initial /l/ when they are added to a rootRoot (linguistics)The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
or stemWord stemIn linguistics, a stem is a part of a word. The term is used with slightly different meanings.In one usage, a stem is a form to which affixes can be attached. Thus, in this usage, the English word friendships contains the stem friend, to which the derivational suffix -ship is attached to form a new...
ending in /l/ (i.e. there is alternationAlternation (linguistics)In linguistics, an alternation is the phenomenon of a phoneme or morpheme exhibiting variation in its phonological realization. Each of the various realizations is called an alternant...
of /n/ and /l/ in certain morphological cases in this language) (e.g. as in /-nəxʷ/ ~ /-ləxʷ/ “limited control” in ɬə́qʼəlləxʷ “know it” and cə́llexʷ “catch up with him”). - In the progressiveContinuous and progressive aspectsThe continuous and progressive aspects are grammatical aspects that express incomplete action in progress at a specific time: they are non-habitual, imperfective aspects. It is a verb category with two principal meaning components: duration and incompletion...
and resultativeResultativeA resultative is a phrase that indicates the state of a noun resulting from the completion of the verb. In the English examples below, the affected noun is shown in bold and the resulting predicate is in italics:...
forms of few verbs with initial /c/ or /x/ followed by /a/, the /c/ is reduplicatedReduplicationReduplication in linguistics is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word is repeated exactly or with a slight change....
as /kʷ/ and the /x/ as /xʷ/ (e.g. as in cám “go/come inland” and its progressive cákʷəm “be going/coming inland”). - Vowel gradation often occurs between a full vowel, schwa, and zero, depending on the type of root or stem, type of suffix, and placement of stress.
- When some suffixes are joined with stems, a change in the quality of the stressed vowel, from one full vowel to another, in the stem, or (rarely) in the suffix results. The vowel mutations are the product of the assimilation of one vowel to that of an adjacent syllableSyllableA syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
at an earlier stage in the language's historyHistorical linguisticsHistorical linguistics is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:* to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages...
. Three kinds of these mutations exist (although only the first example is common). In the first two examples, the vowel mutation is similar to the umlautingGermanic umlautIn linguistics, umlaut is a process whereby a vowel is pronounced more like a following vowel or semivowel. The term umlaut was originally coined and is used principally in connection with the study of the Germanic languages...
effect of a suffix on stems in Germanic languages.- Stem /e/ changes to /a/ (e.g. as in xʷƛʼáqtəs “long-faced” [ƛʼéqt “long”]).
- Stem /a/ to /e/ (e.g. as in pé·ltʼθeʔ “buzzard (turkey vulture),” which is composed of spá·l “raven” and the suffix /-itθeʔ/ “clothing, blanket” [with metathesis]).
- Suffix /e/ to /a/ (e.g. as in sqʼəqʼəxán “partner,” which is composed of sqʼəqʼáʔ “accompanying” and the suffix /-xən/ ~ /-xén/ “foot”).
Morphology
Like the majority of Salishan languagesSalishan languages
The Salishan languages are a group of languages of the Pacific Northwest...
, Halkomelem is polysynthetic. A word in Halkomelem may consist of a root standing alone and unaltered, or of a root altered by one or more processes of internal modification and/or accompanied by one or more affixes. Since all words (with the exception of a few adverbs) can function as predicate
Predicate (grammar)
There are two competing notions of the predicate in theories of grammar. Traditional grammar tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence, the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies. The other understanding of predicates is inspired from work in predicate calculus...
heads, there is no basis for distinguishing verbs, nouns, and adjectives. There are other bases, however, for distinguishing these classes. Verbs have progressive
Continuous and progressive aspects
The continuous and progressive aspects are grammatical aspects that express incomplete action in progress at a specific time: they are non-habitual, imperfective aspects. It is a verb category with two principal meaning components: duration and incompletion...
forms and do not take possessive
Possessive case
The possessive case of a language is a grammatical case used to indicate a relationship of possession. It is not the same as the genitive case, which can express a wider range of relationships, though the two have similar meanings in many languages.See Possession for a survey of the different...
affixes, while nouns do not have progressive forms and do take possessive affixes. Adjectives have neither progressive forms, nor do they take possessive affixes. Compounding
Compound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...
is non-existent in the language, although some scholars believe to have found a few possible examples.
The majority of verb roots have the shapes CAC, CəC, CəCC, while noun roots typically have the shape CVCVC (V is any vowel). The most common shapes of adjective roots are CəC and CAC. There is a prefix that nominalizes verbs and adjectives, and there are several prefixes that make verbs out of nouns. Additionally, there are several ways to make adjective-like words from nouns. Processes of internal modification of the root include reduplication
Reduplication
Reduplication in linguistics is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word is repeated exactly or with a slight change....
(of initial CV and CVC), shift in stress and vowel grade, and glottalization
Glottalization
Glottalization is the complete or partial closure of the glottis during the articulation of another sound. Glottalization of vowels and other sonorants is most often realized as creaky voice...
of resonants (which also affects suffixes). Roots of different shapes often undergo different processes to produce forms that are grammatically identical.
Verbs
Verbs roots are identified as perfectivePerfective aspect
The perfective aspect , sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect used to describe a situation viewed as a simple whole, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. The perfective aspect is equivalent to the aspectual component of past perfective forms...
, as opposed to progressive, aspect.
- Perfective sə̀qʼ "split, tear"
- Progressive səsə̀qʼ "be splitting, be tearing"
Several verbs also have a durative aspect, which can occur in both forms.
- Perfective qʼíkʼʷət “bite it”
- Progressive qʼíqʼəkʼʷət “be biting it”
A number also have an iterative-dispositional aspect. For a few of these verb roots, this aspect can appear in both a progressive and in a perfective form.
- sə́qʼsəqʼ “easy to split”
The majority of verbs have a resultative
Resultative
A resultative is a phrase that indicates the state of a noun resulting from the completion of the verb. In the English examples below, the affected noun is shown in bold and the resulting predicate is in italics:...
form which is adjective-like and does not carry a progressive-perfective distinction.
- ssəsíqʼ “spit, torn”
- skʼʷəkʼʷíɬ “spilled, capsized”
The plural can be optionally marked in all of these forms. The diminutive
Diminutive
In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...
is also marked, optionally, in only the progressive and resultative aspects.
Nouns
It is possible to internally modify noun roots in Halkomelem for the plural, the diminutive, and the diminutive plural. Compare:- céləx “hand”
- cəlcéləx “hands”
- cécləx “little hand”
- cəcécləx “little hands”
A few nouns may have resultative forms. They do not have progressive forms, but they may be made into a verb with a verbalizing affix and then express this form.
Adjectives
Similar to noun roots, adjective roots can be internally modified for plural, diminutive, and diminutive plural. They can only have progressive forms if made into verbs by means of a verbalizing affix.- pʼə́qʼ "white"
- pʼépʼqʼ "white(PL)"
Complex adjectives are formed from adjective roots and lexical suffixes.
- máʔəqʷ "large bird"
Affixes
Halkomelem contains prefixPrefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the root of a word. Particularly in the study of languages,a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.Examples of prefixes:...
es, suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
es, and infix
Infix
An infix is an affix inserted inside a word stem . It contrasts with adfix, a rare term for an affix attached to the end of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix.-Indonesian:...
es. All infixes of the language have been described in the preceding sections. Affixes are typically divisible into inflectional or derivational
Derivation (linguistics)
In linguistics, derivation is the process of forming a new word on the basis of an existing word, e.g. happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or determination from determine...
and grammatical
Function word
Function words are words that have little lexical meaning or have ambiguous meaning, but instead serve to express grammatical relationships with other words within a sentence, or specify the attitude or mood of the speaker...
or lexical categories, depending on their involvement in paradigms and meaning, however, a number of Halkomelem affixes mix these categories. Suttles (2004) identifies the following classes of suffixes and prefixes; a sampling of these affixes follow.
- Non-Personal Affixes
- Suffixes of the Voice System
- Transitive: /-t/ /-nəxʷ/ /-x/ “transitive”
- Intransitive: /-əm/ “intransitive,” /-éls/ “activity” (compare pə́n “get buried,” pə́nət “bury it,” pə́nəm “plant,” and pə́néls “bury something”)
- Causative: /-stəxʷ/ “causative”
- Permissive: /-s/ “let,” as in “let him go” or “let it be”
- Applicative: /-nəs/ “goal” (e.g. as in nəʔémnəs “go after him”), /-ném/ “go”
- Reflexive: /-θət/ “oneself,” /-námət/ “oneself (limited control)”
- Reciprocal: /-təlʼ/ “each other”
- Subordinate Passive: /-ət/ “subordinate passive”
- Aspectual and Modal Affixes
- Aspectual Prefixes: /wə-/ “established,” wəɬ- “already”
- Modal Suffixes: /-ə́lmən/ “want to, intend to, seem about to”
- Derivational Affixes
- Affixes with Purely Grammatical Meaning
- Nominalizing Prefix: /s-/ “nominalize (verbs and adjectives)”
- Verbalizing Affixes (combine grammatical and lexical meaning): /c-/ “get, make, do, go to,” ɬ- “partake of,” /txʷ-/ “buy,” /-à·l/ “travel by”
- Lexical Prefixes: /mə-/ “come,” /tən-/ “from”
- Lexical Suffixes
- Body Parts: /-aqʷ/ “head”
- Common Artifacts: /-wət/ “canoe”
- Natural Phenomena: /-ətp/ “plant, tree”
- Affixes with Purely Grammatical Meaning
- Suffixes of the Voice System
- Personal Affixes
Most verbs roots are semantically inactive/patient oriented (e.g. they have glosses like “get hit” or “get washed”), while few verbs are semantically active/agent oriented (e.g. “look” or “see”). All are grammatically intransitive
Intransitive verb
In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb that has no object. This differs from a transitive verb, which takes one or more objects. Both classes of verb are related to the concept of the transitivity of a verb....
and take subjects only. These relations are different with the suffixes of the voice
Voice (grammar)
In grammar, the voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments . When the subject is the agent or doer of the action, the verb is in the active voice...
system. A verb that is made up of an inactive root and an intransitive suffix is grammatically intransitive, but semantically active. An inactive or active root that takes on a transitive suffix is grammatically transitive and takes an object. The transitive suffix is the base for an object or passive person suffix. Two of the most commonly used transitive suffixes distinguish actions performed with limited control or accidentally from those performed with full control or purposely.
Aspectual prefixes, which precede predicate heads, have adverbial meaning and express temporal distinctions. Modal
Modal verb
A modal verb is a type of auxiliary verb that is used to indicate modality -- that is, likelihood, ability, permission, and obligation...
suffixes follow the suffixes of the voice system and indicate desire or intention and search or arrangement.
Lexical suffixes can be related to verb roots as objects
Object (grammar)
An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what or whom the verb is acting upon...
, locus, or instruments; to adjective roots as noun heads
Head (linguistics)
In linguistics, the head is the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member, or analogously the stem that determines the semantic category of a compound of which it is a component. The other elements modify the head....
; and to noun roots as noun possessors or the noun heads of modifiers
Grammatical modifier
In grammar, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure; the removal of the modifier typically doesn't affect the grammaticality of the sentence....
.
The personal affixes
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
distinguish first, second, and third person in singular and plural. There are neither dual forms
Dual (grammatical number)
Dual is a grammatical number that some languages use in addition to singular and plural. When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it is interpreted as referring to precisely two of the entities identified by the noun or pronoun...
nor inclusive/exclusive
Clusivity
In linguistics, clusivity is a distinction between inclusive and exclusive first-person pronouns and verbal morphology, also called inclusive "we" and exclusive "we"...
distinctions in this language. There is also a set of possessive affixes (prefixes for first and second person singular, suffixes for first-person plural and third person, and a combination of prefix and suffix for second-person plural). This system will be covered, in detail, in the "Syntax" section.
The Ordering of Affixes
DerivationalDerivation (linguistics)
In linguistics, derivation is the process of forming a new word on the basis of an existing word, e.g. happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or determination from determine...
prefixes and suffixes form an inner layer around the word root, while inflectional affixes form an outer layer around the root. Among derivational affixes, those with lexical meaning stand closer to the root than those with purely grammatical meaning. Among inflectional affixes, those of the voice and person systems stand closer to the root than the aspectual prefixes and modal
Modal verb
A modal verb is a type of auxiliary verb that is used to indicate modality -- that is, likelihood, ability, permission, and obligation...
suffixes.
- xʷqʷénəctəs. "[She] punches holes in the bottom of it."
Syntax
In Musqueam, a sentence minimally consists of a predicatePredicate (grammar)
There are two competing notions of the predicate in theories of grammar. Traditional grammar tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence, the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies. The other understanding of predicates is inspired from work in predicate calculus...
. Predicate heads
Head (linguistics)
In linguistics, the head is the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member, or analogously the stem that determines the semantic category of a compound of which it is a component. The other elements modify the head....
can be bare roots
Root (linguistics)
The root word is the primary lexical unit of a word, and of a word family , which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents....
(e.g. cákʼʷ "far"), derived forms (e.g. spéʔeθ "black bar"), inflected forms (e.g. cʼéwət "help him/her/them"), and forms including both derivational
Derivation (linguistics)
In linguistics, derivation is the process of forming a new word on the basis of an existing word, e.g. happi-ness and un-happy from happy, or determination from determine...
and inflectional affixes (e.g. kʷə́xnəct "name-base-transitive," as in "name a price"). Predicate heads can also be words that are definable morphologically. This includes verbs (e.g. ném "go"), adjectives (e.g. θí "big"), nouns (e.g. swə́yʼqeʔ "man"), members of the closed sets of personal words (see the following section), and interrogative words (e.g. stém "what").
A verbal predicate may be expanded with the addition of one or two auxiliary verbs before the head and/or one or more adverbs preceding or following the head.
- ʔi(AUX) cən cʼécʼəw-ət. "I am helping him."
- Two pairs of verbs function as auxiliaries, setting the predicate within a spatial context. The choice between the locative pair, /ʔi/ "be here" and /niʔ/ "be there," depends on the location of the speaker relative to whatever the predicate refers to. The directional auxiliaries, /ʔəmí/ "come" and /ném/ "go," identify motions toward or away from the speaker.
- ƛʼ(ADV) cən nəwɬ x̌té. "I did it again."
Verb heads are also found with verb complements
Complement (linguistics)
In grammar the term complement is used with different meanings. The primary meaning is a word, phrase or clause that is necessary in a sentence to complete its meaning. We find complements that function as an argument and complements that exist within arguments.Both complements and modifiers add...
and compound verbs.
- θə́t("try") ɬákʷ. "He tried to fly."
Like verbal predicates, adjectival and nominal predicates can be expanded with other elements. Nominal predicate heads can appear alone, followed by particles and adverbs.
- swə́yʼqeʔ cən. "I am a man."
- swə́yʼqeʔ čxʷ ƛʼe. "You're a man too."
Syntactically, adjectival and nominal predicate heads appear with auxiliaries less often than verbs. Adjectives and nouns can appear together in nominal predicates expanded with adjectives. A nominal predicate head can be preceded by a modifying adjective or numeral.
- ʔə́yʼ("good") čxʷ("you") swə́yʼqeʔ("man"). "You're a good man."
Adjectives usually appear as predicate heads accompanied by particles
Grammatical particle
In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
only, but they can be preceded by auxiliaries and adverbs acting as intensifier
Intensifier
Intensifier is a linguistic term for a modifier that amplifies the meaning of the word it modifies. Examples are "very," "quite," "extremely," "highly," and "greatly." An intensifier is the opposite of a qualifier, a modifier that weakens the word modified: "fairly," "somewhat," "rather," "a...
s.
- kʼʷámʼkʼʷəmʼ cən. "I'm strong."
- ni(AUX) ʔukʼʷámʼkʼʷəmʼ. "He [absent] is strong all right."
- x̌ə́ɬ(ADV) qʼáqʼəyʼ. "He was very sick."
Person Markers
The Halkomelem person markers (forms that correspond in meaning to English personal pronouns) include a set of affixes, one set of particles, and two sets of words (personal and possessivePossessive pronoun
A possessive pronoun is a part of speech that substitutes for a noun phrase that begins with a possessive determiner . For example, in the sentence These glasses are mine, not yours, the words mine and yours are possessive pronouns and stand for my glasses and your glasses, respectively...
). As mentioned in the "Morphology" section, there is no dual number
Dual (grammatical number)
Dual is a grammatical number that some languages use in addition to singular and plural. When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it is interpreted as referring to precisely two of the entities identified by the noun or pronoun...
or inclusive/exclusive
Clusivity
In linguistics, clusivity is a distinction between inclusive and exclusive first-person pronouns and verbal morphology, also called inclusive "we" and exclusive "we"...
distinction in the language, however, some scholars believe that the forms identified here as second-person "singular" were once used in addressing a married couple, a pair of brothers, or even a family, while the "plural" forms were used for a larger or less integrated group.
First- and Second-Person Subject Particles
The first- and second-personGrammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
subject particles pattern like a nominative–accusative case marking system. In other words, the same particles mark first- and second-person subjects in both intransitive and transitive predicates in main clauses (coordinate constructions).
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | cən | ct |
| Second-Person | čxʷ | ce·p |
Suttles (2004) classified the first- and second-person subject
Subject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
particles as second-position predicate
Predicate (grammar)
There are two competing notions of the predicate in theories of grammar. Traditional grammar tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence, the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies. The other understanding of predicates is inspired from work in predicate calculus...
particles, along with about twenty other particles that can appear within the predicate. Most of the second-position predicate particles are mobile, appearing after the first word of the predicate (whatever that may be). If the only word in the predicate is the head, the first- and second-person subject particles will follow it; if the head is preceded by an auxiliary verb, they will follow the auxiliary; if the head is preceded by an adverb
Adverb
An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....
, they will follow the adverb.
- cʼéw-ət cən ceʔ. "I'll help him/her/them."
- ʔi cən cʼécʼəw-ət. "I am helping him/her/them."
- lə́qʼ cən wəmʼi técəl. "I generally get here."
Object Person Markers
An objectObject (grammar)
An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what or whom the verb is acting upon...
person marker can only be suffixed to a transitive verb (i.e. a verb stem that has a transitive suffix). The four forms appear to be composed of identifiable elements: /-S/ and /-am/ "non-third-person singular," /-al-/ "non-third-person plural," /-x/ and /-xʷ/ "first person," and /-ə/ second person. Third-person objects are unmarked.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-Person | -Samx ~ -amx | -alʼxʷ |
| Second-Person | -Samə ~ -amə | -alə |
The element /-S/ occurs with the transitivizer /-t/, and they coalesce as /θ/. With the root cʼéw- "help" and /-t/ "transitive," we find:
- cʼéwəθàmx "help me"
- cʼéwəθàlʼxʷ "help us"
These forms are normally accompanied by subject person markers.
Third-Person Subjects
The third-person subjects comprise an ergative–absolutive system. With a transitive predicate head, a third-person subject, like a third-person object, is marked by zero. Plurality is optionally indicated by the particle ʔé·ɬtən.- némʼ ceʔ. "He/she/it/they will go."
- némʼ ceʔ ʔé·ɬtən. "They will go."
With a transitive predicate head in a main clause, on the other hand, a third-person subject must be marked by the suffix /-əs/. It always follows the transitivizer and object person marker, if any. Unlike the first- and second-person subject particles, the suffix does not move to follow an auxiliary or adverb. Again, the plurality of the third-person may be indicated by the particle ʔé·ɬtən.
- cʼéwətəs ceʔ. "He/she will help him/her."
- ni cʼéwətəs. "He/she helped him/her."
- kʼʷəcnámxəs ceʔ ʔé·ɬtən. "They will see me."
Constraints
In the activeVoice (grammar)
In grammar, the voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments . When the subject is the agent or doer of the action, the verb is in the active voice...
paradigm, a third person cannot be the subject with a second person as the object. Instead, we find passive forms.
- cʼéwətàləm ceʔ. "You folks will be helped."
Only third persons can be agents in the passive
Passive voice
Passive voice is a grammatical voice common in many of the world's languages. Passive is used in a clause whose subject expresses the theme or patient of the main verb. That is, the subject undergoes an action or has its state changed. A sentence whose theme is marked as grammatical subject is...
. Other relations (e.g. the forms "*I am seen by you" or "*he is seen by me") can be expressed only in the active (e.g. "you see me" and "I see him").
Subordinate Clauses
A subordinate clause is produced by prefixing on of the two subordinating particles, /wə-/ "if, when, that" and /ʔəl/ "whenever, whatever," to the first word in a predicate and replacing its coordinateIndependent clause
An independent clause is a clause that can stand by itself, also known as a simple sentence. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate; it makes sense by itself....
subject person marker with a subordinate subject person marker. Subordinate subject person markers are the same in both intransitive and transitive active predicates.
| Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| First-Person | -e·n ~ -ən | -ət | |
| Second-Person | -əxʷ | -e·p ~ -əp | |
| Third-Person | -əs | same as singular | |
Subordinate clauses usually follow main clauses, but there are a few exceptions.
- kʼʷəcnámə cən ceʔ, wənémʼè·n. "I will see you, if/when/that I go."
Basic Halq'eméylem words and phrases
| English | Halq'eméylem |
|---|---|
| Hello/Greetings | Kwéleches |
| How are you? | Lichewx we eyo |
| I am fine | Tsel we eyo |
| Thank you | Kw'as hoy |
| What is your name? | Tewat te' skwix |
| 1 | Letse |
| 2 | Isa:le |
| 3 | Lhi:xw |
| 4 | Xe'o:thels |
| 5 | Lheq'a:tses |
| 6 | T'xem |
| 7 | Tho:kws |
| 8 | Teqa:tsa |
| 9 | Tu:xw |
| 10 | O:pel |
Hul'qumi'num (Hul’q’umi’num’: Island dialect)
- Chemainus First NationChemainus First NationThe Stz'uminus First Nation is a First Nations government located in southeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, near the town of Ladysmith, British Columbia. Stz'uminus First Nation is a member government of the Naut'sa mawt Tribal Council...
- Cowichan peoples
- Cowichan Lake First Nation
- Cowichan TribesCowichan TribesThe Cowichan Tribes First Nations government, located in and around the Cowichan Valley and Duncan, British Columbia, it is the single largest band government in British Columbia....
- Clemclemaluts (L’uml’umuluts)
- Comiaken (Qwum’yiqun’)
- Khenipsen (Hinupsum)
- Kilpahlas (Tl’ulpalus)
- Koksilah (Hwulqwselu)
- QuamichanQuamichanQuamichan is a traditional nation of the Coast Salish people, commonly referred to by the English adaptation of Qu'wutsun as the Cowichan Indians, or First Nations, of the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, in the area of the city of Duncan, British Columbia...
(Kw’amutsun) - SomenaSomenaThe Somena are one of several Hulquminum-speaking indigenous peoples living in the Cowichan Valley-Duncan region of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada....
(S’amuna’)
- Halalt First NationHalalt First NationThe Halalt First Nation is a First Nations government located at Chemainus in southeastern Vancouver Island of British Columbia, Canada. The historical territory of the Halalt people is the lower Chemainus River valley and Willy Island, which is offshore from today's town of Chemainus.The Halalt...
- Lyackson First NationLyackson First NationThe Lyackson First Nation is a First Nations band government located at Chemainus, British Columbia, Canada, on Vancouver Island. -Chief and Councillors:-Indian Reserves:The band has three Indian Reserves, all on Valdes Island:...
- Malahat First NationMalahat First NationThe Malahat First Nation is a First Nations government located on southeastern Vancouver Island in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Their ancestral tongue is the Hulquminum language....
- Nanoose First NationNanoose First NationThe Nanoose First Nation is a First Nations government located on southern Vancouver Island in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, in the vicinity of the community of Nanoose Bay. Their ancestral tongue is the Hulquminum language....
- Penelakut First NationPenelakut First NationThe Penelakut First Nation is a First Nation government of the Penelakut people on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.-Demographics:INAC number, 650 the Penelakut has 859 members.-References:...
- Snuneymuxw First NationSnuneymuxw First NationThe Snuneymuxw First Nation is the band government of the Snuneymuxw of west-central Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The Snuneymuxw First Nation have lived along the eastern coast of south-central Vancouver Island, British Columbia for an estimated 5,000 years...
Hunquminum (Hǝn̓q̓ǝmin̓ǝm̓: Downriver dialect)
- Katzie First NationKatzie First NationThe Katzie are an Indigenous people of the Lower Fraser Valley in British Columbia, Canada. The Katzie historically spoke Halqemeylem, the Upriver Dialect of Halkomelem, one of the Coast Salish family of languages. They are part of the Sto:lo group of peoples, historically referred to as the...
- Kwantlen First NationKwantlen First NationThe Kwantlen First Nation is the band government of the Kwantlen subgroup of the Stó:lō people in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Canada, located primarily at Fort Langley. They traditionally speak the Downriver dialect of Halkomelem, one of the Salishan family of languages...
- Kwikwetlem First NationKwikwetlem First NationThe Kwikwetlem First Nation, also known as the Coquitlam Indian Band, is the band government of the Kwikwetlem people, a Sto:lo people living in the Coquitlam area of British Columbia, Canada. They traditionally speak the Downriver dialect of Halkomelem, one of the Salishan family of languages...
- Musqueam First Nation
- Tsawwassen First NationTsawwassen First NationThe Tsawwassen First Nation is a First Nations government whose only Indian reserve is located in the Greater Vancouver area of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada, adjacent to the South Arm of the Fraser River and the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal and just north of the international...
Halq'emeylem (Halq’eméylem: Upriver dialect)
- Aitchelitz First NationAitchelitz First NationThe Aitchelitz First Nation, also known as the Aitchelitz Band or Aitchelitz Indian Band, is a First Nations band government of the Sto:lo people, located at Sardis, British Columbia, Canada...
- Chawathil First NationChawathil First NationThe Chawathil First Nation or Chawathil Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people located in the Upper Fraser Valley region near Hope, British Columbia, Canada. They are a member government of the Stó:lō Tribal Council.-References:...
- Cheam First Nation
- Chehalis First NationChehalis First NationThe Chehalis First Nation or Chehalis Indian Band is the band government of the Sts'Ailes people, whose territories lie between Deroche and Agassiz, British Columbia...
(non-Stó:lōStó:loThe Sto:lo , alternately written as Stó:lō, Stó:lô or Stó:lõ and historically as Staulo or Stahlo, and historically known and commonly referred to in ethnographic literature as the Fraser River Indians or Lower Fraser Salish, are a group of First Nations peoples inhabiting the Fraser Valley of...
) - Kwaw-kwaw-a-pilt First Nation
- Lakahahmen Lake First Nation
- Matsqui First NationMatsqui First NationThe Popkum First Nation or Popkum Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people located in the Central Fraser Valley region, at Matsqui, in the northern part of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. They are a member government of the Sto:lo Nation tribal council.-References:...
- Ohamil First Nation
- Peters First Nation
- Popkum First NationPopkum First NationThe Popkum First Nation or Popkum Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people located in the Upper Fraser Valley region, at Popkum, northeast of Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. They are a member government of the Sto:lo Nation tribal council.-References:...
- Scowlitz First NationScowlitz First NationThe Scowlitz First Nation or Scowlitz Indian Band is the band government of Skaulits subgroup of the Sto:lo people located on Harrison Bay in the Upper Fraser Valley region between Chehalis and Lake Errock, British Columbia, Canada...
- Seabird Island First NationSeabird Island First NationThe or Seabird Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people located on Sea Bird Island in the Upper Fraser Valley region, 3kms east of Agassiz, British Columbia, Canada...
- Skawahlook First NationSkawahlook First NationThe Skawahlook First Nation, formerly the Tait Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people whose reserves and communities are located in the Upper Fraser Valley region of British Columbia, Canada, near the community of Ruby Creek, which is at the eastern end of the District of Kent...
- Skowkale First NationSkowkale First NationThe Skowkale First Nation or Skowkale Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people located in the Upper Fraser Valley region, near Sardis, part of Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. They are a member government of the Sto:lo Nation tribal council.-References:...
- Skwah First NationSkwah First NationThe Skwah First Nation aka the Skwah Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people in the area of the City of Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada...
- Skwah First NationSkwah First NationThe Skwah First Nation aka the Skwah Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people in the area of the City of Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada...
- Skway First NationSkway First NationThe Skway First Nation aka Skway Indian Band is a band government of the Stó:lō people living in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Canada near the city of Chilliwack. They traditionally speak the Upriver dialect of Halkomelem, one of the Salishan family of languages...
- Soowahlie First NationSoowahlie First NationThe Soowahlie First Nation or Soowahlie Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people located in the Upper Fraser Valley region at Cultus Lake, British Columbia, Canada. They are a member government of the Stó:lō Tribal Council.-Indian Reserves:...
- Squiala First NationSquiala First NationThe Squiala First Nation or Squiala Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people located in the Upper Fraser Valley region, near Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. They are a member government of the Sto:lo Nation tribal council.-References:...
- Sumas First NationSumas First NationThe Sumas First Nation or Sumas Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people located in the Upper Fraser Valley region, at the community of Kilgard aka Upper Sumas, part of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. They are a member government of the Sto:lo Nation tribal council.-References:...
- Tsakuam First Nation
- Tzeachten First NationTzeachten First NationThe Tzeachten First Nation or Tzeachten Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people located in the Upper Fraser Valley region near Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. They are a member government of the Sto:lo Nation tribal council....
- Union Bar First NationUnion Bar First NationThe Union Bar First Nation is a band government of the Sto:lo people, located near Hope, British Columbia.-References:...
- Yakweakwioose First NationYakweakwioose First NationThe Yakweakwioose First Nation or Yakweakwioose Indian Band is a band government of the Sto:lo people located in the Upper Fraser Valley region at Sardis, near Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. They are a member government of the Sto:lo Nation tribal council.-References:...
- Yale First NationYale First NationThe Yale First Nation is an independent First Nation, located at Yale, British Columbia. It is not affiliated with Sto:lo tribal council.-Treaty Process:They have reached Stage 5 in the BC Treaty Process...
See also
- Brent GallowayBrent GallowayBrent D. Galloway is an American linguist noted for his work with endangered Amerindian languages.Galloway received his B.A., C.Phil., and Ph.D. in linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley in 1965, 1971, and 1977, respectively...
- Donna GerdtsDonna GerdtsDonna B. Gerdts is professor of linguistics at Simon Fraser University. She is a syntactician who has worked most extensively on Halkomelem and Korean. She has created extensive teaching materials for Halkomelem...
- Patricia ShawPatricia Alice ShawPatricia Alice Shaw is a linguist specializing in phonology and known for her work on First Nations languages. She is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of British Columbia and Director of the university's First Nations Languages Program....
- Wayne SuttlesWayne SuttlesWayne Suttles was an American anthropologist and linguist.He was the leading authority on the ethnology and linguistics of the Coast Salish people of the Northwest Coast of North America.-Biography:...
External links
- Ethnologue Report for Halkomelem
- First Nations Languages of British Columbia page on Halkomelem
- Language Geek page on Halkomelem
- Status of British Columbia First Nations Languages
- Hul'q'umin'um Talking Dictionary
- Halkomelem Ethnobiology Web Site (SFU)
- Themes, thoughts, and theories on strategic planning for Hul'qumi'num language revitalization
- Lessons and Information about Hul'q'umi'num