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").[5]
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.[6]
^Of the alveolar consonants, nasal and laterals are apico-alveolar while the rest are denti-alveolar.
^The approximant /ʕ/ is more often epiglottal and functions phonologically as a stop.
^Glottalized sonorants (nasals and approximants) are realized as sonorants with pre-glottalization. They are arguably conceptually[vague] the same as ejective consonants, though a preglottalized labial nasal could be analyzed as the stop–nasal sequence /ʔm/, as a nasal preceded by a creaky voiced (glottalized) vowel, or a combination of the two.[citation needed]
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).[8]
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.[8]
In the environment of glottalized resonants as well as ejective and pharyngeal consonants, vowels can be "laryngealized" which often means creaky voice.[8]
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.[8]
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.
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[10] 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.
A Ehattesaht iPhone app was released in January 2012.[12] An online dictionary, phrasebook, and language learning portal is available at the First Voices Ehattesaht Nuchatlaht Community Portal.[13]
^"First Nations". Friends Of Clayoquot Sound. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
^Source: Ha-shilth-sa newspaper, 2003. All translations were compiled with consultation from Nuuchahnulth elders. Ha-shilth-sa (meaning 'interesting news') is the official newspaper for the Nuu-chah-nulth nation.
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. ISBN0-520-09841-2
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).
