Nuxalk language

Consonants

The consonants of Nuxalk are depicted below in IPA and Hank Nater's practical orthography.

Nuxalk is a "vowelless" language, not only because it has voiceless words, phrases and entire sentences, but also because a can be considered a syllabic laryngal (which as such belongs in the same category as m̠, n̠, l̠, i and u).

[...] Other such "vowelless" languages are Heiltsuk and Oowekyala (Kortlandt 1973 and Lincoln & Rath 1980).

• /p t/ have voiced [b d] and aspirated [pʰ tʰ] allophones:
  • optionally voiced between sonorants, e.g. /mn̩mn̩ta/ = [mənməndæ]
  • aspirated before stops and word boundaries;
  • optionally aspirated before fricatives, e.g. /pɬt/ = [p(ʰ)ɬtʰ]
• /c cʼ ç/ are cognate with /t͡ʃ t͡ʃʼ ʃ/ in Coast Salish.
• /c kʷ q qʷ/ are affricated [c͡ç k͡xʷ q͡χ q͡χʷ] before stops and word boundaries.
• /c cʼ ç q qʼ χ/ (and clusters thereof) are labialized before /u/:
  • kʼc /cʼç/ 'to see'
  • kʼcusis /kʷʼxʷusis/ 'he looked at his face'
  • qʼx /qʼχ/ 'to carve'
  • qʼxuusnm /qʷʼχʷuːsnm̩/ 'to be carving a face'
• The sibilants may be realized as entirely alveolar [t͡s t͡sʼ s] or postalveolar [t͡ʃ t͡ʃʼ ʃ] (independently of surrounding palatals) by elders; it is unclear if this is a vestige of historical dialectal divergence.
• The absence of a pulmonic lateral affricate /t͡ɬ/ despite the presence of its ejective counterpart, while unusual crosslinguistically, is characteristic of the Salishan family. For Nuxalk, this analysis is supported by the fact that [t͡ɬ] is in free variation with [tʰɬ] ⟨tlh⟩.
• /ɦ/ has a very low frequency (appearing in only 0.16% of vocabulary) and is therefore considered marginal.

Vowels

Phonotactics

Unlike many of its relatives, Nuxalk lacks phonemic stress. Phonetically, it is to a large extent subject to variation:

• yaki /ˈjaci ~ jaˈci/ 'mountain goat'
• matsʼi /ˈmat͡sʼi ~ maˈt͡sʼi/ 'cured salmon roe'

/ʔ ɦ/ occur only before sonorants. Words that would otherwise begin with a vowel have an epenthetic glottal stop; it is preserved after prefixation, with few exceptions:

• ixw 'far'
• s7ixw 'distance'
• atsʼi 'to fish with a rod'
• satsʼista 'fishing rod' (*s7atsʼista)

Epenthetic [ə] is inserted in sonorant clusters:

• mnmnta [mənməndæ] 'path, road'

/wu/ does not occur, while /ji/ occurs rarely.

Typology

Nuxalk is a polysynthetic language with polypersonal agreement and split ergative alignment. Affix order in transitive events is usually verb–object–subject but verb–subject–object with a 2nd person object.

Events

The first element in a sentence expresses the event of the proposition. It inflects for the person and number of one (in the intransitive paradigm) or two (in the transitive paradigm) participants.

The raised numbers refer to three sub-paradigms: stems belonging to sub-paradigm 1 end in a non-nasal sonorant (a, i, u, y, w, l); sub-paradigm 2 stems end in a nasal (m, n); all stems ending in an obstruent belong to sub-paradigm 3. Absence or presence of 3 sg. -s is determined by context (see below), and sub-paradigm 2 -nap/-ap are in free variation, as are sub-paradigm 2 -naw/-aw.

As a possessive suffix, nominal -s is compulsory (when the possessor is explicit, it follows the ...-s phrase):

• tsi cnas-s 'his wife'
• ti tqʼlha-s 'his knife'
• ti kwtmts-s Mary 'Mary's husband'
• ti alhqulh-s ti mants tc 'my father's book'

In subordinate clauses, verbal -s is compulsory:

• maaskanmaak 7iks ska tsʼkt-s? 'at what time will he arrive?'
• wika ks wa amats s7apsulh-s? 'where does he live?'
• wic 7itsʼik sklh-s ti snx tʼayc 'and that's when the sun sets'
• wic txw stlʼap-s 'that's when he went'
• s7aymis sksnm̠ak-s 'he always works'
• kʼcim tsʼ stsic-s ilh 'now they saw that it was her'
• anayk tʼayc ska tlʼap-s 'he wants to go'
• tlʼiliwa s7mt-s 'he got up fast'
• yalhkayc tʼayc sxs-s 'this one is too fat'
• kaynucs ma ska putlʼ-s 'maybe he will come tomorrow'

On the inter-sentential level, verbal -s and -∅ ("zero suffix") differ in that -∅ introduces a new topic, while -s links topics. -∅ can be rendered as 'he/she (...)', and -s as '(...), and he/she (...)':

• Smsmayamkits ti Qwaxw tc n ti Tʼuka tc. Alh7ay-∅ kwsu ta Tʼuka tx ala kulhuuts.
  • 'I will tell a story about Raven and Mink. Well, Mink was doing things on a beach.'
• Us7atsyanmaw swntsʼlhtaw. Numawii-∅ kwʼilutsʼik ta Tlʼupana tx sputlʼaylaycs c a pʼwi.
  • 'They boarded the canoe and went halibut-fishing. Eventually, only Cormorant managed to catch some halibut.'
• Lhkwʼmim ta qiqti tx c ta tlʼmsta tx. Alh7ay-s tuu ta qiqti tx slhkwʼmis ta tlʼmsta tx.
  • 'The young boy was loved by the man. And the young boy, too, loved the man.'
• "Tsqm na," tsut kwʼitsʼik tʼayc. Tsqm-s kwtutuu tx.
  • '"Now open your mouth," he then said. And, indeed, he did open his mouth.'

The following are the possible person markers for transitive verbs, with empty cells indications non-occurring combinations and '--' identifying semantic combinations which require the reflexive suffix -tsut- followed by the appropriate intransitive suffix:

E.g. spʼis ti imlk tc ti stn tc 'the man (imlk) struck (spʼ) the tree (stn)'.

Whether a word can serve as an event is not determined lexically, e.g. imlmllki-∅ ti nus7ulxmc tc 'the thief is a boy', nus7ulxmc-∅ ti qʼs tc 'the one who is ill (?) is a thief'.

There is a further causative paradigm whose suffixes may be used instead:

This has a passive counterpart:

This may also have a benefactive gloss when used with events involving less activity of their participant (e.g. nuyamlh-tus ti imlk tc ti imlmllki tc 'the man made/let the boy sing'/'the man sang for the boy'), while in events with more active participants only the causative gloss is possible. In the later group even more active verbs have a preference for the affix -lc- (implying passive experience) before the causative suffix.

The executor in a transitive sentence always precedes the experiencer. However, when an event is proceeded by a lone participant, the semantic content of the event determines whether the participant is an executor or an experiencer. This can only be determined syntactically if the participant is marked by the preposition ulh, which marks the experience.

Some events are inherently transitive or intransitive, but some may accept multiple valencies (e.g. anayk 'to be needy'/'to want [something]').

Prepositions may mark experiencers, and must mark implements. Any participants which are not marked by prepositions are focussed. There are three voices, which allow either the executor, the experiencer, or both to have focus:

• Active voice – neither is marked with prepositions.
• Passive voice – the event may have different suffixes, and the executor may be omitted or marked with a preposition
• Antipassive voice – the event is marked with the affix -a- before personal markers, and the experiencer is marked with a preposition

The affix -amk- (-yamk- after the antipassive marker -a-) allows an implement to have its preposition removed and to be focused. For example:

• nuyamlh-∅ ti man tc ulh ti mna-s tc c ti syut tc 'the father sang the song to his son'
• nuyamlh-amk-is ti man tc ti syut-tc ulh ti mna-s tc 'the father sang the song to his son'

Prepositions

In Nuxalk, a structured (location/direction-specific) class of prepositions has evolved. These are of a proclitical nature. Diachronically considered, the "static" ones can be shown to go back to earlier Salish, while the "dynamic" ones are innovative.

• ...clhh always co-occurs with ti- 'non-female', tsi- 'female', or wi- 'plural'.

Prepositions appear in adjuncts:

• ksnmakts alh Nuxalk 'I work in Bella Coola'
• tlʼapts ulh Tsʼaamas 'I am going to Victoria'
• spʼiixwis ta imlk tx ta watsʼ tx c ta stn 'the man hit the dog with a stick'
• alhkʼctx wiclhh tʼaxw! 'look at it from over there!'

Deixis

Nuxalk has a set of deictic prefixes and suffixes which serve to identify items as instantiations of domains rather than domains themselves and to locate them in deictic space. Thus the sentences watsʼ-∅ ti tlʼikm tc and ti watsʼ-∅ ti tlʼikm tc, both 'the one that's running (tlʼikm) is a dog (watsʼ)', are slightly different – similar to the difference between the English sentences 'the visitor is Canadian' and 'the visitor is a Canadian' respectively.

The deixis system has a proximal/medial/distal and a non-demonstrative/demonstrative distinction. Demonstratives may be used when finger pointing would be appropriate (or in distal space when something previously mentioned is being referred to).

Proximal demonstrative space roughly corresponds to the area of conversation, and proximal non-demonstrative may be viewed as the area in which one could attract another's attention without raising one's voice. Visible space beyond this is middle demonstrative, space outside of this but within the invisible neighborhood is medial non-demonstrative. Everything else is distal, and non-demonstrative if not mentioned earlier.

The deictic prefixes and suffixes are as follows:

Female affixes are used only when the particular is singular and identified as female; if not, even if the particular is inanimate, masculine or plural is used.

The deictic prefixes only have a proximal vs. non-proximal distinction, and no demonstrative distinction:

tu- is used in earlier varieties and some types of narratives, except for middle non-demonstrative, and the variant 7ilh- may be used "in the same collection of deictic space".

While events are not explicitly marked for tense per se, deixis plays a strong role in determining when the proposition is being asserted to occur. So in a sentence like mus-is ti imlmllkii tc ta qʼlscw tʼax 'the boy (imlmllkii) felt (mus) that rope (qʼlscw)', the sentence is perceived as having a near-past (same day) interpretation, as the boy cannot be touching the rope in middle space from proximal space. However this does not hold for some events, like kʼc 'to see'.

A distal suffix on any participant lends the event a distant past interpretation (before the past day), a medial suffix and no distal suffix lends a near past time, and if the participants are marked as proximal the time is present.

Not every distal participant occurs in past-tense sentences, and vice versa—rather, the deictic suffixes must either represent positions in space, time, or both.

Pronouns

These can be used as a predicate, argument, or member of a prepositional phrase:

• nts ti staltmc 'I am the chief (staltmc)'
• inu tsi cnasts 'you are my wife (cnas)'
• kamalh nts ti ka smlhk 'if (kamalh) I were a fish (smlhk)'

The difference between predicative pronouns and intransitive pronominal suffixes is one of emphasis: staltmcts 'I am a chief' vs. nts ti staltmc 'I am the chief (nobody else is)'.

Pronouns are intransitive stative verbs ('to be me/us/you'):

• in embedded and negative sentences, nts and inu take the ending -s:
  • axw inus ta mnats 'my son (mna) is not you' = 'you are not my son'
• pronouns can be nominalized with s-:
  • alh ti s7inus tc 'on (alh) its being you' = 'on your own'
• pronouns allow limited non-personal suffixation:
  • nts 7lks ta wa? 'it is me beyond my knowledge (7lks) is somebody?' = 'who am I?'

Three elements serve to introduce one or more person(s) or object(s) other than the speaker(s) or addressee(s). These, the identifiers, are:

Like the pronouns, identifiers pattern as intransitive stative verbs ('to be identical to, the same as'), and can be used predicatively. But unlike pronouns, identifiers can be followed by a "double subject", i.e. (1) the subject proper (the identified person(s) or thing(s)) and (2) the subject's role or function (predicate nominative):

• tic tʼayc ti mants 'this (tʼayc) is my father (man)'
• tsic tsi suuxinu lha kslhtcw 'it is your younger sister (suuxi) who has done (kstu-) it'
• wic ats wa nupts 'these (ats) are my shirts (nup)'

In allegro and informal speech, identifiers are often omitted, in which case the sentence-initial nominal phrase functions as the predicate: tʼayc ti mants, tsi suuxinu lha kslhtcw, ats wa nupts.

Numerals

Nuxalk numbers and numerical substitutes are, morpho-syntactically considered, of an adjectival nature. With the exception of smaw 'one', all numbers and the numerical substitutes slax 'numerous', acwlh 'some', tscwi 'enough', tsaatsii 'few', tsay 'all' are Salish in origin, while cs 'entire' (root), kp 'each, every', kʼacw 'none', tsatsaslhqʼ 'so many' have no known etymologies.

The numerical system is mostly decimal but vigesimal in the range 10-100: multiples of 20 are formed with the suffix -lxs, while e.g. 120 would be (5 x 20) + 20 instead of 6 x 20.

The numbers kʼilhnus (8) and kʼismaw (9) are prefixed with kʼilh-/kʼis- 'lacking', being derived from '(ten) minus two' and '(ten) minus one' respectively. A similar situation can be observed in the Finnic languages.

Particles