Shuswap language

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Shuswap language

The Shuswap language, known to its speakers as Secwepemctsín , is the traditional language of the Shuswap peopleSecwepemc

The Secwepemc [??xwépm?x] or [s?xwépm?x] also commonly known as the Shuswap, are a First Nation residi...
(Secwépmec, or ) of British ColumbiaBritish Columbia Overview

British Columbia, often referred to as B.C. or BC , is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for it...
. An endangered language, Shuswap is spoken mainly in the southern interior of British Columbia between the Fraser RiverFraser River

The Fraser River is the longest river in British Columbia, Canada, rising near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowi...
and the Rocky MountainsRocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a broad mountain range in western North America....
. The 250 remaining speakers (2008) are almost all over 65; younger generations frequently understand the language but cannot speak it, or understand only EnglishEnglish language

English is a widely distributed language that originated in England but is now the primary language in numerous countries....
. The small number of younger speakers come from two families that have maintained the language or are alumni of Chief Atahm SchoolChief Atahm School Overview

Chief Atahm School is a Secwepemc immersion school working to revive the Secwepemc language....
, an immersion school conducted entirely in Shuswap.

Shuswap is the northernmost of the Interior Salish languagesInterior Salish

Interior Salish is a Salishan language, but can also refer to First Nations/Native American cultures who speak the language....
, which are spoken in Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Two eastern and five western dialectsDialect

A dialect is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area....
of Shuswap are recognized: Kinbasket and Shuswap Lake (eastern); Canim Lake, Chu Chua, Deadman's Creek-Kamloops, Fraser River, and Pavilion-Bonaparte (western). The other northern Interior Salish languages are St'at'imcetsSt'at'imcets language Summary

St'at'imcets is an Interior Salishan language spoken in southern British Columbia, Canada around the middle Fraser and Lillo...
and Nlaka'pamuxNlaka'pamux

The Nlaka'pamux are an indigenous First Nations/Native American people of Salish ethnicity in southern British Columbia and ...
.

Phonology

Vowels

	FrontFront vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages....	CentralCentral vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages....	BackBack vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages.... (Rounded)
OpenFacts About Open vowel An open vowel is a vowel sound of a type used in most spoken languages....		a
MidMid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages....	e (?)	?	o (?)
CloseClose vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages....	i (i/e)		u (u/o)

An additional mid central vowel, ?, is rare.
[u] and [i] occur only in stressed syllablesStress (linguistics)

In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis given to certain syllables in a word....
.
Most unstressed syllables contain a reduced vowel pronounced as [?], though before and after a glottal stop there is less reduction and and [e] is heard.
Occasionally the vowels [a] and [o] occur in unstressed syllables.
Before rounded velars, u is pronounced [?].
Before uvulars, i is pronounced [I/?], u is [?], and e is [æ/a].

Consonants

ObstruentsObstruent In phonetics, articulation may be divided into two large classes, obstruents and sonorants....		LabialLabial consonant Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips or with the lower lip and the upper teeth ....	Dental-lateral	Dental-palatal	VelarFacts About Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue...		UvularUvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mout...		LaryngealGlottal consonant Summary Glottal consonants are consonants articulated with the glottis.... (plain)
			Dental-lateral	Dental-palatal	Plain	RoundedRoundedness In phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel....	Plain	RoundedRoundedness In phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel....
PlosivesStop consonant A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract....	Plain	p	t	c	k	k° [k?]	q	q° [q?]
	GlottalizedGlottalization See also Glottalic consonantGlottalization is the complete or partial closure of the glottis during the articulation of...	p’	t’ [t?’]	c’	k’	k°’ [k?’]	q’	q°’ [q?’]	?
FricativesFricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together....			? [t?]	s	x	x° [x?]	?	?° [??]	h
SonorantsSonorant In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract....		LabialLabial consonant Labials are consonants articulated either with both lips or with the lower lip and the upper teeth ....	DentalDental consonant Dentals are consonants such as t, d, n, and l articulated with either the lower teeth, the upper teeth, or b...	Palatal-velar			Laryngeal-uvular
				Plain	VelarizedVelarization Velarization is a secondary articulation of consonants by which the back of the tongue is raised toward the velum during the...		Uvularized		Plain
				Plain			Plain	RoundedRoundedness In phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel....	Plain
Plain		m	n l	y	? [?]		?	?° [??]	w
GlottalizedGlottalization See also Glottalic consonantGlottalization is the complete or partial closure of the glottis during the articulation of...		m’	n’ l’	y’	?’ [?’]		?’	?°’ [??’]	w’

The notational generally used in literature on Shuswap appears in the above table. The IPAInternational Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists....
transcription, where different, appears to the right.

The labial and dental sonorants are nasals and liquids.
The palatal-velar and laryngeal-uvular sonorants are glides.
t’ can also be pronounced as a dental stop.
The sonorants are voiced. They can be vocalic in unstressed syllables.
Glottalized consonants occur only after vowels, or as vocalic consonants.
Plain obstruents are usually unaspirated, and are unvoiced in most environments.

Syllable Structure

A Shuswap word consists of a stem, to which can be added various affixes. Very few words contain two roots. Any stressed root can have an unstressed alternative, where the vowel is replaced by [?].

Most roots have the form CVC or CC (the latter only if unstressed). Other roots are CVCC or CCVC.

Suffixes begin either with a stressed vowel (dropped in forms where the root is stressed) or a consonant. Prefixes generally have the form C- or CC-.

Stress

Stress in Shuswap is not very prominent, and occurs only in longer words. Since [u] and [i] are always stressed and [?] never is, stress is usually fairly simple to predict.

Phonological Processes

Although Kiupers (1974) does not specify, in many cases the glottalized or rounded version of a consonant seems to represent an allophonic variation. For example, consonants which have a rounded form are rounded before and after [u]. However, glottalization can be contrastive (the root q’ey-, "set up a structure," versus q’ey’-, "write") or allophonic (the root q’ey- appears with a glottalized final consonant in s-t-q‘ey’-qn, "shed"). Consonant reduplication can also have an effect on glottalization.

There are a number of ways in which sounds are affected by their environments. Resonants in the vocalic position are preceded by an automatic schwa, for example the word /st’mkelt/ ("daughter"), pronounced [st?’?mkelt]. The darkening of vowels, as described below, is another case.

The distribution of vowels is quite complex. The vowels have the following main variants:

i = [i/e]
u = [u/o]
o = [?]
e = [?].

a and ? are unchanged. The environment around uvulars and velars produces a different set of variants, including occasional slight diphthongs. Additionally, some roots cause darkened vowels to appear in suffixes; one example is the prefix -ekst ("hand, arm"), which is darkened in x°?l’-akst. The darkened vowels are as follows:

e = [a]
u = [o]
i = [e].

Morphology

Affixes

Shuswap's affixation system is robust. A nominalizing prefixPrefix

Bold text'Prefix may refer to:...
s- is used to derive nouns from verbs, and prefixes to indicate a resulting state are added to verbs. A sample of Shuswap's small number of prefixes is below:

/t’l’-/: during a period in the past
/c-/ or /s-/: hither
/t-/ or /tk-/: on top of, on the outside
/w?-/: group of people
/?-/: second person singular possessive

Most nouns contain suffixesSuffix

This article discusses suffixes in linguistics....
. Suffixes are also used to indicate transitive, intransitive, and imperative verbs. Below are a few examples taken from the extensive collection of Shuswap suffixes:

/-eps/: back of neck
/-tem’/: bottom, canyon, lowland
/-icÆe?/: surface, hide
/-esq’t/: day
/-e?q/: berries
/-el’tx°/: a sheet-like object, skin, bark

Morphological Processes

Shuswap makes extensive use of reduplicationReduplication Overview

Reduplication, in linguistics, is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word, or only part of it, is repeat...
. Some examples of simple reduplication are:

Initial reduplication: [s-tíq’m] (bitterroot) to [t?tíq’m] (prepare bitterroots)
Final reduplication: [pux°-m] (blow) to [p?x°úx°] (swell up)
Total reduplication: [piq] (white) to [p?q-píq] (flour)
Consonant reduplication

In addition, there are several types of complex reduplication, involving patterns such as 11V12, 112V23, and 1123V34 (where 1 represents C₁, etc.).

Not all types of reduplication are productive and functional. Total reduplication indicates plurality and consonant reduplication is diminuitive, but most other reduplications are difficult to explain.

In addition to reduplication, root morphemes can be modified by interior glottalization, such that a root CVC appears as C?VC. Although the process is not productive, many recorded forms refer to a state, for example [p?e?] (cooled off) from [pe?ns] (he cools it off). Consonant reduplication can proceed as usual with interior glottalization.

Syntax

Word Order

Word order in Shuswap is relatively free; syntactical relationships are easily conveyed by the case marking system. However, it is common but not necessary for the predicatePredicate (grammar)

In linguistics, a predicate is an expression that can be true of something....
to head the sentence.

Sentences with predicate first:

wist ?-citx the house is high
cut l-n?pe?e my grandfather said

Sentences with subject first (rare):

?-sq°yic m-cuns?s ??°?°elmx Rabbit was told by fox

Case Marking

Shuswap uses two cases: the absolutive, for the subjectSubject (grammar)

The subject of a sentence is an obligatory sentence element....
of an intransitive verbIntransitive verb

An intransitive verb is a verb that has only one argument, that is, a verb with valency equal to one....
, the subject of a transitive verbTransitive verb

A transitive verb is a verb that requires both a subject and one or more objects....
, and the objectObject (grammar)

An object in grammar is a sentence element and part of the sentence predicate....
of a transitive verb; and the relative, for all other cases (for example, the actor of a passive verb, or an adverb).

Relative Case:

wist ?-citx the house is high
m-t?eyns ?-?°?°elmx ?-sk’lep Fox met Coyote

Relative Case:

wist t-citx° a high house
m-cuntm?s ?-sq°yic t-?°?°elmx Rabbit was told by Fox (the subject is in the Absolutive)

Other Forms

Nouns and verbs appear in for different forms, depending on their syntactic surroundings.

The plain form: nouns and intransitive verbs, conjugated for person. Additionally, a distinction is made between object-centered and subject-centered words; compare [l-m-wiwktn] "the one I saw" with [l-m-wiwkcms] "the one that saw me."
The suffixal form: for intransitive verbs, and also transitive verbs and nouns (third person singular only). This form is sometimes optional and sometimes obligatory. Examples of use include as an imperative substitute and in "if" and "when" sentences.
The nominalized form: for nouns and intransitive verbs. A nominalized intransitive verb refers to the goal object of the action, as in [y?en t’-sq°i?q°e l-nstix°c’e l-p?xyewt?s] "this is the groundhog I shot yesterday." Nominalization is also used in questions, either yes-or-no or introduced with "what".
The ?s- form: refers to a fact, with overtones of goal-directedness. For example: [cuct-kn ?ns?i??n] "I want to eat."

Sample Lexicon

The following is a list of rootsRoot (linguistics)

The root is the primary lexical unit of a word, which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot ...
(listed separately or as their simplest derivatives), and a selection of words derived from these roots by affixesAffix

An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a base morpheme such as a root or to a stem, to form a word....
.

Root	Derivative	Meaning
c-pet		spread out
	x-p?t-min’	covering around something
	x-p?t-cin’-tn	skin door-covering
ptek		pass by
	x-ptetk-tn	finish line
	x-pt?k-ew’s	to cross a road
t?ik°		fire
	t?t?i?k°-m	to glow / be red hot
	tik°-n’k-tn	a fungus that was used in making fire
ciq°		red
	c?q°-cin-tn	lipstick
	c?q°-cq°eq°sxn’	penny
q°el		to speak, talk
	c-q°l-nt-es	to call, summon
	q°l-t-?mi?	talkative
yew		scoop up
	x-yew-m	to fetch water
	x-yew’-mn	fishing spot, bucket
s-q°ex-t		wild man, bugbear
	t-q°?x-q°?x-n’t-es	to frighten people by spooky behavior
	q°ex-s-n-s	to tell somebody about mysterious sight or experience

Genetic Affiliation

Shuswap is a member of the Interior subgroup of the Salishan language family.

External links

[https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-l10n-shs Ubuntu Secwepemc Localization Team]

Bibliography

Kuipers, Aert H. (1974). The Shuswap Language. The Hague: Mouton.