Samish dialect
Samish (Xws7ámeshqen, IPA: [xʷsʔ'e.məʃ.qen]) is a dialect of the North Straits Salish dialect continuum spoken by the Indigenous Samish people of the Pacific Northwest. Samish is traditionally referred to as a language, but it is mutually intelligible with the other dialects of North Straits Salish. Samish is a Coast Salish language and is closely related to other languages in that family. The Samish language is still spoken by some Samish tribal members, and the Samish Indian Nation's Xws7ámeshqen Program is working to revitalize the language in daily life. They offer classes to tribal citizens and have an online website with a wordlist and placenames.
| Samish | |
|---|---|
| Xws7ámeshqen | |
| Pronunciation | [xʷsʔ'e.məʃ.qen] |
| Native to | United States, Canada |
| Ethnicity | Samish people |
| Revival | [1] |
Salishan
| |
| NAPA (Xws7ámeshqen Alphabet) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | sami1249 |
Samish (Xws7ámeshqen, IPA: [xʷsʔ'e.məʃ.qen])[2] is a dialect of the North Straits Salish dialect continuum spoken by the Indigenous Samish people of the Pacific Northwest. Samish is traditionally referred to as a language, but it is mutually intelligible with the other dialects of North Straits Salish. Samish is a Coast Salish language and is closely related to other languages in that family.
The Samish language is still spoken by some Samish tribal members, and the Samish Indian Nation's Xws7ámeshqen Program is working to revitalize the language in daily life. They offer classes to tribal citizens and have an online website with a wordlist and placenames.[2]
Phonology
[edit]| Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Postvelar | Glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| median | sibilant | lateral | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | ||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate |
plain | p | t | (t͡s) | t͡ʃ | (k) | kʷ | q | qʷ | ʔ | ||
| ejective | pʼ | t͡θʼ | tʼ | (t͡sʼ) | t͡ɬʼ | t͡ʃʼ | kʷʼ | qʼ | qʷʼ | |||
| Fricative | s | ɬ | ʃ | xʷ | χ | χʷ | h | |||||
| Sonorant | plain | m | n | l | j | w | ŋ | |||||
| glottalized | mˀ | nˀ | lˀ | jˀ | wˀ | ŋˀ | ||||||
- /t͡s/ is a rare sound, only occurring in the deictic morpheme ⟨cə⟩.
- /t͡θʼ/ may commonly be heard as [t͡sʼ] in free variation among speakers.
- /k/ is only found in loanwords.[3]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | |
| Open | a | ||
Orthography
[edit]| Uppercase | Lowercase | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | /ʔ/ | |
| A | a | /e/ |
| Ch | ch | /t͡ʃ/ |
| Ch' | ch' | /t͡ʃ‘/ |
| E | e | /e~ə/ |
| H | h | /h/ |
| I | i | /i/ |
| K | k | /k~k’/ |
| Kw | kw | /kʷ/ |
| Kw' | kw' | /kʷ’/ |
| L | l | /l/ |
| Lh | lh | /ɬ/ |
| M | m | /m/ |
| N | n | /n/ |
| Ng | ng | /ŋ/ |
| O | o | /ɔ/ |
| P | p | /p/ |
| P' | p' | /p’/ |
| Q | q | /q/ |
| Q' | q' | /q’/ |
| Qw | qw | /qʷ/ |
| Qw' | qw' | /qʷʼ/ |
| S | s | /s/ |
| Sh | sh | /ʃ/ |
| T | t | /t/ |
| T' | t' | /t’/ |
| Tl' | tl' | /t͡ɬ’/ |
| Ts | ts | /ts/ |
| Ts' | ts' | /ts’/ |
| U | u | /u/ |
| W | w | /w/ |
| X̲ | x̲ | /χ/ |
| Xw | xw | /xʷ/ |
| X̲w | x̲w | /χʷ/ |
| Y | y | /j/ |
References
[edit]- ^ "Language". www.samishtribe.nsn.us. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
- ^ a b "Language". Samish Indian Nation. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
- ^ Galloway, Brent D. (1990). A Phonology, Morphology and Classified Word List for the Samish Dialect of Straits Salish. Canadian Ethnology Service, Mercury Series Paper. Hull, Quebec: Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization. doi:10.2307/j.ctv16qb1.5.
- ^ Hall, Kelly; McCool, Christopher. "Introduction to Samish Language". Samish Indian Nation – via Samish E-Classroom.
