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Tsimshian, known by its speakers as Sm'álgyax,[5] is a dialect of the Tsimshian language spoken in northwestern British Columbia and southeastern Alaska. Sm'algyax means literally "real or true language."

Tsimshian
Sm'algyax
Native toCanada, United States
Regionnorthwest British Columbia, southeast Alaska
Ethnicity8,162 Tsimshian
Native speakers
275 in Canada, 3 in the United States (2016 census, 2020),[1][2][3]
Language family
Tsimshianic
  • Maritime Tsimshian
    • Tsimshian
Official status
Official language in
 Alaska[4]
Language codes
ISO 639-2tsi
ISO 639-3tsi (with Sgüüx̣s)
Glottologcoas1300
ELPSm̓algya̱x (Coast Tsimshian)
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

The linguist Tonya Stebbins estimated the number of speakers of Tsimshian in 2001 as around 400 and in 2003 as 200 or fewer (see references below). Whichever figure is more accurate, she added in 2003 that most speakers are over 70 in age and very few are under 50. About 50 of an ethnic population of 1,300 Tsimshian in Alaska speak the language.


Phonology



Vowels


Next to transcriptions in the IPA are the conventional orthography in angle brackets.

Front Back
Unrounded Rounded
shortlong shortlong shortlong
High ɪ ⟨i⟩ i ⟨ii⟩ ɯ ⟨ü⟩ ɯː ⟨üü⟩ ʊ ⟨u⟩ u ⟨uu⟩
Mid ɛ ⟨e⟩ e ⟨ee⟩ ʌ ⟨a⟩ ɔ ⟨o⟩ ɔː ⟨oo⟩
Low æ ⟨a⟩ æː ⟨aa⟩ ɒ ⟨a̰⟩

The low back vowel can either be the long [a] or the short and slightly raised [ʌ] depending on context. John Asher Dunn assumes this vowel as the schwa.[6]

Underlining /a/ is optional for indicating the back long vowel, and fluent speakers will usually omit it.

Dunn's representation of the high back vowel seems to be slightly more forward than the IPA equivalent, since he uses the phonetic symbols [ɨ̈] or [ɪ̈].


Consonants


As in the Vowels section, symbols in boldface reflect the conventional orthography, and IPA equivalents are given in brackets. In the practical orthography, uvulars are indicated by underlining the velar letters, ⟨ḵ g̲⟩, and the position of the apostrophe before or after the consonant letter distinguishes glottalization.

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
plainsibilantlateral plainlabial
Plosive voiceless p t ts c ⟨ky⟩ k kʷ ⟨kw⟩ q ⟨ḵ⟩ ʔ ⟨ʼ⟩
ejective pʼ ⟨ʼp⟩ tʼ ⟨ʼt⟩ t͡sʼ ⟨'ts⟩ kʼ ⟨ʼk⟩ kʷʼ ⟨ʼkw⟩ qʼ ⟨ʼḵ⟩
voiced b d dz ɟ ⟨gy⟩ ɡ gʷ ⟨gw⟩ ɢ ⟨g̲⟩
Fricative s ɬ ⟨ɫ⟩ χ ⟨x⟩ h
Sonorant plain m n l j ⟨y⟩ ɰ ⟨ẅ⟩ w
glottalized mˀ ⟨ʼm⟩ nˀ ⟨ʼn⟩ lˀ ⟨ʼl⟩ jˀ ⟨ʼy⟩ wˀ ⟨ʼw⟩

Both John Asher Dunn[6] and Franz Boas (as reported by A.C. Graf von der Schulenberg [7]) find that the fricative /s/ has two variants: [s] or [ʃ].

The velar glide /ɰ/ ⟨ẅ⟩ is a "w pronounced with lips unrounded".[6]

The glottalization diacritic ⟨ ' ⟩ may be switched to the other side of a velar segment depending on whether it falls pre-, post- or intervocalically. In speech, glottalized segments before a vowel will result in simultaneous realization of both, [kʼ]. Glottalized segments that follow vowels produce the glottalization first, then the consonant closure, [ʼk]. Intervocalically, the glottalization depends on where the stress falls. [ʼk] is pronounced after a stressed syllable, and [kʼ] is pronounced before a stress.


Orthography


The Tsimshian orthography in use today is based on that developed by Tsimshianicists since the 1960s. It originally stems from Bruce Rigsby's work on the Gitksan language and includes John A. Dunn's work on Tsimshian and Marie-Lucie Tarpent's work on Nisga'a and Southern Tsimshian. Dunn, Tarpent, and Susan Marsden substantially revised it for School District No. 52 (Prince Rupert) when preparing the Suwilaay'msga Na Ga'niiyatgm, Teachings of Our Grandfathers book series in the early 1990s, with the blessing of the Tsimshian hereditary chiefs. Since then, the orthography and the recording of the language have largely been conducted by the Tsimshian Sm'algyax Authority. The Living Legacy Talking Dictionary provides both written and spoken samples of the language.

Another orthography, used only in Alaska, is taught by a private organization called Dum Baal-dum.


Syllable structure


Tsimshian utilizes (C)CV or (C)CVC(C) syllable structures in which the vowels can occur long or short. Syllabic consonants are common and can technically occur anywhere within the word. The only consonants that qualify as syllabic (indicated optionally by underlining) are the sonorants /m/, /n/ and /l/ (and their glottalized counterparts). (Some writers will follow the Gitksan orthographic practice of writing the syllabic sonorants as /im/, /in/ and /il/.[6])

Examples:

Consonant clusters are common. Schulenberg reports finding /pt, pts, ptl, kts, qp, qtk, qtsc, qsk, nts, tɟ/ among many others, though only a smaller portion can occur in the rime.[8] Note that these clusters do not contain syllabic consonants, but are only either in the onset or the coda. Clusters at the ends of words often have an epenthetic vowel inserted, which is usually /a/ [ʌ] but can also be either /i/ [ɪ] or /ɯ/ [ɯ].

Examples (with other phonological changes):


Vowel pitch


The long vowels of Tsimshian must be pronounced in one of three distinct ways: with a sustained pitch /eː/ → [eː]; a "falling pitch and offglide"[6]/eː/ → [êə], or with the insertion of a glottal stop /eː/ → [eʔe]. In every day writing, the diacritical marks may be left out, so that the first two could be written ⟨ee⟩, whereas it is common to represent [eʔe]

Examples:


Stress


The primary stress generally falls on the last syllable of a word. In the case of a suffix or connective being added, then the stress falls on the penultimate syllable.


Phonological processes


There are a number of complex phonological processes that affect underlying segments. The following is just a sample of some of the changes that may occur.

(note: The existence of diphthongs is questionable. Schulenberg claims that Franz Boas "always heard the individual vowels pronounced separately."[8] Dunn, however, seems to believe that younger speakers will realize a diphthong.[6] There may have been a change in the pronunciation since Schulenberg's research in 1894 and Dunn's subsequent work starting in the 1968. In any event, diphthongs are rare.)


Morphology


Tsimshian can be classified as a polysynthetic language, although it is less so than other Native North American languages. Tense, for instance, is not marked with the verb, but always appears as a separate pre-verbal word. The verb stands out as the most important word in the sentence—much of the information can be expressed by affixing onto it. Nouns, however, do have a number of clitics that may be attached.[8] There are multiple connectors that are suffixed or prefixed onto adjacent words which can create long strings of lexical items.


Forming the plural



Reduplication

Tsimshian has an extensive system of reduplication, which is used in most cases to form the plural of both nouns and verbs. There is a complex set of phonological processes that affect both the vowel and the consonant in reduplication. Schulenberg records at least 12 different classes of reduplication but Dunn later condenses these to just five, depending on which part of the word is copied, and whether it is prefixed, suffixed or infixed. However, each class contains irregular forms.

Class Pattern Example
Class I /CVk-/ /jeχɬ/ "spit (verb)" → /jiceχɬ/ "spit (plural)"
Class II /CVx-/ /daʔaχɫk/ "able" → /daχdaʔaχɫk/ "able (plural)"
Class III /CVC-/ /dal/ "fight" → /dildal/ "fights"
Class IV /CV-/ /siipk/ "sick (verb)" → /sipsiipk/ "sick (plural)"
Class V /-V/ or /-VC/
(can be infixed or suffixed after primary syllable)		 /yuutsk/ "necklace" → /yu'itsk/ "necklaces"

Distributives

Besides reduplication, plurals can also be formed by adding lexical clitics. Prefixing or infixing /g̲a/ acts as a distributive. It is best translated as "each one his/her own". The words that take this prefix usually have a specific relation to an individual, such as body parts, clothing and kin.


Iteratives

The word /gyik/ "again" may be prefixed to form some plurals, especially those referring to time.


Intensives

The word for "very" /lu'kwil/ can be shortened to /lu-/ and pre- or infixed onto some words to form the plural. This process may result in extremely divergent forms, because of phonological processes.


Isomorphics and Suppletives

Finally, some plural forms are the same as the singular (/lak/ "fire" → /lak/ "fires") and some words have suppletive plurals, where there is no morphological relationship between the two
(/waa/ "name" → /uust/ "names").


Suffixes


Derivational Suffixes There are ten suffixes that may be attached to words to derive words with meanings related in some way to the original morpheme . These suffixes can change either the grammatical relationship and/or the grammatical function. The names for the types listed below are shortened descriptions of those provided by Dunn.

Lexical Suffixes There are five lexically derived morphemes that can be attached to words to alter the meaning. The affixed morphemes can be extremely altered from their original forms, sometimes according to phonological rules, sometimes arbitrarily. Usually the suffix root is shortened to one syllable before it is attached.


Proclitics


Below is a sample list of some of the many proclitics in Tsimshian. Attached to nouns and verbs, they may convey locative, aspectual, modal, case relational and lexical information. The following descriptions of the prefixes are intended to convey what sort of position the object or person is in. So /lax-/ can be used to express the top of the foot, because it has the properties of being "above" and "parallel", and /t'm-/ could be used for the backbone, because it has the properties of being "above" and "perpendicular". "Tangent" indicates that the object or action is taking place next to, or alongside of something. "Efferent" refers to going away from the action.

Locative
Stative
Motional
aspectual
Modal
Case

Lexical

Like the lexical suffixes, these proclitics derive from existing morphemes and can alter the stem meaning in various ways. Proclitics are much more common than suffixes; only a small list is provided.


Syntax


Tsimshian is an ergative–absolutive language. Although nominal and verbal marking allows syntax to be freer than English, word order is still an important aspect of the phrase. The basic word order for transitive and intransitive sentences is:

Intransitive: TEMPORAL MARKER, verb, absolutive.

yagwa

TEMP

baas

run

Meli

Mary

yagwa baas Meli

TEMP run Mary

"Mary is running."

Transitive: TEMPORAL MARKER, verb, ergative, absolutive, indirect object, instrumental/benefactive/locative.

ɫadm

TEMP

ḵ'ag̲a

open

'yuuta

man

liksoog̲ada

door

haḵ'ag̲a

key.INS

ɫadm ḵ'ag̲a 'yuuta liksoog̲ada haḵ'ag̲a

TEMP open man door key.INS

"A man is about to open a door with a key."

Inversions to this order are permitted. To place specific emphasis on the ergative noun (topicalization), it may be moved to the front of the phrase with the subsequent changes: temporal marker + /-t/ and /in-/ + verb. However, this order is only permitted if the topicalized ergative is a pronoun (independent, demonstrative, interrogative or relative). Proper nouns are never placed first in the sentence, except in a vocative sense. Any absolutive noun may be topicalized as well with the following changes: temporal marker + /t/ and verb + /da/. (Dunn has shown that the affixed particles on the temporal marker and the verb are falling out of use among the younger generation. It now is quite "formal" to use either in speech.[9])


Verb phrase


The basic verb phrase in Tsimshian is ordered: TEMPORAL MARKER, verb. However, many of the noun phrases in the sentence can be represented on both the verb and/or the temporal marker as pre-, in- or suffixes. There are five temporal markers which can combine to form various tenses or aspects.

Some combined temporal expressions:


Noun phrase


The basic noun phrase is ordered as: NUMERICAL MARKER, adjective, noun, determinater, possessive. A numerical marker and a determiner cannot appear in the same phrase together.


Numbers

Similar to classifiers in other languages, there are seven different counting systems depending on what is being counted. Abstract entities, flat objects and animals, round objects and units of time, human beings, long objects, canoes and lastly, measurements, all must be counted differently.[8] The numeral gets an /-a/ connective if it ends in a stop, affricate or fricative.


Adjectives

Like numerals, adjectives appear before the noun they modify. They take an /-m/ connective as well as match the noun in number (singular or plural). If both a numeral and an adjective appear together, the numeral always precedes the adjective.


Determiners

Determiners follow the noun they modify and the noun gets a connective /-a/ suffix. There are six determinative words:


Possessives

Possession is shown by placing the possessing noun after the object being possessed, which gets an /-a/ connective. If the object being possessed is not considered to be closely connected to the owner in some way (body parts, clothing, kin) then the object also gets a /na-/ prefix.


Ergatives

If the verb is transitive then the agent of the verb is treated as an ergative and the object as an absolutive. In these cases, the temporal marker receives the suffix /-t/, the verb receives /-da/ and the ergative noun itself has an /-a/ suffix. (Proper nouns require variant suffixes.)

yagwat

TEMP

niisda

see

ts'uu'tsa

bird

laalt

worm

yagwat niisda ts'uu'tsa laalt

TEMP see bird worm

"The bird sees the worm."

Transitive sentences in which the verb is closely related to the absolutive can actually allow the noun to be attached onto the verb, a process called incorporation. A verbal connector /-m-/ is then used to suffix the noun onto the verb.

ɫawil

TEMP

aadmhoonu

seine(verb)

 

CONN

 

fish(noun)

 

I

ɫawil aadmhoonu

TEMP seine(verb) CONN fish(noun) I

"And then I was just now seining for fish (fish-seining)." Mismatch in the number of words between lines: 2 word(s) in line 1, 5 word(s) in line 2 (help);


Absolutives

When an intransitive verb is used, the agent of the verb is treated as an absolutive. If the absolutive directly follows the verb then the verb receives an /-a/ suffix. (Proper nouns again require different suffixes.)

nah

TEMP

siipga

sick

hana'a

woman

nah siipga hana'a

TEMP sick woman

"the woman was sick."


Pronominals


Much of the information appearing in a noun phrase can be expressed on the verb phrase as a pronominal. Ergative and absolutive phrases affix onto the verb phrase and take a different form depending on person and number. Below are the most common forms of absolutive suffixes, although depending on the tense, different suffixes are applicable.

Singular Plural
1st Person -u -m
2nd Person -n -sm
3rd Person -t -t

ɫadm

TEMP

baayu

run.I

ɫadm baayu

TEMP run.I

"I'm about to run"

ɫa

TEMP

ḵ'olt

run(pl).they

ɫa ḵ'olt

TEMP run(pl).they

"They're just now running."

If there is an (unmarked) ergative noun in the sentence along with the absolutive pronoun, the temporal marker also gets a suffixed /-t/.

ɫawilt

TEMP

niidzu

see.me

ol

bear

ɫawilt niidzu ol

TEMP see.me bear

"And just now the bear has seen me."

Dunn has found that some temporal markers take a suffix and others do not. It seems to be "a matter of local and personal style".[6]

Ergative pronominals appear before the verb on the temporal marker as infixes or suffixes. Some tense markers call for different affixes. With the perfective tense /nah/, for instance, the ergative suffixes are identical to the absolutive suffixes. Below is the most common form of ergative affix.

  Singular Plural
1st person -n- -dip-
2nd person -m- -m-sm-
3rd person -t- -t-

ɫadipwil

TEMP

lu'niidza

we

ol

TEMP

awaan

see(pl)

 

bear

 

there.by.you

ɫadipwil lu'niidza ol awaan

TEMP we TEMP see(pl) bear there.by.you

"And just now we have seen those bears by you." Mismatch in the number of words between lines: 4 word(s) in line 1, 6 word(s) in line 2 (help);

Both pronominals can occur in one sentence:

ɫan

TEMP

dzagwat

I

 

kill(sg)

 

it/him/her/they

ɫan dzagwat

TEMP I kill(sg) it/him/her/they

"I am about to kill it/him/her/them." Mismatch in the number of words between lines: 2 word(s) in line 1, 4 word(s) in line 2 (help);


Linguists and other scholars who have worked on the Tsimshian language



See also



Notes


  1. "Language Highlight Tables, 2016 Census - Aboriginal mother tongue, Aboriginal language spoken most often at home and Other Aboriginal language(s) spoken regularly at home for the population excluding institutional residents of Canada, provinces and territories, 2016 Census – 100% Data". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Government of Canada, Statistics. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-23.
  2. "Tsimshian". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  3. https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/4/pub/ANLPAC/ANLPAC%202020%20Report%20to%20the%20Governor%20and%20Legislature.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  4. Chappell, Bill (21 April 2014). "Alaska OKs Bill Making Native Languages Official". NPR.
  5. "Sm'álgyax: The Tsimshian Language". 13 April 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  6. Dunn, J.A. (1995)
  7. Schulenberg, A.C. Graf von der, trans. Flaherty, Virginia C. (1992)
  8. Schulenberg, (1992)
  9. Dunn, J. A. (1995)

References





На других языках

- [en] Coast Tsimshian dialect

[fr] Tsimshian de la côte

Le tsimshian de la côte ou sm'algyax est une langue tsimshianique parlée au Canada, dans la basse vallée de la Skeena et le long des côtes proches, ainsi que dans quelques îles, en Colombie-Britannique et dans le Sud de l'Alaska à New Metlakatla, sur l'île d'Annette, par 800 personnes.

[ru] Прибрежно-цимшианский язык

Прибрежно-цимшианский язык (собственно цимшианский, смалгиах, смалгах, Coast Tsimshian, Chimmezyan, Tsimpshean, Zimshian, Sm'álgyax) — язык индейцев племени Северной Америки. Самоназвание Sm'álgyax буквально означает «настоящий язык». Язык используется на северо-западе провинции Британская Колумбия и на юго-востоке штата Аляска. Изначально язык не был распространён на Аляске, он попал туда благодаря американским миссионерам, и теперь на Аляске образовалась резервация индейцев этого племени.


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