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The Gitxsan language /ˈɡɪtsæn/,[2] or Gitxsanimaax (also rendered Gitksan, Giatikshan, Gityskyan, Giklsan), is an endangered Tsimshianic language of northwestern British Columbia, closely related to the neighboring Nisga’a language. The two groups are, however, politically separate and prefer to refer to Gitxsan and Nisga'a as distinct languages. According to the 2016 census there were 1,020 native speakers.[1]

Gitxsan
Gitxsanimaax, Gitxsanimx
Native to	Canada
Region	Skeena region, British Columbia
Ethnicity	5,680 Gitxsan
Native speakers	1,020 (2016 census)[1]
Language family	Tsimshianic Nass–Gitksan Gitxsan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	git
Glottolog	gitx1241
ELP	Gitsenimx̱
Gitksan is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Gitxsan means "People of the Skeena River" (Ksan being the name of the Skeena in Gitxsan).

Dialects

Gitxsan language is primarily separated into Eastern and Western Gitxsan, although each village has its own dialect. The Eastern villages include Kispiox (Ansbayaxw), Glen Vowell (Sigit'ox), and Hazelton (Git-an'maaxs). The Western villages include Kitwanga (Gjtwjngax), Gitanyow (Git-antaaw) and Kitseguecla (Gijigyukwhla). The main differences between dialects include a lexical shift in vowels and stop lenition use present only in the Eastern dialects. The largest differences in language and culture exist between Eastern and Western Gitxsan, rather than between each village.[3]

History and usage

The University of Northern British Columbia and Siiwiixo'osxwim Wilnataahl Gitksan Society (Gitksan Language Society) set up a Developmental Standard Term Certificate program offered through Northwest Community College, with all courses offered in Hazelton, BC. The program is designed to help revitalize Gitxsan language by allowing those who complete it to teach language and culture courses at the elementary and secondary school level in the community.[4]

In the spring of 2018, an online dictionary app was released in collaboration with members of Gitksan Nation and researchers at the University of British Columbia. The app includes various dialects of Gitxsan, and includes audio from different villages. Flashcards, stories, and histories are also included in addition to functioning as a dictionary. This app is based on a print dictionary produced in 1973 by Lonnie Hindle and Bruce Rigsby. With its launch, the app briefly held a top spot in Google Play's education category and accumulated around 500 downloads in its first week.[5]

Phonology

The Gitxsan inventory is as follows:[3][6]

Gitxsan vowels

/i/ /iː/		/u/ /uː/
/eː/	/ə/	/oː/
	/a/ /aː/

The mid and high vowels are nearly in complementary distribution, suggesting that Gitxsan once had a three-vowel system. Short mid vowels are emerging. Schwa only occurs in unstressed syllables. /e:/ and /o:/ have short allophones [e] and [o] in certain positions.

Gitxsan consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar		Palatal	Pre-velar	Labialized velar	Uvular	Glottal
			central	lateral
Stop	plain	p	t			k	kʷ ⟨kw⟩	q ⟨ḵ⟩	ʔ ⟨'⟩
	ejective	p’	t’			kʼ	kʷʼ ⟨kw'⟩	q’ ⟨ḵ'⟩
	voiced	b	d			g	gʷ ⟨gw⟩	ɢ ⟨g̲⟩
Affricate	plain		t͡s ⟨ts⟩	d̠ʒ ⟨j⟩
	ejective		t͡sʼ ⟨ts'⟩	t͡ɬʼ ⟨tl'⟩
Fricative			s	ɬ ⟨hl⟩		x	xʷ ⟨xw⟩	χ ⟨x̱⟩	h
Sonorant	plain	m	n	l	j ⟨y⟩		w
	glottalized	mˀ ⟨'m⟩	nˀ ⟨'n⟩	lˀ ⟨'l⟩	jˀ ⟨'y⟩		wˀ ⟨'w⟩

The pre-velar obstruents become velar before /s/ and /l/.

References

Further reading

• Bicevskis, Katie; Davis, Henry; Matthewson, Lisa (2017). "Quantification in Gitksan". In Paperno, Denis; Keenan, Edward L. (eds.). Handbook of Quantifiers in Natural Language. Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy. Vol. II. Springer. pp. 281–382. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44330-0_6. ISBN 978-3-319-44328-7.

• Brown, Jason; Davis, Henry; Schwan, Michael; Sennott, Barbara (2016). "Gitksan". Illustrations of the IPA. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 46 (3): 367–378. doi:10.1017/S0025100315000432.

• Halpin, Marjorie, and Margaret Seguin (1990) "Tsimshian Peoples: Southern Tsimshian, Coast Tsimshian, Nishga, and Gitksan." In Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 7: Northwest Coast, ed. by Wayne Suttles, pp. 267–284. Washington: Smithsonian Institution).
• Hindle, Lonnie and Bruce Rigsby (1973) A Short Practical Dictionary of the Gitksan language, Northwest Anthropological Research Notes 1:1-60.

• Matthewson, Lisa (2013). "Gitksan Modals". International Journal of American Linguistics. 79 (3): 349–394. doi:10.1086/670751. S2CID 224806943.

External links

• Official website of the Gitxsan People
• First Voices Gitsenimx̱ community language portal
• First Nations Languages of British Columbia Gitksan page, with link to bibliography
• A Selection of Prayers Translated from the Book of Common Prayer in the Giatikshan Language for Use at the Public Services 1881 translation by Anglican missionary William Ridley
• OLAC resources in and about the Gitxsan language
• ELAR archive of Gitskan

На других языках

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- [en] Gitxsan language

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[fr] Gitksan

Le gitksan (ou gitxsan) est une langue tsimshianique parlée au Canada, le long de la vallée de Skeena en Colombie-Britannique par 523 personnes en 2018[2].

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[ru] Гитксан

Гитксан (Gitxsanimaax, Gitxsan, Giklsan, Gitksan, Gityskyan) — цимшианский язык, на котором говорит народ гитксан, проживающий в среднем течении реки Скина, в деревне Гитксан, на западе центральной части штата Британская Колумбия в Канаде. Имеет диалекты гицкен (западный гицкен) и гитксан (западный гитксан).

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