| Tsimshian | |
|---|---|
| Sm'algyax | |
| Native to | Canada, United States |
| Region | northwest British Columbia, southeast Alaska |
| Ethnicity | 8,162 Tsimshian |
Native speakers | 275 in Canada, 3 in the United States (2016 census, 2020)[1][2][3] |
| |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Alaska[4] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | tsi |
| ISO 639-3 | tsi (with Sgüüx̣s) |
| Glottolog | coas1300 |
| ELP | Sm̓algya̱x (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. | |
| People | Ts’msyan |
|---|---|
| Language | Sm'álgyax |
| Country | La̱xyuubm Ts’msyen[5] |
Tsimshian, known by its speakers as Sm'álgyax,[6] is a dialect of the Tsimshian language spoken in northwestern British Columbia and southeastern Alaska. Sm'algyax means literally "real or true language."
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.
Next to transcriptions in the IPA are the conventional orthography in angle brackets.
| Front | Back | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Rounded | |||||
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| 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 unrounded mid 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 [ə].[7]
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].
First symbol is IPA, then the conventional orthography equivalent is given in brackets.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sibilant | lateral | plain | labial | ||||||
| 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[a] | ɬ ⟨ɫ⟩ | χ ⟨x⟩ | h | ||||||
| Sonorant | plain | m | n | l | j ⟨y⟩ | ɰ ⟨ẅ⟩[b] | w | |||
| glottalized | mˀ ⟨ʼm⟩ | nˀ ⟨ʼn⟩ | lˀ ⟨ʼl⟩ | jˀ ⟨ʼy⟩ | wˀ ⟨ʼw⟩ | |||||
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.
Tsimshian utilizes (C)CV or (C)CVC(C) syllable structures in which the vowels can occur longorshort. 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 sonorantsas/im/, /in/ and /il/.[7])
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):
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"[7] /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:
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.
There are a number of complex phonological processes that affect segments. The following is just a sample of some of the changes that may occur.
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.
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.[9]
Another orthography, used only in Alaska, is taught by a private organization called Dum Baal-dum.[10]
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 suffixedorprefixed onto adjacent words which can create long strings of lexical items.
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, suffixedorinfixed. However, each class contains irregular forms.
| Pattern | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Class I | /CVk-/ | yexɫ 'spit (verb)' → yikyexɫ 'spit (plural)' |
| Class II | /CVx-/ | da’axɫk 'able' → daxda’axɫk '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' |
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.
The word gyik 'again' may be prefixed to form some plurals, especially those referring to time.
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.
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").
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.
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.[11]
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.
[edit]
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.
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 | Transitive |
|---|---|
yagwa TEMP TEMP
baas run VERB
Meli Mary ABS yagwa baas Meli TEMP run Mary TEMP VERB ABS "Mary is running."[citation needed]
|
ɫadm TEMP TEMP
ḵ'ag̲a open VERB
'yuuta man ERG
liksoog̲ada door ABS
haḵ'ag̲a key.INS IO.INS/BEN/LOC ɫadm ḵ'ag̲a 'yuuta liksoog̲ada haḵ'ag̲a TEMP open man door key.INS TEMP VERB ERG ABS IO.INS/BEN/LOC "A man is about to open a door with a key."[12]
|
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.[7]
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:
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.
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.
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 follow the noun they modify and the noun gets a connective -a suffix. There are six determinative words:
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.
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
yagwa-t
TEMP
niisda
niits-da
see
ts'uu'tsa
ts'uu'ts-a
bird
laalt
laalt
worm
Yagwat niisda ts'uu'tsa laalt
yagwa-t niits-da ts'uu'ts-a laalt
TEMP see bird worm
"The bird sees the worm."[13]
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
ɫawil
TEMP
aadmhoonu
aat-m-hoon-u
seine(verb)
CONN
fish(noun)
I
ɫawil aadmhoonu
ɫawil aat-m-hoon-u
TEMP seine(verb) CONN fish(noun) I
"And then I was just now seining for fish (fish-seining)."[14] Mismatch in the number of words between lines: 2 word(s) in line 1, 2 word(s) in line 2, 5 word(s) in line 3 (help);
[edit]
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
nah
TEMP
siipga
siipk-a
sick
hana'a
hana'a
woman
Nah siipga hana'a
nah siipk-a hana'a
TEMP sick woman
"the woman was sick"[13]
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"[citation needed]
ɫa
TEMP
ḵ'olt
run(PL).they
ɫa ḵ'olt
TEMP run(PL).they
"They're just now running."[citation needed]
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."[citation needed]
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".[7]
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."[citation needed] 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."[citation needed] Mismatch in the number of words between lines: 2 word(s) in line 1, 4 word(s) in line 2 (help);
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
TEMP:temporal marker VERB:verb
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