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A World of Variety: Klallam (Salishan)
Posted Thu, February 26, 2009 - 11:00 PM
language, nativeamerica
Extent of the Salishan language family
Klallam is a nearly extinct language that was spoken along the north side of the Olympic Peninsula and in coastal areas of Vancouver Island on the other side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It's a member of the Coast Salish language family. Like many Salishan languages, it has a healthy dose of glottal stops together with numerous unusual consonants, many of which are difficult for English speakers to discern or pronounce.
It's only appropriate that I picked this language to represent the Salishan family, since I just visited the Olympic Peninsula in January. Although, I would like to find more information on the wonderfully named Lushootseed language (indigenous to the Seattle metro area.)
Here's a cute family story told by Bea Charles (ƛ̕íƛ̕ix̣c̕ə) and recorded by Timothy Montner. The original video is here. Transcription follows the subtitles closely, except at the end where some elided sounds [in brackets] were added to match the audio. It may just be a misspeak with no conversational significance.
ʔéʔɬən yaʔ st ʔiʔ kʷiʔə́təŋ cə yəxʷəy̕əm cə tís. x̣əmʔátəŋ ʔaʔ cə nətán, "o, pêstər, x̣ən̕áɬ ti." "ʔuʔxʷənáŋ cxʷ ʔaʔ cə ʔən̕čaʔməqʷ ɬəmtiyáčaʔ. x̣ənʔáɬ ti suʔkʷiʔə́ts či tís." suʔc̕q̕ʷêsəŋs cə nə... (saʔáyčən) - saʔáyčən. c̕q̕ʷís kʷi. ʔiʔ táycən, "ʔáw, nətán, ʔáw, nətán. [ʔáw c] ʔáwə cn c x̣ʷənáŋ ʔaʔ cə nəčáʔməqʷ."
"ʔuʔx̣ə́w̕əs cn. mán̕ cn ʔuʔ x̣ə́w̕əs."
We were eating and Chuck Sampson spilled his tea. He was told by my mother, "Oh, Booster, all the time." "You're like your great grandfather Tim Pysht. He always spills his tea." So he put his head down, my... (younger sibling) - younger sibling. He looked down. And answered, "No mom, no mom. I'm not like my great-grandfather."
"I'm new. I'm brand new!"