Gitxsan language

Gitxsan
Gitxsanimaax, Gitxsanimx
Native to	Canada
Region	Skeena region, British Columbia
Ethnicity	7,600 Gitxsan people (2014, FPCC)[1]
Native speakers	350 (2014, FPCC)[1]
Language family	Tsimshianic Nass–Gitksan Gitxsan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	git
Glottolog	gitx1241[2]

The Gitxsan language /ˈɡɪtsæn/,^[3] or Gitxsanimaax (also rendered Gitksan, Giatikshan, Gityskyan, Giklsan), is a First Nations language of northwestern British Columbia. It is a Tsimshianic language, 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. Gitxsanimx is an endangered language. According to the 2006 census there were 1,175 native speakers.^[4]

Gitxsan is the name of the people who speak this language. It means "People of the Skeena River" ("'Ksan" being the name of the Skeena in this language).

Phonology

The Gitxsan inventory is as follows:^[5]

Gitxsan vowels

i iː		u uː
(e) eː	(ə)	(o) 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 may not be phonemic.

Gitxsan consonants

Obstruents	p	t	t͡s		c[6]	kʷ	q
	pʼ	tʼ	t͡sʼ	t͜ɬʼ	cʼ	kʷʼ	qʼ
			s	ɬ	ç	xʷ	χ
Sonorants	m	n		l	j	w		h
	mˀ	nˀ		lˀ	jˀ	wˀ		ʔ

The palatal obstruents become velar before /s/ and /l/.

References

1. Gitxsan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Gitxsan". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
4. 2006 Canada Census, Selected Language Characteristics, Registered Indian Status, etc.
5. Bruce Rigsby & John Ingram (1990) "Obstruent Voicing and Glottalic Obstruents in Gitksan". International Journal of American Linguistics, vol. 56, no. 2, pp. 251–263.
6. The palatals are written ⟨k⟩, ⟨x⟩, ⟨y⟩ in orthography, and transcribed ⟨kʸ⟩, ⟨xʸ⟩, ⟨y⟩ in Americanist notation.

Bibliography

• 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.

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