Klallam language

Encyclopedia : K : KL : KLA : Klallam language

Klallam or Clallam (native name: Nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əmúcən) is a nearly extinct Straits Salishan language that was traditionally spoken by the Klallam peoples at Becher Bay on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and across the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the north coast of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. Today it has only 4 remaining native speakers, though revival efforts exist.

Klallam is closely related to North Straits Salish, and the two have been considered by some to be a single language.

Jamie Valadez is a high school and middle school teacher who is working to revitalize Klallam in Port Angeles, Washington.

Timothy Montler is an American linguist who is one of the foremost experts in the Klallam language.

Sounds

Consonants

The 34 consonants of Klallam:

		Bilabial	Alveolar		Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
			central	lateral			plain	labial	plain	labial
Stop	plain	p	t				(k)	kʷ	q	qʷ
	glottalized	pʼ	tʼ					kʼʷ	qʼ	qʼʷ	ʔ
Affricate	plain		tˢ		ʧ
	glottalized		tˢʼ	tɬʼ	ʧʼ
Fricative			s	ɬ	ʃ			xʷ	χ	χʷ	h
Nasal	plain	m	n						ɴ
	glottalized	mʼ	nʼ						ɴʼ
Approximant	plain			l		j		w
	glottalized					jʼ		wʼ

• Glottalized resonants /mʼ, nʼ, ɴʼ, jʼ, wʼ/ are realized either

# with creaky voice: [m̰, n̰, ɴ̰, j̰, w̰],

# as decomposed glottal stop + resonant: [ʔm, ʔn, ʔɴ, ʔj, ʔw], or

# as decomposed resonant + glottal stop: [mʔ, nʔ, ɴʔ, jʔ, wʔ]

Vowels

The 4 vowels of Klallam:

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid		ə
Low		a

• Vowels may be stressed or unstressed. Unstressed vowels are shorter and lower in intensity than stressed vowels.
• Vowels are lowered when followed by a glottal stop /ʔ/:

'bird'   /ʦʼiʔʦʼəmʼ/ → [ ʦʼɛʔʦʼəmʼ ]

'deer'   /huʔpt/ → [ hoʔpt ]

'salmon backbone'   /sχəʔqʷəʔ/ → [ sχaʔqʷaʔ ]

Grammar

External links

• [Klallam language (Timothy Montler's site) (main page)] (includes sound files, but must use Internet Explorer)
• *[Introduction]
• *[Map]
• *[Family tree]
• *[Alphabet]
• *[Wordlist]
• *[Phrases]
• *["The Flood" (story)]
• *["Two Deaf Fishermen" (story)]
• [Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe]
• [Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe]
• [Washington Post: "Northwest Tribe Struggles to Revive Its Language"]
• [Elaine Grinnell, Klallam storyteller and basket & drum maker]
• [Klallam at Ethnologue]

Bibliography

• Brooks, Pamela. (1997). John P. Harrington's Klallam and Chemakum place names. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages, 32, 144-188.
• Fleisher, Mark. (1976). Clallam: A study in Coast Salish ethnolinguistics. (Doctoral disseration, Washington State University).
• Fleisher, Mark. (1977). Aspects of Clallam phonology and their implication of reconstruction. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salishan Languages, 12, 132-141.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Montler, Timothy. (1996). Languages and dialects in Straits Salishan. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages, 31, 249-256.
• Montler, Timothy. (1996). Some Klallam paradigms. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages, 31, 257-264.
• Montler, Timothy. (1998). The major processes affecting Klallam vowels. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages, 33, 366-373.
• Montler, Timothy. (1999). Language and dialect variation in Straits Salishan. Anthropological linguistics, 41 (4), 462-502.
• Montler, Timothy. (2005). [Personal communication].
• Thompson, Laurence; & Thompson, M. Terry. (1969). Metathesis as a grammatical device. International Journal of American Linguistics, 35, 213-219.
• Thompson, Laurence; & Thompson, M. Terry. (1971). Clallam: A preview. University of California Publications in Linguistics, 65, 251-294.
• Thompson, Laurence; Thompson, M. Terry; & Efrat, Barbara. (1974). Some phonological developments in Straits Salish. International Journal of American Linguistics, 40, 182-196.

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