Tsimshian, known by its speakers as Sm'álgyax, is a dialect of the
Tsimshian language spoken in northwestern
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...
and southeastern
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...
. ''Sm'algyax'' means literally "real or true language."
The linguist
Tonya Stebbins
Tonya may refer to:
* Tonya (name), the given name, and people by that name
* Tonya, Turkey, a town and district of Trabzon Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey
* Tonya, Uganda
* Ton'ya (問屋) trade brokers of ancient Japan
See also
* I, ...
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.
Phonology
Vowels
Next to transcriptions in the
IPA
IPA commonly refers to:
* India pale ale, a style of beer
* International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation
* Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound
IPA may also refer to:
Organizations International
* Insolvency Practitioners A ...
are the conventional orthography in angle brackets.
The low back vowel can either be the long
or the short and slightly raised
�depending on context.
John Asher Dunn
John Asher Dunn (June 19, 1939 – July 4, 2017) was an American linguist who created the first academic dictionary and grammar of the Tsimshian language, an American Indian language of northwestern British Columbia and southeast Alaska.
In 196 ...
assumes this vowel as the schwa.
[Dunn, J.A. (1995)]
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
�̈or
�̈
Consonants
As in the Vowels section, symbols in boldface reflect the conventional orthography, and
IPA
IPA commonly refers to:
* India pale ale, a style of beer
* International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation
* Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound
IPA may also refer to:
Organizations International
* Insolvency Practitioners A ...
equivalents are given in brackets. In the practical orthography, uvulars are indicated by underlining the velar letters, , and the position of the apostrophe before or after the consonant letter distinguishes
glottalization.
Both
John Asher Dunn
John Asher Dunn (June 19, 1939 – July 4, 2017) was an American linguist who created the first academic dictionary and grammar of the Tsimshian language, an American Indian language of northwestern British Columbia and southeast Alaska.
In 196 ...
and
Franz Boas (as reported by A.C. Graf von der Schulenberg
[Schulenberg, A.C. Graf von der, trans. Flaherty, Virginia C. (1992)]) find that the fricative /s/ has two variants:
or
�
The velar glide /ɰ/ is a "w pronounced with lips unrounded".
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,
ʼ Glottalized segments that follow vowels produce the glottalization first, then the consonant closure,
�k Intervocalically, the glottalization depends on where the stress falls.
�kis pronounced after a stressed syllable, and
ʼis pronounced before a stress.
Orthography
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
The Gitxsan language , or ''Gitxsanimaax'' (also rendered ''Gitksan, Giatikshan, Gityskyan, Giklsan and Sim Algyax''), is an endangered Tsimshianic language of northwestern British Columbia, closely related to the neighboring Nisga’a languag ...
and includes
John A. Dunn's work on Tsimshian and
Marie-Lucie Tarpent
Marie-Lucie Tarpent (born November 9, 1941) is a French-born Canadian linguist, formerly an associate professor of linguistics and French at Mount Saint Vincent University SVU Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is known for her descriptive work on ...
's work on
Nisga'a and
Southern Tsimshian
Southern Tsimshian, (pronounced: ) or , is the southern dialect of the Tsimshian language, spoken by the Gitga'ata and Kitasoo Tsimshians in Klemtu, B.C. It became extinct with the death of the last remaining speaker, Violet Neasloss.
is clo ...
. 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 Dictionaryprovides both written and spoken samples of the language.
Another orthography, used only in Alaska, is taught by a private organization calle
Dum Baal-dum
Syllable structure
Tsimshian utilizes (C)CV or (C)CVC(C)
syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological ...
structures in which the vowels can occur
long
Long may refer to:
Measurement
* Long, characteristic of something of great duration
* Long, characteristic of something of great length
* Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate
* Longa (music), note value in early music mensu ...
or
short.
Syllabic consonant
A syllabic consonant or vocalic consonant is a consonant that forms a syllable on its own, like the ''m'', ''n'' and ''l'' in some pronunciations of the English words ''rhythm'', ''button'' and ''bottle''. To represent it, the understroke diacrit ...
s are common and can technically occur anywhere within the word. The only consonants that qualify as syllabic (indicated optionally by underlining) are the
sonorant
In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant or resonant is a speech sound that is produced with continuous, non-turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; these are the manners of articulation that are most often voiced in the world's languages. Vowels ar ...
s /m/, /n/ and /l/ (and their
glottalized counterparts). (Some writers will follow the
Gitksan
Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan) are an Indigenous people in Canada whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English (: means "people of" and : means "the River of Mist"). Gitksan territory encompasses approxim ...
orthographic practice of writing the syllabic
sonorant
In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant or resonant is a speech sound that is produced with continuous, non-turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; these are the manners of articulation that are most often voiced in the world's languages. Vowels ar ...
s as /im/, /in/ and /il/.
)
Examples:
* /hæj.mæː.dm/ "northeast wind"
* /n.læk/ "fireplace"
* /k'l.k'oːl/ plural of intransitive verb "dull"
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.
[Schulenberg, (1992)] Note that these clusters do not contain syllabic consonants, but are only either in the
onset
Onset may refer to:
* Onset (audio), the beginning of a musical note or sound
* Onset, Massachusetts, village in the United States
**Onset Island (Massachusetts), a small island located at the western end of the Cape Cod Canal
* Interonset interva ...
or the
coda
Coda or CODA may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* Movie coda, a post-credits scene
* ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television
*''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...
.
Clusters at the ends of words often have an
epenthetic vowel inserted, which is usually /a/
�but can also be either /i/
�or /ɯ/
�
Examples (with other phonological changes):
* /ɟelq/ →
�elaɢ"outside"
* /æːlks/ →
�ːliks"servant"
* /ʌʔʌjæːɰx/ →
�ːjæːwɯx"Aurora Borealis, Northern Lights"
Vowel pitch
The
long vowels of Tsimshian must be pronounced in one of three distinct ways: with a sustained pitch /eː/ →
ː a "falling pitch and offglide"
/eː/ →
�ə or with the insertion of a glottal stop /eː/ →
ʔe In every day writing, the diacritical marks may be left out, so that the first two could be written , whereas it is common to represent
ʔe
Examples:
* (steady pitch)
piːl"ten" (of abstract and round objects)
* (falling pitch)
ôsɯ"wolverine"
* (glottal interruption)
�bæʔælʌ"squall; storm from the south"
Stress
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.
Phonological processes
There are a number of complex
phonological processes that affect underlying segments. The following is just a sample of some of the changes that may occur.
* Short vowels followed by /l/ often become long vowels with /l/-deletion. /wælp/ → /wæːp/ "house"
* Glottalized /k/ and /q/ between vowels are often shortened to just a glottal stop. /sɒk'æɬ/ →
ɒʔæɬ"divide, settle an estate"
* At the ends of words /q/ may undergo
lenition to /χ/. /iːmq/ → /imχ/ "beard"
* A short vowel may be lengthened if the primary stress falls on it. /χæ/ → /χæː/ "male slave"
* /l/ and /n/ may alternate in
reduplication. /c'inˀæm/ → /c'ilc'inˀæm/ "give"
* Long vowels may become
diphthong
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
s. /ɬoːl/ → /ɬowl/ "push through the water"
(note: The existence of diphthongs is questionable. Schulenberg claims that Franz Boas "always heard the individual vowels pronounced separately."
Dunn, however, seems to believe that younger speakers will realize a diphthong.
There may have been a change in the pronunciation since Schulenberg's research in 1894 and Dunn's subsequent work starting in the 1968. In any event, diphthongs are rare.)
Morphology
Tsimshian can be classified as a
polysynthetic language
In linguistic typology, polysynthetic languages, formerly holophrastic languages, are highly synthetic languages, i.e. languages in which words are composed of many morphemes (word parts that have independent meaning but may or may not be able ...
, 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
affix
In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. Affixes may be derivational, like English ''-ness'' and ''pre-'', or inflectional, like English plural ''-s'' and past tense ''-ed''. They ...
ing onto it. Nouns, however, do have a number of
clitic
In morphology and syntax, a clitic (, backformed from Greek "leaning" or "enclitic"Crystal, David. ''A First Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics''. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1980. Print.) is a morpheme that has syntactic characteristics of a ...
s that may be attached.
There are multiple connectors that are
suffixed or
prefixed onto adjacent words which can create long strings of lexical items.
Forming the plural
Reduplication
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,
suffixed or
infixed. However, each class contains irregular forms.
Distributives
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.
* /goot/ "heart"→ /g̲agoot/ "hearts"
* /agwinübiip/ "great uncle" → /agwig̲anübiip/ "great uncles"
Iteratives
The word /gyik/ "again" may be prefixed to form some plurals, especially those referring to time.
* /suunt/ "summer"→ /gyiksuunt/ "summers"
Intensives
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.
* /hadiks/ "swim" → /la̰heediks/ "swim (plural)"
Isomorphic
In mathematics, an isomorphism is a structure-preserving mapping between two structures of the same type that can be reversed by an inverse mapping. Two mathematical structures are isomorphic if an isomorphism exists between them. The word i ...
s and Suppletives
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").
Suffixes
Derivational Suffixes
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.
* Consequential: /-x/ (sometimes /-ḵ/) The derived form is the consequence of or has been affected by the stem. /ḵ'o'a̰l/ "forget" → /ḵ'oolax/ "dull; warm one's back by the fire"
* Instrumental: /-t/ The derived form is a person or thing that uses the stem in some way. /gyemk/ "sun, moon" → /gyemga̰t/ "astronomer"
* Purposive: both /-l/ and /-n/ These two suffixes indicate that the stem is the goal or intention of a person, thing or action. /buu/ "blow, sound (of a whale)" → /buul/ "warn"
* Singularly Qualitative: /-k/ The derived form shares a single quality with the root. /gwisgwaas/ "bluejay" → /gwisgwaask/ "blue"
* Plurally Qualitative: /-s, -sk, -ts/ (sometimes /-k/) The derived form is in many respects similar to the root. /yuutk/ "carry around the neck" → /yuutsk/ "necklace"
* Metaphorical: /-tk/ The derived form has a metaphorical relationship with the stem. /ɫoo/ "drift, swim (fish)" → /ɫo'otk/ "clouds"
Lexical Suffixes
There are five lexically
derived
Derive may refer to:
*Derive (computer algebra system), a commercial system made by Texas Instruments
* ''Dérive'' (magazine), an Austrian science magazine on urbanism
*Dérive, a psychogeographical concept
See also
*
*Derivation (disambiguation ...
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.
* /aks/ "water" → /ts'ala̰ks/ "whirlpool" (/ts'al/ "eye")
* /g̲an/ "tree; wood; stick" → /batsgn/ "arrive in a boat" (/batsk/ "arrive")
* /gyet/ "man" → /gyitwaalgyit/ "raiders" (/gyitwaal/ "attack")
* /ban/ "belly" → /waaybn/ "pregnant (for dogs and disparagingly for women)" (/waay/ "paddle")
* /diilmx/ "respond" This suffix is used to describe languages, so the language of the Haida would be /haydmx/
Proclitics
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.
;
Locative
; Stative:
* /lax-/ tangent, above, parallel
* /t'm-/ tangent, above, perpendicular
* /lag̲ax/ tangent, not above, bilateral
* /ɫüü-, ɫüükɫi-, ɫüükwɫi-/ proximate, below
* /na̰k-/ proximate, not below
* /alo-, alu/ remote, below
; Motional
* /ksi-, ksa-, ksü-, xsa-/ internal source, efferent
* /g̲aɫdik-/ internal source, efferent, ascending
* /txa-/ internal source, efferent, descending
*/bax-/ tangent source, tangent goal, ascending, parageographic
* /dzag̲am-/ geographic, upstream
* /uks-/ geographic, out to sea
;
aspectual
* /si-, sü-, su-/ beginning, inception
* /adigul-/ continual, enduring
* /huk-/ habitual
* /gwüldm/ beforehand
* /wil-/ subsequent
;
Modal
* /ap-, a̰b-/ certain
* /kbi-, xbi-/ not really, half
* /liks-, lüks-/ different, strange
* /sis-, süs-/ play, pretend
* /sm-/ real genuine (as in /sm'algyax/ "true language")
; Case
* /ha-/ instrumental
* /ha'ali-/ place or time for
* /sa̰-, si-, sü-, s-/ causative
* /xs-/ resemble
Lexical
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.
* /aam/ "good" → /amadaalḵ/ "praise, worship" (/daalg̲/ "rebuke; scold")
* /gwa̰s/ "blanket" → /gwisg̲an/ "cedar bark mat coat; raincoat" (/g̲an/ "tree")
* /gyeɫk/ "to stab" → /gyiɫts'ax/ "nose-ring" (/ts'a̰ḵ/ "nose")
* /ts'usk/ "little" → /ts'übaa/ "lame (run a short distance)" (/baa/ "run")
* /'wiileeks/ "big" → /'wiiḵ'ooli/ "one with long hair" (/ḵ'ooli/ "scalp")
Syntax
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: TEMPORAL MARKER, verb, absolutive.
Transitive: TEMPORAL MARKER, verb, ergative, absolutive, indirect object, instrumental/benefactive/locative.
Inversions to this order are permitted. To place specific emphasis on the ergative noun (
topicalization
Topicalization is a mechanism of syntax that establishes an expression as the sentence or clause topic by having it appear at the front of the sentence or clause (as opposed to in a canonical position further to the right). This involves a phrasal ...
), 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.
[Dunn, J. A. (1995)])
Verb phrase
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.
* /nah/: (perfective) /nah dzap/ "already made"
* /dm/: (future/progressive) /dm dzap/ "will make", "is going to make", "is making"
* /ɫa/: (near to present) /ɫa dzap/ "just beginning to make"
* /wil/: (sequentially following) /wil dzap/ "and then made"
* /yagwa/: (present-only with action verbs) /yagwa dzap/ "be making right now," "is now making"
Some combined temporal expressions:
* /ɫa-dm dzap/: "just about to start making"
* /nah ɫa-wil dzap/ "and then just finished making"
* /dm ɫa-wil dzap/ "and now just about to start making"
Noun phrase
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.
Numbers
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.
The numeral gets an /-a/ connective if it ends in a stop, affricate or fricative.
* /gu'pl uwalp/ "two houses"
* /t'apxaada guksɫüüsk/ "two shirts"
* /t'apxaaduul hana'nax/ "two women"
* /guladaada hana'nax/ "two women aboard (some conveyance)"
* /g̲abeeltk g̲axsoo/ "two canoes"
Adjectives
In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun.
Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ...
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.
* /siipgm haasa/ "a sick dog"
* /txalpxdool al'alg̲m smgyigyet/ "four angry chiefs"
Determiners
Determiners follow the noun they modify and the noun gets a connective /-a/ suffix. There are six determinative words:
* /gwa'a/ "here, close to speaker"
* /gwasga/ "over there, that way"
* /doni/ "over there"
* /awaan/ "over there" (close to hearer)
* /gwi/ definite ("the")
* /ta'a/ for deceased kin only
Possessives
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.
* /gyigyeda huwaap/ "The color of the houses"
* /nahoon 'yuuta/ "the man's fish"
Ergatives
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.)
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.
Absolutives
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.)
Pronominals
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.
If there is an (unmarked) ergative noun in the sentence along with the absolutive pronoun, the temporal marker also gets a suffixed /-t/.
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".
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.
Both pronominals can occur in one sentence:
Linguists and other scholars who have worked on the Tsimshian language
*
Margaret Seguin Anderson
*
William Beynon
William Beynon (1888–1958) was a Canadian hereditary chief of the Tsimshian Nation and an oral historian; he served as ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to many anthropologists who studied his people.
Early life and educatio ...
*
Franz Boas
*
John A. Dunn
*
Susan Marsden
*
Jean Mulder
Jean Mulder is a linguist. Mulder's research interests include Australian English and Tsimshian, a North American Indian language. Mulder is currently an Honorary Senior Fellow in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Melbourne, hav ...
*
Odille Morison
Odille Morison (July 17, 1855 – 1933) was a Canadian linguist, artifact collector, and community leader from the Tsimshian First Nation of northwestern British Columbia.
Biography
She was born July 17, 1855, in the Tsimshian village of Lax Kw' ...
*
Bishop William Ridley
*
Fumiko Sasama
*
Tonya Stebbins
Tonya may refer to:
* Tonya (name), the given name, and people by that name
* Tonya, Turkey, a town and district of Trabzon Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey
* Tonya, Uganda
* Ton'ya (問屋) trade brokers of ancient Japan
See also
* I, ...
*
Marie-Lucie Tarpent
Marie-Lucie Tarpent (born November 9, 1941) is a French-born Canadian linguist, formerly an associate professor of linguistics and French at Mount Saint Vincent University SVU Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is known for her descriptive work on ...
*
Donna May Roberts
Donna may refer to the short form of the honorific ''nobildonna'', the female form of Don (honorific) in Italian.
People
*Donna (given name); includes name origin and list of people and characters with the name
* Roberto Di Donna (born 1968), Ita ...
*
Terri Burr
*
John Reece
* Victoria Mckoy
* David Lang
*
The Haayk Foundation
See also
* For the Tsimshian peoples see
Tsimshian,
Gitxsan, and
Nisga'a
Notes
References
*
Boas, Franz (1911) "Tsimshian" In ''Handbook of American Indian Languages,'' vol. 1. (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin, no. 40.) Washington.
*
Dunn, John Asher (1978) ''A Practical Dictionary of the Tsimshian Language.'' (National Museum of Man, Mercury Series, Canadian Ethnology Service Paper, no. 42.) Ottawa: National Museums of Canada.
*Dunn, John A. (1979) ''A Reference Grammar for the Tsimshian Language.'' (National Museum of Man, Mercury Series, Ethnology Service Paper, no. 55.) Ottawa: National Museums of Canada.
*Dunn, J. A. (1995) ''Sm'algyax: A Reference Dictionary and Grammar for the Tsimshian Language'' (University of Washington Press and Sealaska Heritage Foundation) University of Pennsylvania Library
*Mulder, Jean Gail (1994) ''Ergativity in Tsimshian (Sm'algyax).'' Berkeley: University of California Press.
*Schulenberg, A.C. Graf von der, (1992) ''Schulenberg's Tsimshian Grammar'' trans. Virginia C. Flaherty, University of Colorado (orig. "Die Sprache der Zsimshian-Indianer" 1894, Braunschweig).
*Stebbins, Tonya (2001) Emergent Spelling Patterns in Sm'algyax (Tsimshian, British Columbia). ''Written Language and Literacy,'' vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 163–193.
*Stebbins, Tonya (2003) ''Fighting Language Endangerment: Community Directed Research on Sm'algyax (Tsimshian).'' Osaka, Japan: Faculty of Informatics, Osaka Gakuin University
*Stebbins, Tonya (2020)
Fighting Language Endangerment: Community Directed Research on Sm'algyax (Tsimshian)'' 2nd Edition, Melbourne, Australia: La Trobe eBureau
External links
Sm'algyax Living Legacy Talking Dictionarytranslated by Ridley
OLAC resources in and about the Tsimshian language
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsimshian Language
Tsimshianic languages
Endangered Tsimshianic languages
Indigenous languages of the Pacific Northwest Coast
First Nations languages in Canada
Indigenous languages of Alaska
Official languages of Alaska