Moses-Columbia, or Columbia-Wenatchi (in Moses-Columbia: Nxaʔamxcín), is an extinct Southern Interior Salish language, also known as Nxaảmxcín. Speakers traditionally lived in the Colville Indian Reservation. The Columbia people were followers of Chief Moses.
| Moses-Columbia | |
|---|---|
| Columbia-Wenatchi | |
| Nxaʔamxcín | |
| Native to | United States of America |
| Region | northern Idaho, eastern Washington |
| Ethnicity | 230 (2000 census)[1] |
| Extinct | May 2, 2023, with the death of Pauline Stensgar[1] |
Salishan
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | col |
| Glottolog | colu1241 |
| ELP | Columbian |
 Columbian is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
There were two dialects, Columbia (Sinkiuse, Columbian) and Wenatchi (Wenatchee, Entiat, Chelan). Wenatchi was the heritage language of the Wenatchi, Chelan, and Entiat tribes, Columbian of the Sinkiuse-Columbia.
Pauline Stensgar, who died on May 2, 2023 at age 96, is reported to have been the last known fully fluent speaker.[2]
Sample words
editHere is a Nxaʔamxcín sample word
- Snkɬxwpáw’stn = ‘clothesline’ (Czaykowska-Higgins & Willett 1997) [3]
Phonology
editPhonological inventory of the Columbia-Wenatchi dialect:
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | sibilant | lateral | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | |||||
| Plosive/ Affricate |
plain | p | t | ts | k | kʷ | q | qʷ | ʔ | ||||
| glottalized | pʼ | tʼ | tsʼ | tɬʼ | kʼ | kʷ’ | qʼ | qʷ’ | |||||
| Fricative | s | ɬ | x | xʷ | χ | χʷ | ħ | ħʷ | h | ||||
| Sonorant | plain | m | n | l | j | w | ʕ | ʕʷ | |||||
| glottalized | mˀ | nˀ | lˀ | jˀ | wˀ | ʕˀ | ʕʷˀ | ||||||
| Trill | plain | r | |||||||||||
| glottalized | rˀ | ||||||||||||
The three vowels in Moses-Columbia are /i/, /a/, /u/. They are sometimes transcribed as [e]; /i/, [o]; /u/, and [æ]; /a/, and could also tend to sound unstressed, almost as a schwa sound, /ə/.
References
edit- ^ a b Moses-Columbia at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Hanlon, James (May 5, 2023). "Last fluent speaker of n̓xaʔm̓xčín̓ language dies at 96". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
- ^ "View Chapters".
Further reading
edit- Czaykowska-Higgins, Ewa and Paul Proulx. 2000. "REVIEWS - What's in a Word? Structure in Moses-Columbia Salish". International Journal of American Linguistics. 66, no. 3: 410.
- Kinkade, M. Dale. Dictionary of the Moses-Columbia Language (Nxaʔamxcín). Nespelem, Wash: Colville Confederated Tribes, 1981.
- Mattina, Nancy. 2006. "Determiner Phrases in Moses-Columbia Salish". International Journal of American Linguistics. 72, no. 1: 97.
- Willet, Marie Louise. 2003." A Grammatical Sketch of Nxa'amxcin" PhD Thesis, University of Victoria.
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