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Native Languages of the Americas

Thompson
Thompson
Nlaka'pamuctsin
Region	British Columbia, Washington
Ethnicity	6,140 Nlaka'pamux (2014, FPCC)
Native speakers	130 (2014, FPCC)
Language family	Salishan Interior Salish Northern Thompson; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	thp
Glottolog	thom1243

Intro and Infobox already on page

The Thompson language, properly known as Nlaka'pamuctsin AKA the Nlaka'pamux ('Nthlakampx') language, is an Interior Salishan language spoken in the Fraser Canyon, Thompson Canyon, Nicola Country of the Canadian province of British Columbia, and also (historically) in the North Cascades region of Whatcom and Chelan counties of the state of Washington in the United States. A dialect distinct to the Nicola Valley is called Scw'exmx, which is the name of the subgroup of the Nlaka'pamux who live there.

Phonology

Nlaka'pamuctsin is a consonant-heavy language. The consonants can be divided into two subgroups: obstruents, which restrict airflow, and sonorants or resonants, which do not.^[2] The sonorants are often syllabic consonants, which can form syllables on their own without vowels.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Lateral	Post-dental	Alveopalatal	Simple (pre)-Velar	Rounded (pre-)Velar	Simple Post-velar	Rounded Post-velar	Laryngeal
Obstruents	Stops, Glottalized Ejective	p'	(t')	ƛ'	c'		k'	k'^w	q'	q'^w	ʔ
	Stops, Plain	p	t	ɬ	c̣	c	k	k^w	q	q^w	ʔ
	Spirants			ɬ	ṣ	s	x	x^w	x̣	x̣^w	h
Resonants	Plain	m	n	l	z	y	γ	w	ʕ	ʕ^w
Resonants	Laryngealized	m'	n'	l'	z'	y'	γ'	w'	ʕ'	ʕ'^w

Morphology and Syntax

Conventional wisdom about Salishan languages has long maintained an absence of lexical categories in that family. Many researchers believe there is a lack of contrast between parts of speech like nouns and verbs in Nlaka'pamuctsin, based on a lack of clear morphological differences.^[3]^[4] Instead, linguists discuss morphology and syntax in Salishan based on a framework of predicates and particles.^[4] However, recent work suggests a changing understanding of Salishan grammar. Now, most Salishanists believe that functional categories are not prescriptive of lexical categories, and that morphological evidence does not prove that the latter categories do not exist, only that the distinction is more subtle in some languages than in others.^[5]^[6]

Lexical Suffixes

One morphological feature of Nlaka'pamuctsin is lexical suffixes.^[4] These are words that add nuance to predicates and can be affixed to the ends of root words to add their general meaning to that word.^[2] Thompson and Thompson assert that as a result of English language influence, speakers are using these more complex predicates less and less in favor of simpler predicates with complements and adjuncts, resulting in “a general decline in the exploitation of the rich synthetic resources of the language.”^[2]

Suffix	Suffix Meaning	Root	Root Meaning	Suffixed Form	Header text
꞊uyəm’x^w	earth, land, place; in vicinity; (earth) oven; baked goods	/q’íx̣-t	strong, secure	/q’íx̣꞊ym’x^w	firm, hard ground
		√c’əɬ	cold	/c’ɬ꞊úym’x^w	it is a cold country
		k^w[ʔá]l’	turn green	/k^wa[ʔ]l’꞊úym’x^w	the grass turns green
		√c’áp	ferment	n/c’áp꞊ym’x^w	sour-dough, yeast bread
꞊ekst	hand, arm	√kiyèʔ	ahead, in front, principal, the eldest	s/kiyèʔ꞊qín'꞊kst	thumb
꞊qin	head				thumb
꞊xn	foot, leg			s/kiyèʔ꞊qín'꞊xn	big toe
꞊xn	foot, leg	√k'əm	focal area	n/k'm꞊énk꞊xn	sole of foot
꞊ene(ʔ)k	belly, under side	√k'əm	focal area	n/k'm꞊énk꞊xn

References

^ ^a ^b Thompson at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ ^a ^b ^c Thompson, Lawrence C.; Thompson, M. Terry (1992). The Thompson Language. University of Montana Press.
^ Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 117.
^ ^a ^b ^c Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 64.
^ Haag, Marcia (October 1998). "Word-Level Evidence for Lexical Categories in Salishan Languages". International Journal of American Linguistics. 64 (4): 379–393.
^ Koch, Karsten; Matthewson, Lisa (2009). "The Lexical category debate in Salish and its relevance for Tagalog". Theoretical Linguistics. 35 (1): 125–137. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)

[e18-1] Thompson at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[Thompson_Thompson-2] Thompson, Lawrence C.; Thompson, M. Terry (1992). The Thompson Language. University of Montana Press.

[Campbell_American-3] Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 117.

[Mithun_Languages-4] Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 64.

[Haag_Word-5] Haag, Marcia (October 1998). "Word-Level Evidence for Lexical Categories in Salishan Languages". International Journal of American Linguistics. 64 (4): 379–393.

[6] Koch, Karsten; Matthewson, Lisa (2009). "The Lexical category debate in Salish and its relevance for Tagalog". Theoretical Linguistics. 35 (1): 125–137. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)

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