John Stonham, a Canadian-born linguist based at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, has just published the first dictionary of the group of languages known in English as Nootka (the tribe apparently chose the name Nuuchahnulth, which means ‘along the mountains,’ for themselves in 1981). The press release says:
Publication of the 537-page dictionary, which will be used to support the teaching of Native Americans the language of their ancestors, will give hope to those who have expressed concern about the death of many of the world’s minority languages, largely caused by economic globalisation and increased social mobility.
Today, only two to three hundred people can speak Nuuchahnulth, and most of these are aged over 60 years. There are also few written records, and experts predict it could die out in one generation if action is not taken to preserve it.
Nuuchahnulth has three basic vowels, there are 40 consonants and it has a very complex sound structure when spoken.
Dr Stonham incorporated 20-years experience of researching and writing about Nuuchahnulth into his dictionary, as well as the fieldwork materials of the linguist and anthropologist, Edward Sapir, which spans 1910-1924.
His team of researchers used a computer programme to analyse Sapir’s extraordinarily detailed notes, and the resulting database consists of approximately 150,000 words of the language…
Nuuchahnulth referrs to around 15 languages, but some have disappeared since 1900 and the remainder are all on the verge of extinction. Each language has distinct differences in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, which are acknowledged in the dictionary.
Dr Stonham, who hails from Montreal, added: “They are some of the most morphologically complex languages, which is what initially attracted me to them more than 20-years ago.
You can see a pdf file containing extracts from the dictionary here; the words are cee?iy ‘be secluded in the house observing taboos, so as not to spoil a hunter’s luck,’ kampuu?c’is ‘high rubber boots’ (?u?uuyiihši?aλma ?u?uuiihma kampuu?c’is ‘he sang for high rubber boots’), nuuniiqa ‘speak to one whom one happens to meet,’ quu?as ‘person; Nootka’ (na?aackwi qwayac’iik ?uukwil quuquu?as ‘wolves understood what humans were saying’), t’aat’aaqsapa ‘speak Aht or Nuuchahnulth; speak true or straight,’ and t’ih ‘wipe the tears from one’s eyes with the back of one’s hand’ (I’ve substituted for the special symbols as best I could, but h should have a dot underneath: ḥ, if that comes out right). And you can see a regular webpage with an extract from what was then “the forthcoming Nuuchahnulth dictionary,” with words beginning with k’- (eg, k’in’a ‘herring guts’).
The Queen Bee, from whose excellent blog I got this information, adds the following quote from Stonham’s personal page:
On the personal side, I am a journeyman sheetmetal worker, a black belt in Kodokan Judo, a licensed welder, an NCCP level 2 coach, and I’ve raised and shown dogs (Akitas – I still have one, Bok-Soon) to champion level in the conformation ring. I’ve taught in three different fields (judo, my trade, and linguistics), in three (sort of 4) languages, in four countries, in five different universities, and I love what I do.