Saanich dialect

"The {{lang|str|W̱SÁNEĆ}} School Board, together with the FirstVoices program for revitalizing Aboriginal languages, is working to teach a new generation to speak {{lang|str|SENĆOŦEN}}" at the ȽÁU¸WELṈEW̱ Tribal School.{{Cite web

| title = Daily Fact #9: There are over 50 First Nations languages in Canada

| work = Miss Teen Southern British Columbia

| access-date = 2013-06-02

| url = http://missteensouthernbritishcolumbia.com/daily-fact-9-there-are-over-50-first-nations-languages-in-canada/

| archive-date = 2017-11-27

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171127112740/http://missteensouthernbritishcolumbia.com/daily-fact-9-there-are-over-50-first-nations-languages-in-canada/

}}{{cite web|title=ȽÁU¸WELṈEW̱ Tribal School|url=http://www.fpcf.ca/SILS2005/tschool.htm|access-date=17 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130102200344/http://www.fpcf.ca/SILS2005/tschool.htm|archive-date=2 January 2013}} The first Grade 12 class is scheduled to graduate in June 2026. {{Cite web |last=McKay |first=Jackie |date=March 2, 2025 |title=Refuge for the people |url=https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/sencoten-language-school |url-status=live |access-date=March 3, 2025 |website=CBC News}}

A Saanich texting app was released in 2012.{{Cite news

| last = Renee Lewis

| title = Indigenous tap new app to save old languages

| work = Al Jazeera English

| access-date = 2012-08-21

| date = 2012-08-02

| url = http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/07/201272813513536259.html

}} A SENĆOŦEN iPhone app was released in October 2011.{{Cite web

| title = FirstVoices Apps

| work = FirstVoices

| access-date = 2012-10-04

| url = http://www.firstvoices.com/en/apps

}} An online dictionary, phrasebook, and language learning portal is available at the First Voices SENĆOŦEN Community Portal.{{Cite web

| title = FirstVoices: SENĆOŦEN Community Portal

| access-date = 2012-10-04

| url = http://www.firstvoices.com/en/SENCOTEN

}}

Saanich has no rounded vowels in native vocabulary. As in many languages, vowels are strongly affected by post-velar consonants.

{{notelist}}

The following table includes all the sounds found in the North Straits dialects. No one dialect includes them all. Plosives are not aspirated, but are not voiced either. Ejectives have weak glottalization.

{{notelist}}

The dentals are often written {{angbr IPA|θ}}, {{angbr IPA|tθʼ}}, but this is inaccurate, as they are laminal sibilants, {{IPA|[s̻, ts̻]}}, and are only rarely interdental. The alveolars {{IPA|/s, ts, tsʼ/}}, on the other hand, are apical, as are all alveolars, including the laterals. The post-velars are often written {{angbr IPA|q}}, {{angbr IPA|χ}}, etc., but are not actually uvular.

Saanich stress is phonemic. Each full word has one stressed syllable, either in the root or in a suffix, the position of which is lexically determined. "Secondary stress" is sometimes described, but this is merely a way of distinguishing lexical schwas (with "secondary stress", like all other vowels in a word) from epenthetic schwas ("unstressed").

{{infobox writing system

| name = Saanich alphabet

| altname = {{lang|str|SENĆOŦEN}}
Sənčáθən

| type = Alphabet

| languages = North Straits Salish language
Saanich language

| time = 1978 to present

| fam1 = (Proto-writing)

| fam2 = Egyptian hieroglyphs

| fam3 = Proto-Sinaitic alphabet

| fam4 = Phoenician alphabet

| fam5 = Greek alphabet

| fam6 = Old Italic script

| fam7 = Latin alphabet

| fam8 = English alphabet

| children =

| sample =

| imagesize =

| unicode = [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0000.pdf U+0000 to U+007E] Basic Latin and punctuation

U+00CD (Í)

U+0106 (Ć)

U+015A (Ś)

U+0166 (Ŧ)

U+023A (Ⱥ)

U+023B (Ȼ)

U+023D (Ƚ)

U+023E (Ⱦ)

U+1E30 (Ḱ)

U+1DF48 (𝽈) [in the Unicode pipeline]

| iso15924 = Latn

| caption =

}}

The Saanich orthography was created by Dave Elliott in 1978, by using a typewriter to combine Latin characters with other marks to create new characters.[https://web.archive.org/web/20210415144154/http://bclearningnetwork.com/LOR/media/fns12/pdf/Module4/4.5%20Case%20Studies%20of%20Aboriginal%20Language%20Programs.pdf Dave Elliott and the SENÇOÎEN Alphabet] It is a unicase alphabet, using only uppercase letters with the single exception of a lower-case {{lang|str|s}} for the third person possessive suffix.Bill, Cayou & Jim (2003: 15)

The glottal stop {{IPA|/ʔ/}} is not always indicated, but may be written with a spacing cedilla: {{angbr|¸}} or less formally with a comma: {{angbr|,}}. When they are distinguished, the glottalized resonants are written {{angbr|L¸}} {{IPA|/lˀ/}}, {{angbr|M¸}} {{IPA|/mˀ/}}, {{angbr|N¸}} {{IPA|/nˀ/}}, {{angbr|Ṉ¸}} {{IPA|/ŋ̠ˀ/}}, {{angbr|U¸}} {{IPA|/əwˀ/}}, {{angbr|Y¸}} {{IPA|/jˀ/}}, or likewise with a comma. The comma was the original orthography, but caused problems with text searches and the like; Saanich dictionaries, spell-check and increasingly common usage have switched to the cedilla.

The vowel {{IPA|/e/}} is usually written {{angbr|Á}}, unless it occurs next to a post-velar consonant ({{IPA|/k̠ k̠ʷ k̠ʼ k̠ʷʼ x̠ x̠ʷ ŋ̠ ŋ̠ʷ/}}), in which case it is written {{angbr|A}}.

{{IPA|/VRˀ/}} often surfaces as {{IPA|[VʔR]}} when stressed, and this may be reflected in the orthography. For instance, {{IPA|/ʔeʔél̕kʷəŋ/}} is spelled {{Lang|str|Á¸Á¸LȻEṈ}} rather than phonemic *{{Lang|str|Á¸ÁL¸ȻEṈ}} in the Saanich dictionary, and {{IPA|/ʔan̕x̣sət/}} is {{Lang|str|O¸NXSET}} rather than *{{Lang|str|ON¸XSET}}.[http://saanich.montler.net/WordList/SaanichIndex.html]

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

In 2004, four characters from the SENĆOŦEN orthography were added to the Unicode standard,{{Cite web |last=Elliot |first=John |date=May 5, 2004 |title=Proposal to Add Four SENĆOŦEN Latin Charaters |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04170-sencoten.pdf |access-date=November 22, 2024}} and the barred K was accepted in 2024.[https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2024/24234r-barred-letters.pdf L2/24-234r, p. 14-15]

In Saanich, metathesis is used as a grammatical device to indicate "actual" aspect. The actual aspect is most often translated into English as a be ...-ing progressive. The actual aspect is derived from the "nonactual" verb form by a CV → VC metathesis process (i.e. consonant metathesizes with vowel).

{{Expand section|date=May 2008}}

{{reflist}}

• Bill, Adriane; Cayou, Roxanne; & Jim, Jacquelin. (2003). NEȾE NEḰȺ SḴELÁLṈEW̱ [One Green Tree]. Victoria, B.C.: First Peoples' Cultural Foundation & ȽÁU¸WELṈEW̱ Tribal School. {{ISBN|1-4120-0626-0}}.
• 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. (1986). An Outline of the Morphology and Phonology of Saanich, North Straits Salish. Occasional Papers in Linguistics (No. 4). Missoula, MT: University of Montana Linguistics Laboratory. (Web version of the author's PhD dissertation, University of Hawaiʻi).
• Montler, Timothy. (1996). Languages and Dialects in Straits Salishan. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages, 31, 249–256.
• Montler, Timothy. (1999). Language and Dialect Variation in Straits Salishan. Anthropological Linguistics, 41 (4), 462–502.
• Montler, Timothy. (2018). SENĆOŦEN: A Dictionary of the Saanich Language. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
• Thompson, Laurence; Thompson, M. Terry; & Efrat, Barbara. (1974). Some Phonological Developments in Straits Salish. International Journal of American Linguistics, 40, 182–196.
• YELḰÁTȾE [Claxton, Earl, Sr.]; & STOLȻEȽ [Elliot, John, Sr.]. (1994). Reef Net Technology of the Saltwater People. Brentwood Bay, B.C.: Saanich Indian School Board.

• [http://saanich.montler.net/ Timothy Montler's site]
• [http://saanich.montler.net/Outline/index.htm An Outline of the Morphology and Phonology of Saanich, North Straits Salish] (1986)
• [http://saanich.montler.net/Outline/1.htm Phonology]
• [http://saanich.montler.net/Outline/2.htm Morphology]
• [http://saanich.montler.net/Outline/3.htm Sample text]
• [http://saanich.montler.net/say/index.htm How to pronounce SENĆOŦEN]
• [http://saanich.montler.net/WordList/index.htm Saanich Classified Word List] (1991)
• https://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/saanich-verbs/
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060517093650/http://www.sisb.bc.ca/index3.html Saanich Indian School Board]
• [http://www.languagegeek.com/salishan/sencoten.html SENĆOŦEN (Saanich, Northern Straits Salish)] (Chris Harvey's Native Language, Font & Keyboard)
• [http://www.firstvoices.ca/scripts/WebObjects.exe/FirstVoices.woa/3/wa/enterLanguageArchive?archive=3c39bcf779c644e3&wosid=WZ91RL9KfCr5EAIGt5ucig SENĆOŦEN Welcome page] (First Voices)
• [https://wsanec.com/history-territory/ W̱SÁNEĆ History & Territory with map.]

{{Salishan languages}}{{Languages of Canada}}

{{Languages of the United States}}

{{Languages of British Columbia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saanich Language}}

Category:North Straits Salish languages

Category:Indigenous languages of the Pacific Northwest Coast

Category:First Nations languages in Canada