Thompson language

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.{{cite book|last1=Thompson|first1=Lawrence C.|last2=Thompson|first2=M. Terry|title=The Thompson Language|date=1992|publisher=University of Montana Press}} The sonorants are often syllabic consonants, which can form syllables on their own without vowels.

Stress is used with an acute accent; á.{{Cite book|last=Koch|first=Karsten A.|year=2011|isbn=978-94-007-0136-6|pages=111–143|doi=10.1007/978-94-007-0137-3_6|title = Prosodic Categories: Production, Perception and Comprehension|series = Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory|chapter = A Phonetic Study of Intonation and Focus in Nłeʔkepmxcin (Thompson River Salish)}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.languagegeek.com/salishan/nlekepmxcin.html|title=Nłeʔkepmxcin - Nlha7kápmx Thompson|access-date=2017-06-15}}

One of the writing systems used for Nlaka'pamuctsin uses the North American Phonetic Alphabet (NAPA) writing system.{{Cite book |last=Egesdal |first=Steven M. |title=Nl̳ekèpmxcín: Thompson River Salish speech |last2=Thompson |first2=M. Terry |last3=Jimmie |first3=Mandy N. |date=2011 |publisher=Whatcom Museum |isbn=978-1-879763-22-7 |series=Whatcom museum publications |location=Bellingham, WA}}

The above consonant chart is based off the one found in "The Thompson Language" by Laurence C. Thompson & M. Terry Thompson.

Researchers working in the Generative tradition have speculated that Salishan languages lack lexical categories such as nouns and verbs. Evidence for such an absence of contrast between parts of speech in Nlaka'pamuctsin come from a lack of clear morphological markers (e.g. morphemes) that differentiate nouns and verbs.{{cite book|last1=Campbell|first1=Lyle|title=American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America|date=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, UK|page=117}}{{cite book|last1=Mithun|first1=Marianne|title=The Languages of Native North America|date=1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, UK|page=64}} Instead, generative linguists discuss morphology and syntax in Salishan based on a framework of predicates and particles. However, more contemporary work suggests a changing understanding of Salishan grammar. Some Salishanists believe that functional categories are not prescriptive of lexical categories. Work in Functional linguistics suggests that other factors beyond morphological evidence code lexical categories in languages. In Salishan, the distinction would be less overt than in some other languages.{{cite journal|last1=Haag|first1=Marcia|title=Word-Level Evidence for Lexical Categories in Salishan Languages|journal=International Journal of American Linguistics|date=October 1998|volume=64|issue=4|pages=379–393|doi=10.1086/466367}}{{Cite journal|last1=Koch|first1=Karsten|last2=Matthewson|first2=Lisa|date=2009|title=The Lexical category debate in Salish and its relevance for Tagalog|journal=Theoretical Linguistics|volume=35|issue=1|pages=125–137|doi=10.1515/thli.2009.007}}

One morphological feature of Nlaka'pamuctsin is lexical suffixes. 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. 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.”

• Chief Nicola

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.native-languages.org/thompson.htm Native.Languages.org entry]
• [http://www.languagegeek.com/salishan/nlekepmxcin.html Nlekepmxcin keyboard from languagegeek.com]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070328232805/http://www.schoolnet.ca/aboriginal/tribute/nihalkap-e.html Human rights plaque in Nlha7kápmx language] (archive of SchoolNet page)
• [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Canada/thompson.html Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Nlaka'pamux or Thompson]

{{Salishan languages}}

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Category:Interior Salish languages

Category:First Nations languages in Canada

Category:Languages of the United States

Category:Indigenous languages of the North American Plateau