Klallam language

Klallam has 5 vowels:

• The sound e is rare, and occurs only before ʔ or y and y'.
• The schwa can be pronounced as /ʌ/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/, or /ɑ/ depending on its environment:[13]
  • Before ʔ or h, it becomes /ɑ/.
  • Around c and č, it becomes /ɪ/.
  • Before rounded dorsal consonants, it becomes /ʊ/.
• Vowels may be stressed or unstressed. Unstressed vowels are shorter and lower in intensity than stressed vowels.
  • Unstressed schwas are often deleted. For example 'nətán' ("my mother") is often pronounced as 'ntán'. Schwa deletion is consistent for English-oriented opinion, but "for the best speakers this rule is variable[14]".
  • In the case of schwa deletion after a nasal consonant, the nasal consonant is doubled. For example, 'ʔínət' ("what did you say") is pronounced as 'ʔínnt' even in very careful speech.
• Vowels are lowered when followed by a glottal stop /ʔ/:
  • 'bird'   /t͡sʼiʔt͡sʼəmʼ/ → [t͡sʼɛʔt͡sʼəmʼ ]
  • 'deer'   /huʔpt/ → [ hoʔpt ]
  • 'salmon backbone'   /sχəʔqʷəʔ/ → [ sχaʔqʷaʔ ]

The 34 consonants of Klallam written in its orthography, with IPA in brackets when different:

• Glottalized sonorants /mˀ/, /nˀ/, /ɴˀ/, /jˀ/, /wˀ/ are realized either

1. with creaky voice: [m̰], [n̰], [ɴ̰], [j̰], [w̰],
2. as decomposed glottal stop + sonorant: [ʔm], [ʔn], [ʔɴ], [ʔj], [ʔw], or
3. as decomposed sonorant + glottal stop: [mʔ], [nʔ], [ɴʔ], [jʔ], [wʔ]

• /k/ occurs in only a few borrowed words from Chinook Jargon, English or French.
• /l/ also rarely occurs in Klallam. It often replaces rhotics in loanwords from Chinook Jargon, French, and English, although it does occur in native words like laʔyaʔləmʼtú, meaning a group of small sheep or lambs.[13]
• The alveolar affricate /t͡s/ contrasts with a sequence of stop + fricative /ts/.
• Doubled stops and affricates are pronounced as two separate sounds, but doubled sonorants and fricatives are pronounced as long versions of a single sound.

In Klallam, strings of consonants are acceptable both at the beginning and ends of syllables. In the onset, consonant clusters are rather unstructured, so words like 'ɬq̕čšɬšáʔ' (fifty) can exist without problem. Similarly, codas can contain similar clusters of consonants, as in 'sx̣áʔəstxʷ' (to dislike something, to be no good).[14]

Stress in Klallam defines the quality of the vowel in any given syllable and can occur only once in a word. If a vowel is unstressed, the changes are entirely predictable, as unstressed vowels get reduced to schwas. In turn, unstressed schwas are deleted.[6] Mark Fleischer (1976) argues that schwa may be the only underlying vowel, as all others can be derived from the environment.[15]

Stress normally falls on the penultimate syllable; however, some affixes attract stress. Additionally, not all words can have stress.[16][6]

Klallam is a polysynthetic language, like the other languages of the Salishan family. Affixation is common for both verbs and nouns, and affixes provide temporal, case, and aspectual information. Every word contains at least one root.

The Klallam word ɁəsxʷaɁnáɁyaɁŋəs ('smiling') includes prefixes, suffixes and an infix. In its component parts, Ɂəs-xʷ-naɁnáɁ-yaɁ-ŋ-əs means "be in a state of small laughing on the face" or more simply, "smiling".

There are many forms of prefix, suffix, and infix; below are a number of examples. Allomorphy is common; often, a single affix with have multiple phonetic realizations due to stress structure or the phonology of the word it is being added to.

A common form of prefix is the time prefix. These prefixes can be added to nouns, adjectives and verbs to project ideas of time into the root's meaning. Examples include kwɬ- (already), twaw̓ (still), čaɁ (just now), and txʷ- (first, for a while).

Other prefixes add verbal semantics with meanings such as 'have', 'go to', 'go from', and 'be affected by'.

Klallam has lexical suffixes, which are unique to the languages of northwest North America. They have inherently noun-like meanings and can function as the object of a verb, create a compound meaning, and act as the object of a number word. Many refer to body parts, but there are almost 100 lexical suffixes that cover a number of different ideas. Oftentimes, these suffixes can take on metaphorically extended meaning, so 'nose' can also be used to refer to a single point, and 'mouth' can mean 'language'. Below are examples of common lexical suffixes with alternate pronunciation in parentheses. Alternate pronunciations usually depend on the location of the stress in the root.

• -ákʷtxʷ (-aɁítxʷ) – ‘dollar, round object’
• -áw̓txʷ – ‘house, building, room’
• -áy – people
• -éɁqʷ – ‘head’
• -íkʷs (-íkʷən) – ‘body, of a kind’
• -tən (-ən) – ‘instrument, tool’
• -ucən (-cən, -cín, -úc) – ‘mouth, edge, language’

There are also activity suffixes that give more information about an activity, such as 'structured' with -ayu and -ay̓s, 'customary' with -iŋəɬ, or 'habitual' with -ənəq.

Sometimes plurality is marked with an infix (however, there are many ways to mark plurality). This infix marks collective plurality, meaning that instead of strictly marking multiple of a noun, it creates a group of the noun. This infix takes one of the forms -əy̓-, -aɁy-, -éy-, or -éye- depending on the root structure and stress placement proceeding the infix.

There are multiple forms of reduplication in Klallam, and each lends a particular meaning to the word.

Two-consonant reduplication is a way to express plurality in about 10% of Kallam words. The first two consonants are copied and inserted before their location in the stem, and a schwa is inserted between them. For example, ləmətú (sheep) becomes ləmləmətú (bunch of sheep) through this process.

First letter reduplication is one of three ways to create a continuative verb form. The first consonant of a word is inserted after the first vowel, sometimes with a schwa added afterwards; for example, qán̓ cn (I steal) becomes qáqən̓ cn (I am stealing).

To create a diminutive form the first consonant is reduplicated with an additional 'suffix' of -aɁ afterwards and an infix of -Ɂ- later in the word. With this músmes (cow) becomes maɁmúɁsməs (little cow, calf). The diminutive is not limited to noun forms. When used on a verb, the meaning takes on the characteristic of 'just a little' or 'by a small thing'. With an adjective, the meaning is construed to a lesser extent then the original form.

Other forms of reduplication exist with meanings of 'characteristic', 'inceptive', and 'affective' aspects.

Cases in Klallam use an active-stative distinction. That is the choice of case depends on whether the actor is in control of the action (active) or not (stative). The suffix -t on a verb indicates control by the actor while a bare root implies the action was not on purpose. For example, in ćáɁkʷ cn ɁaɁ cə nətán "I got washed by my mother", the root is unmarked, but in ćáɁkʷt cn ɁaɁ cə nəŋənaɁ "I washed my child", the -t transitive suffix marks that the agent was in control of the action. In a similar manner, -nexʷ indicates a lack of control.

There is additionally a middle voice in which the suffix -eŋ marks the agent of the verb. If no patient is mentioned in the middle voice, it is assumed that the patient and the agent are the same, as in an action being done to oneself. For example, ćáɁkʷeŋ cn would usually be taken to mean "I washed myself", but it is subject to some ambiguity, as it could also mean "I washed (regularly)" or "I did some washing".

In main clauses, Klallam uses an ergative pattern to mark the third person (where they are unmarked) as, in subordinate clauses, all three persons are marked. The first and second persons in the main clause, however, and all persons in subordinate clauses follow an accusative pattern.