Okanagan language

Revitalization efforts for Colville-Okanagan in the United States are limited largely to instruction for children. However, concentrated efforts are made on the part of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation to promote language preservation. Among the activities in which the Confederation takes part are allocating funds both local and federal for cultural preservation projects. The Confederated Tribes' goals are to establish three language programs, develop language dictionaries, provide translation services and curriculum, and establish language classes with a regular attendance of 30 or more people. Though the Confederation's efforts are laudable, the limitations of 150 truly native speakers are evident. Language revitalization on the scale the Confederation proposes is limited by the number of native speakers available for those projects.[5]

Despite the confederation's efforts, language revitalization cannot be reproduced on such a large scale in the short run. The Salish School of Spokane in Washington takes a smaller approach towards revitalization. This school caters to the Colville-Okanagan-speaking population in the tribal regions of northeastern Washington. This school's efforts fall under the category of full-immersion school. The Salish School's target demographic is children between the ages of one and 10 years old. This places the Salish School of Spokane in the children revitalization group of schools. The school's programs are designed to spur full native fluency in Okanagan before the age of 10. The school does this by offering classes in Okanagan from 9 am to 3:15 pm. According to school expectations and curricula, children are expected to speak Okanagan for the duration of their time in school. In addition, the school is committed to an active learning strategy, that is, children are taught common nursery rhythms (heads, shoulders, knees, and toes) that engage the learner's body.[6]

The Salish School of Spokane makes a point of not falling into the trap of monopolizing teaching resources. Unlike Walsh's examples of tribes opting to not share materials, the Salish School maintains a variety of audio resources and curricula to advance Okanagan revitalization. Along with these efforts, the school not only provides curriculum, but also helps develop and translate it. The Salish School works alongside organizations such as the Paul Creek Language Association, a nonprofit based in British Columbia, on the N̓səl̓xcin̓ Curriculum Project.[7] The N̓səl̓xcin̓ Project aims to create foundational lesson plans from which teachers of Okanagan can draw. The project is spearheaded by Christopher Parkin, and is translated primarily by the fluent elder Sarah Peterson, with the additional help of Hazel Abrahamson and Herman Edwards. The participation of native speakers ensures clear meaning and high fidelity to the Okanagan language. The project is composed of six textbooks divided into three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.[7] Each level consists of a language book which contains a number of audio recordings, language, and learning software to ease language teaching. Additionally, each level includes a literature book. The literature book provides the vital function of providing entertainment for language learners when outside of class and also reinforces sentence construction for Okanagan. The project also contains daily quizzes, midterm-style tests, and both oral and written final exams for evaluation.[7] Most importantly, the curriculum developed by the N̓səl̓xcin̓ Curriculum Project is available in electronic format online free of charge.[8]

To encourage interest in teaching vocations, the En'Owkin places a strong emphasis on its various certification programs. The Certificate of Aboriginal Language Revitalization is offered in the En'Owkin Centre and is taught by linguist Maxine Baptiste. The course does have a fee involved, but the certificate is offered in partnership with the University of Victoria.[9] Additionally, the center also offers a certification to become a Certified Early Childhood Education Assistant which is in partnership with Nicola Valley Institute of Technology. The certificate does not qualify one to teach at the secondary level, but does ensure employability in daycare and pre-K.[9] The strategy behind these two certificates ensures that potential teachers have easy access to college credits from centers of higher learning like the University of Victoria, and potential education assistants can be involved in the education of children, thus establishing fluency in Okanagan early on. Finally, the En'Owkin Centre places a heavy emphasis on its college readiness programs. The importance of these programs lies not only in setting up native students for success, but also incorporating Colville-Okanagan courses into curriculum for young adult to adult students. William Cohen notes in his article, that many native students perform poorly in school and the high school dropout rate for aboriginal high schoolers is very high.[10]

Additionally, a Syilx Language House was developed in 2015 in British Columbia. The goal of the house is to create 10 fluent Nsyilxcen speakers in four years.[11] In this program, participants spend 2000 hours over four years learning Nsyilxcen via a variety of different teaching methods, regular assessments, frequent visits from Elders, and full immersion.[11] Following completion of the program in 2020, the Syilx Language House is hoping to expand by developing more language houses across the Okanagan and will increase the goal to creating 100 new Nsyilxcen speakers in the 2020 cohort.[11]

Consonant inventory of Okanagan:[12]

The vowels found in Lakes are: [i], [a], [u], [ə], and [o]. The [ə] is the single unstressed variant of the full vowels in Okanagan while the [o] vowel is found only in borrowed words. Stress will fall only on the full vowels [i], [a], and [u] in Okanagan.

Okanagan demonstrates great flexibility when dealing with persons, number, and gender. The language encodes the person via a series of prefixes and suffixes, and uses its number system in tandem with pluralized pronominals to communicate the number of actors within a sentence. For example:

tkaˀkaˀɬis

k- kaˀ- kaˀɬis

num.classifier plural.redup three

"There are three people" [15]

In this example the /k/ classification designates that the word contains a numeral classifier.

Additionally, Okanagan relies heavily on the use of suffixes to designate gender. Okanagan handles gender in much the same way, by attaching both determiner and ‘man' to the sentence, the gender of an object or subject can be communicated:

wikən iˀ sqəltmix^w

wik- -ən iˀ sqəltmix^w

saw 1sg det man "I saw the man"

In this example, there is a combination of 2nd singular marker with ‘wife.' ‘She' is encoded into the meaning of the word via the inclusion of the gender suffix at the end of the sentence.

Person markers within Okanagan are attached to verbs, nouns, or adjectives. The marker used depending on transitivity of verbs and other conditions outlined below. The person maker used largely depends on the case being used in the sentence.

Absolutive markers within Okanagan can only be used if the predicate of the sentence is intransitive. For example, [Kən c'k-am] (I count) is perfectly viable in Okanagan, but *[Kən c'k-ən-t] *(I count it)is not because the verb 'count' is transitive. Person markers never occur without an accompanying intransitive verb.[15]

Simple possessives within Okanagan are predominantly a result of prefixation and circumfixation on a verb. However, Okanagan uses simple possessives as aspect forms on the verb in very complex ways. This practice is predominantly seen in Southern interior Salish languages.[15]

The stem: kilx 'hand'

Where prefixation occurs with -in / an in the 1st and 2nd person singular, /n/ may undergo deletion as below:

isxʷuytn in-s-xʷuy-tan 1sgposs-nom -go- inst "They are my tracks."

akɬtkɬmilxʷ an- kɬ- tkɬmilxʷ 2sgposs-to be-woman "She is your wife to be."

anik'mən an-nik'mən 2sgposs-knife "your knife" [15]

In the case of verbs, Okanagan morphology handles transitivity in various ways. The first is a set of rules for verbs that only have a single direct object, transitive verbs. For the ergative case there are two variants of person markers a stressed and an unstressed.

Stressed and Unstressed

The stem: c'k-ən-t is the equivalent of the transitive verb 'count.'

wikn̓t (see it) is an example of a strong -nt- transitive past/present verb, with 'XX' identifying non-occurring combinations and '--' identifying semantic combinations which require the reflexive suffix -cut-

There are two sets of verb affixes each containing two members that dictate the composition of a verb. The first set is composed of the affixes –nt-, and -ɬt-. The second set is composed of –st- and x(i)t- where ‘i' is a stressed vowel.

The major difference between two sets is how they incorporate affixes to remain grammatically correct. In the case of the –nt-, -ɬt- group, all particles and suffixes joining onto the stem and suffix of the verb will be identical for both. The –nt- affix connects to the stem of a transitive verb via suffixation. The suffix –nt- can only make reference to two persons: an actor and a primary goal.

q̓y̓əntin q'y'-ənt-in (I write something)

The -ɬt- affix is the ditransitive counterpart of –nt- and works in much the same. The difference between the two is that it refers to three persons: an actor, and two other actors or goals. Furthermore, -ɬt- is further differentiated from its ditransitive cousin -x(i)t- because it does not require a clitic to be a part of the verb.

In contrast to this group, -st- and –x(i)t- operate by unique rules. The –st- affix, much like its counterpart must be added to a verb stem by means of suffixation, it is also transitive, and refers to an actor and a primary goal, but it implies a reference to a third person, or a secondary goal without explicitly stating it.

q̓y̓əstin q'y'-əst-in. (I write it [for myself])

The -x(i)t- ditransitive affix shares all of the features of -ɬt- with the sole exception that it requires a clitic to be attached to front of the verb stem. The reason for the clitic in Okanagan is to add emphasis or focus on the second object, whereas -ɬt- makes no distinction.[16]

Okanagan has one oblique marker that serves adapts it to several different functions depending upon the context in which it is used. The oblique marker ‘t' can be used to mark the object of an intransitive verb, as in the case below.

kən ˀiɬən t sɬiq^w I eat obl meat I ate (some)meat [15]

‘t' may also mark the agent in a passive construction, and it may be used to mark the ergative agent of transitive verbs. Finally, the oblique ‘t' may be used to mark functions including time and instrument:

kən txam t sx̌əx̌c'iˀ I comb obl stick "I combed my hair with a stick" [15]

‘t' may also coincide with the determiner ‘iʔ' in the case of instrumentals and passive agents:

tʕapəntís [iʔ [t swlwlmínk] ]. shoot-DIR-3SG.ERG DET OBL gun He shot it with a gun.

Mike cúmqs-nt-m [iʔ [t tkɬmílxʷ] ]. Mike kiss-DIR-PASS DET OBL woman Mike was kissed by the woman.[17]

There are a number of complements available to Okanagan to clarify its predicates among these are positional complements, which merely indicate the place of a predicate. In addition to positional complements, there are a variety of marked complements, complements used in Okanagan that express further meaning through a series of particles.[18]

The first of the marked complements is the prefix /yi/. For the most part, /yi/ is an optional complement that is used in definite cases with the exception of cases when a proper noun is used. In such cases, the /yi/ prefix is not allowed. When /yi/ is used it refers to a definite referent.[18]

wikən yiʔ sqilxʷ " I saw the/those people." The sequential complements are composed of the particles /ɬ/ and /ɬa/. /ɬa/ conveys temporal sequence while /ɬ/ represents a subordinate element.

way̓ x̌ast ɬ kʷ cxʷuy̓ "It's good if/that you come."

way̓ x̌ast ɬa kʷ cxʷuy̓ "It will be good when/after you come."

Okanagan also contains a number of locational complements which refer to when or where something happened. It is a point of reference. The /l/ and the variant /lə/particles are used to tie a predicate to a time or place.[18] xʷuy̓ lə sənkʷəkʷəʔac. "He went in the night"

Ablative complements in Okanagan come in the form of the /tl/ particle. Along with directional complements, /k̓/ and /k̓l/, Okanagan speakers can indicate motion.[18] The ablative complement /tl/ only serves to indicate ‘moving away from.' For instance, in the sentence below, the ablative is ‘from (across the ocean).'

Kʷ scutxx tl sk̓ʷətikənx "Were you saying [that he is] from Seattle?"

The directional complement's two particles represent both direction towards something, and direction towards a specific location. /k/ signifies movement towards something:

k̓ incitxʷ "to my house" (not towards it)

The /k̓l/ particle modifies this sentence so that it specifies the house as the location to which the subject must move. k̓əl incitxʷ "To my house" (there specifically)

ɬ- Movement back

c- Movement toward speaker

kɬ- down, and under [12]

tl̓ from, source.

k̓l to, at, goal, recipient, dative.

k̓ for, benefative.

l on, locative.

nˁəɬ with, comitative.

ˁit with, by, instrumental [12]