|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The First Nations House of Learning at UBC.
UBC is on Musqueam Land
"In my lifetime I've known
all nationalities and found they are all good people"
- Andy Natrall - Squamish
Elder
Our Elders Speak: A Tribute
to Native Elders. By Karie Garnier 1990
|
|
"Halkomelem (properly written Halq'eméylem) is a Salish language
spoken in British Columbia around the Fraser River and in the southern
end of Vancouver Island. There are three dialects within the Halkomelem
language: Halq'eméylem dialect spoken by the upriver Stó:lo
or Fraser people; Hun'qumi'num' dialect spoken by downriver Stó:lo
people; and Hul'q'umín'um' dialect spoken in Vancouver island by
the following peoples: Nanoose, Nanaimo, Chemainus, Cowichan, and Malahat.
Ethnographic words classify these peoples with the label "Central Coast
Salish", but there are many other groups under the same label speaking
different languages (see language map in classification section). There
may be around 400 speakers, out of an ethnic population of 7,000 population."
(http://home.istar.ca/~bthom/)
Today, there are a couple of programs offered for people wanting to
learn Musqueam. There is a Musqueam language course offered at UBC
for adults. For younger students, the language is taught at a preschool
on the Musqueam reserve and at the Grade 5 level at Southlands Elementary
(the elementary school that school age children living on the Musqueam
Reserve attend).
(Personal Communication, Marny Point)
|
|
Map of Languages Spoken in Fraser River Estuary
This map shows the language distribution of the Halkomelem language. The Halkomelem language area covers the Fraser River and its estuaries, the coast of the Lower Mainland and the north coast of Vancouver Island.
|
|
| Phylum |
|
| Branches of Salishan Language Family |
|
|
|
|
| Central Salish Languages |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Halkomelem Dialects |
|
|
|
|
|
Salishan is a large family of 23 languages, 16 of which are spoken in
the Northwest Coast culture area. Salishan languages are highly polysynthetic
which means that long strings of affixes can make up a whole sentence.
They use numerous suffixes and reduplication patterns; prefixes and infixes
are less numerous. Stress accent is generally strong; patterns of
shifting word stress in various derivatives are important.
Note: Halkomelem was traditionally an oral language.
Due to this, we are representing the language phonetically.
Major grammatical categories required are:
1. aspect
2. transitivity
3. voice
4. control: this is interesting because the speaker usually has to
choose an inflection form to portray control of degree of control.
The speaker must choose that inflection the way an English speaker must
choose verb tenses.An inflected form of a word would portray this.
For example,
a) It took a long time, but I eventually cut
it. (limiting control)
b) I cut it. (control)
c) I managed to cut it. (emphatic limited control)
5. person
6. gender: this takes place as whether something is feminine
or non-feminine.
7. tense and number are optional categories.
(Suttles, 1990)
Special sounds heard in Halkomelem but not in English are the voiceless
fricatives. They are indicated by a dash through the letter (K,
Q,L,
W,
QW).
The sound is made by air friction in the mouth.
Method: form the letter, then Blow without voice.
An example is the “voiceless L” (L).
Try it by using these three steps
1) Say loudly L, L, L, - note position of lips
and tongue
2) Hold mouth in this position, with tongue on
teeth
3) and without voice -- Blow
(Wells, 1995)
|
day easy I laugh morning mother salutation yesterday you |
SWIY-ihl LEE-luhk te'elsah LAY-ehm LAH-tet'l mel hiy-yah-welt ch.ihl-AHK-a teh-tleh-wa'p |
|
two three four five six seven eight nine ten |
ee-SAH-la TLAY-uh 'tl t' tsow.ks t'KAHT-sah too AW-pel |
|
|
Becoming Bidialectual
Bidialectual means to be able to use and understand
two dialects of the same language.
Many First Nations students come to school with a distinct dialect of English which is highlighted by a specific accent. Unfortunately it is sometimes viewed in a negative way within the academic culture at school. It is important to recognize that this is, in fact, a positive trait because it helps them identify with their cultural background. Some things to help you encourage appreciation of First Nations' culture among the students in your classroom are to:
|
|
|
|
prefix
An affix, such as dis- in
disbelieve, attached to the front of
a word to produce a derivative word
or an inflected form.
infix
An inflectional or derivational element appearing in the body of a
word. For example, in Tagalog, the active verb sulat “write” can be converted
to a passive, “written,” by inserting the infix -in-, yielding sinulat.
To insert (a morphological element) into the body of a word.
reduplication
A word formed by or containing a
reduplicated element. The added element in a word form that is reduplicated.
aspect
A category of the verb designating primarily the relation of the action
to the passage of time, especially in reference to completion, duration,
or repetition.
durative
Of, related to, or being the verbal aspect that expresses action continuing
unbroken for a period of time.
predicative
One of the two main constituents of a sentence or clause, modifying
the subject and including the verb, objects, or phrases governed by the
verb, as opened the door in Jane opened the door or is very sleepy in The
child is very sleepy.
obstruent
A sound, such as a stop, fricative, or affricate, that is produced
with complete blockage or at least partial constriction of the airflow
through the nose or mouth.
articulation
The act of vocal expression; utterance or enunciation.
polysynthetic
Of or relating to a language such as Eskimo or Mohawk, characterized
by
long, morphologically complex words with a large number of affixes
that
express syntactic relationships and meanings usually expressed as phrases
or sentences in other languages.
|
|
Acknowledgments