Nuxalk language

Nuxalk
Bella Coola
It7Nuxalkmc
Native to	Canada
Region	Bella Coola area, Central Coast region, British Columbia
Ethnicity	1,762 Nuxalk (2022, FPCC)
Native speakers	3 (2022)
Language family	Salishan Nuxalk
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	blc
Glottolog	bell1243
ELP	Nuxalk
Bella Coola is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Nuxalk "Bella Coola Valley"
Person	Nuxalk
People	Nuxalkmc
Language	It7Nuxalkmc
Country	Kulhulmcilh (Nuxalkulmc)

Nuxalk (/ˈnuːhɒlk/ NOO-halk), also known as Bella Coola (/ˌbɛlə ˈkuːlə/), is a Salishan language spoken by the Nuxalk people. Today, it is an endangered language in the vicinity of the Canadian town of Bella Coola, British Columbia. While the language is still sometimes called Bella Coola by linguists, the native name Nuxalk is preferred by the Nuxalk Nation's government.

Though the number of truly fluent speakers has not increased, the language is now taught in both the provincial school system and the Nuxalk Nation's own school, Acwsalcta, which means 'a place of learning'. Nuxalk language classes, if taken to at least the Grade 11 level, are considered adequate second-language qualifications for entry to the major B.C. universities. CKNN-FM Nuxalk Radio is also working to promote the language.

Name

The name Nuxalk for the language comes from the native Nuxalk, referring to the Bella Coola Valley. Bella Coola is a rendering of the Heiltsuk bḷ́xʷlá, meaning 'stranger'.

Geographical distribution

Nowadays, Nuxalk is spoken only in Bella Coola, British Columbia, surrounded by Wakashan- and Athabascan-speaking tribes. It was once spoken in over 100 settlements, with varying dialects, but in the present day most of these settlements have been abandoned and dialectal differences have largely disappeared.

Classification

Nuxalk forms its own subgroup of the Salish language family. Its lexicon is equidistant from Coast and Interior Salish, but it shares phonological and morphological features with Coast Salish (e.g., the absence of pharyngeals and the presence of marked gender). Nuxalk also borrows many words from contiguous North Wakashan languages (especially Heiltsuk), as well as some from neighbouring Athabaskan and Tsimshianic languages.

Phonology

Consonants

The consonants of Nuxalk are depicted below in IPA and the practical orthography of Hank Nater's The Bella Coola Language (1984) and Nuxalk-English Dictionary (1990).

		Labial	Alveolar			Velar		Uvular		Glottal
			plain	sibilant	lateral	palatal	labialized	plain	labialized
Stop/ Affricate	tenuis	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩	t͡s ⟨ts⟩		c ⟨k⟩	kʷ ⟨kw⟩	q ⟨q⟩	qʷ ⟨qw⟩
	ejective	pʼ ⟨pʼ⟩	tʼ ⟨tʼ⟩	t͡sʼ ⟨tsʼ⟩	t͡ɬʼ ⟨tlʼ⟩	cʼ ⟨kʼ⟩	kʷʼ ⟨kwʼ⟩	qʼ ⟨qʼ⟩	qʷʼ ⟨qwʼ⟩	ʔ ⟨7⟩
Fricative				s ⟨s⟩	ɬ ⟨lh⟩	ç ⟨c⟩	xʷ ⟨cw⟩	χ ⟨x⟩	χʷ ⟨xw⟩	(h~ɦ) ⟨h⟩
Sonorant	plain	m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩		l ⟨l⟩	j ⟨y⟩	w ⟨w⟩
	syllabic	m̩ ⟨m̠⟩	n̩ ⟨n̠⟩		l̩ ⟨l̠⟩	(i) ⟨i⟩	(u) ⟨u⟩			(a) ⟨a⟩

According to Nater:

Nuxalk is a "vowelless" language, not only because it has voiceless words, phrases and entire sentences, but also because a can be considered a syllabic laryngal (which as such belongs in the same category as m̠, n̠, l̠, i and u).

[...] Other such "vowelless" languages are Heiltsuk and Oowekyala (Kortlandt 1973 and Lincoln & Rath 1980).

— Nater (2022, p. ix)

Orthographic ⟨k⟩ and ⟨kʼ⟩ are palatals, cognate with postalveolar sibilants in other Salishan languages. The pulmonic stops become aspirated before stops and word boundaries, and optionally before fricatives, but they are tenuis before vowels and other syllabic sonorants. ⟨h⟩ has a very low occurrence and is therefore considered marginal.

Orthographic ambiguity

• The only word where ⟨cw⟩ = /çw/ and not /xʷ/ is icwappattsut 'to constantly turn one's head', from wapat 'to turn s.t. sideways'.
• The only word where ⟨xw⟩ = /χw/ and not /χʷ/ is reduplicated waxwaxtsya 'great-grandchildren'.
• Despite being written the same, /t͡s/ contrasts with /ts/, a trait Nuxalk shares with several other Salishan languages.
• Syllabic /m̩ n̩ l̩/ are marked only where phonemically unpredictable, for example ksnm̠ak (not *ksn̠mak) 'to work'.

Vowels

Phonemes

	Front	Back
Close	i, iː	u, uː
Mid
Open	a, aː

/aː iː uː/ are pronounced with falling tone and are more open than /a i u/: [âː êː(j) ɔ̂ː(w)].

Allophony

According to Nater (1984, p. 5), the realizations of the vowels based on their position in a segment are as follows:

Phoneme	Allophone	Occurrence
/a/	[ɑ]	surrounded by postvelars
	[ɐ]?	before rounded velars followed by a consonant or word boundary
	[a(ː)]	before a sonorant followed by a consonant or word boundary
	[æ]?	elsewhere
/i/	[ɪ]	before postvelars
	[ɪː~ɛː]	surrounded by postvelars
	[e̞(ː)]	before a sonorant followed by a consonant or word boundary
	[i]	adjacent to palatovelars
	[e]	elsewhere
/u/	[o]	surrounded by postvelars
	[u~ʊ]	before rounded velars followed by a consonant or word boundary
	[o(ː)~ɔ(ː)]	before a sonorant followed by a consonant or word boundary
	[o̞]	elsewhere

Phoneme	QVQ	VW{C,#}	VR{C,#}	VQ	VJ/JV	else
/a/	[ɑ]	[ɐ]?	[a(ː)]	[æ]?
/i/	[ɪː~ɛː]	[e]	[e̞(ː)]	[ɪ]	[i]	[e]
/u/	[o]	[u~ʊ]	[o(ː)~ɔ(ː)]	[o̞]
Key	V = vowel | C = consonant | # = word boundary J = palatovelar | W = labiovelar | Q = postvelar | R = sonorant

Orthography

The orthography used in this article is a non-diacritical Bouchard-type practical orthography that originated in Hank Nater's The Bella Coola Language (1984), and was used in his 1990 Nuxalk-English Dictionary. It continues to be used today at Acwsalcta for Nuxalk language learning, as well as in Nuxalk documents and names. The Americanist orthography of Davis & Saunders (1997) is provided in addition. The orthographic variants are summarized below.

Nuxalk alphabet

IPA
a	aː	ç	xʷ	h	i	iː	c	cʼ	kʷ	kʷʼ	l	ɬ	m	n	p	pʼ	q	qʼ	qʷ	qʷʼ	s	t	tʼ	t͡ɬʼ	t͡s	t͡sʼ	u	uː	w	χ	χʷ	j	ʔ
APA
a	ā	x	xʷ	h	i	ī	k	k̓	kʷ	k̓ʷ	l	ł	m	n	p	p̓	q	q̓	qʷ	q̓ʷ	s	t	t̓	ƛ̓	c	c̓	u	ū	w	x̣	x̣ʷ	y	ʔ
Practical
a	aa	c	cw	h	i	ii	k	kʼ	kw	kwʼ	l	lh	m	n	p	pʼ	q	qʼ	qw	qwʼ	s	t	tʼ	tlʼ	ts	tsʼ	u	uu	w	x	xw	y	7

The trigraph lhh (APA łł) is used for /ɬː/, though not a part of the alphabet.

The occurrence of morpheme-initial /ʔ/ is limited: it is spelled only (I) after prefixes; (II) in enclitics with initial 7a-, 7i- and 7l-; and (III) in 7na 'determinative', two nouns (7lats 'sea cucumber', 7yanahu 'turnip'), and three verb roots (7na 'forgotten', 7nap 'to take', 7nayc 'to accompany').

As a rule, u cannot be preceded by w. Consequently, rounded velars and post-velars (cw, kw, kwʼ, xw, qw, qwʼ, and clusters thereof), too, are spelled without w before u: xuta [χʷo̞tæ] 'dipnet', squlh [sqʷo̞ɬ] 'bee, wasp', kʼutsci [kʷʼo̞tsçe̞] 'maggots', kʼcusis [kʷʼxʷo̞se̞s] 'he looked at his face', qʼxuusnm [qʷʼχʷɔːwsnəm] 'to be carving a face', etc.

Syllables

The notion of syllable is challenged by the Nuxalk language, in that the language includes long strings of consonants without any intervening vowel or other sonorant. Salishan languages, and especially Nuxalk, are famous for this. For instance, the following word contains only obstruents:

clhpʼxwlhtlhplhhskwtsʼ (practical)
xłp̓x̣ʷłtłpłłskʷc̓ (Americanist)
/çɬpʼχʷɬtɬpɬːskʷt͡sʼ/ (IPA)

clh-

possess-

pʼxwlht-

bunchberry-

lhp-

plant-

lhh-

PAST.PERF-

s=

3SG.SUB/3SG.OBJ=

kwtsʼ

then

clh- pʼxwlht- lhp- lhh- s= kwtsʼ

possess- bunchberry- plant- PAST.PERF- 3SG.SUB/3SG.OBJ= then

'then she/he had had in her/his possession a bunchberry plant.'

Some examples from Nater (2022):

• ps /ps/ 'to shape, mold something'; 'to blow, hiss'
• pʼs /pʼs/ 'to bend something'
• pʼxwlht /pʼχʷɬt/ 'bunchberry'
• tsʼktskwtsʼ /t͡sʼctskʷt͡sʼ/ 'then he arrived'
• tts /tt͡s/ term used to address little boys
• skwp /skʷp/ 'to moisten, spray water on something'
• lhxwt /ɬχʷt/ 'to spit on something/somebody'
• sps /sps/ 'cold north-east wind'
• tlʼp /t͡ɬʼp/ 'to pinch, snap, cut something off; to stop something (short)'
• stsʼq /st͡sʼq/ 'animal fat'
• stsʼqtstx /st͡sʼqt͡stχ/ 'that's my animal fat over there'
• sxs /sχs/ 'fat, grease'
• tlh /tɬ/ 'strong'
• tqʼ /tqʼ/ 'to arrive by boat, land alongshore'
• qwt /qʷt/ 'crooked'
• kʼclhhtscwsxwlhtlhhts /cʼçɬːt͡sxʷsχʷɬtɬːt͡s/ 'you had seen me go through the passage'

There has been some dispute as to how to count syllables in such words; what, if anything, constitutes the nuclei of those syllables; and if the concept of 'syllable' is even applicable to Nuxalk. However, when recordings are available, the syllable structure can be clearly audible, and speakers have clear conceptions as to how many syllables a word contains. In general, a syllable may be C̩, CF̩ (where F is a fricative), CV, or CVC. When C is a stop, CF syllables are always composed of a pulmonic stop (/p, t, t͡s, c, kʷ, q, qʷ/) plus a fricative (/s, ɬ, ç, xʷ, χ, χʷ/).

For example, plht 'thick' is two syllables (/pɬ.t/), with a syllabic fricative, while in tʼxt 'stone', stʼs 'salt', qwt 'crooked', kʼc 'to see' and lhq 'wet' each consonant is a separate syllable: /tʼ.χ.t/, /s.tʼ.s/, /qʷ.t/, /cʼ.ç/, /ɬ.q/. Stop-fricative sequences can also be disyllabic, however, as in tlh 'strong' (two syllables, at least in the cited recording) and kws 'rough' (one syllable or two). Syllabification of stop-fricative sequences may therefore be lexicalized or a prosodic tendency. Fricative-fricative sequences also have a tendency toward syllabicity, e.g. with sc 'bad' being one syllable or two, and sxs 'fat, grease' being two syllables (/sχ.s/) or three. Speech rate plays a role, with e.g. lhxwtlhtscw /ɬχʷtɬt͡sxʷ/ 'you spat on me' consisting of all syllabic consonants in citation form (/ɬ.χʷ.t.ɬ.t͡s.xʷ/) but condensed to stop-fricative syllables (/ɬχʷ.tɬ.t͡sxʷ/) at fast conversational speed. This syllabic structure may be compared with that of Miyako.

The linguist Hank Nater has postulated the existence of a phonemic contrast between syllabic and non-syllabic sonorants: /m̩, n̩, l̩/, spelled ṃ, ṇ, ḷ. (The vowel phonemes /i, u, a/ would then be the syllabic counterparts of /j, w, h/.) Words claimed to have unpredictable syllables include sṃnṃnṃuuc 'mute', smṇmṇcaw '(the fact) that they are children', ksnṃak 'to work', clhmṇalc 'to beget a child' and astsʼḷnak 'to use a basket'.

He also asserts that Nuxalk's syllable structure is unlike other Salishan languages and would be the result of prolonged contact with Oowekyala, from which many obstruent-only roots were borrowed.

Grammar

Typology

Nuxalk is a polysynthetic language with polypersonal agreement. Affix order in transitive events is usually verb–object–subject but verb–subject–object with a 2nd person object.

Events

The first element in a sentence expresses the event of the proposition. It inflects for the person and number of one (in the intransitive paradigm) or two (in the transitive paradigm) participants.

Single-participant event inflections

Person Number	1st	2nd	3rd
sg.	-ts¹²³	-nu¹²³	(-s)¹²³
pl.	-lh¹²/-ilh³	-nap¹²/-ap²³	-naw¹²/-aw²³

The raised numbers refer to three sub-paradigms: stems belonging to sub-paradigm 1 end in a non-nasal sonorant (a, i, u, y, w, l); sub-paradigm 2 stems end in a nasal (m, n); all stems ending in an obstruent belong to sub-paradigm 3. Absence or presence of 3 sg. -s is determined by context (see below), and sub-paradigm 2 -nap/-ap are in free variation, as are sub-paradigm 2 -naw/-aw.

Sub-paradigms

	1 'blow'	2 'capsize'	3 'work'
1sg.	apswats	plikmts	ksnm̠akts
2sg.	apswanu	plikm̠nu	ksnm̠aknu
3sg.	apswa(s)	plikm(s)	ksnm̠ak(s)
1pl.	apswalh	plikmlh	ksnm̠akilh
2pl.	apswanap	plikm̠nap/plikmap	ksnm̠akap
3pl.	apswanaw	plikm̠naw/plikmaw	ksnm̠akaw

As a possessive suffix, nominal -s is compulsory (when the possessor is explicit, it follows the ...-s phrase):

• tsi˯cnas-s̠ 'his wife'
• ti˯tqʼlha-s̠ 'his knife'
• ti˯kwtmts-s̠ Mary 'Mary's husband'
• ti˯alhqulh-s̠ ti˯mants˯tc 'my father's book'

In subordinate clauses, verbal -s is compulsory:

• maaskanmaak˯7iks ska˯tsʼkt-s̠? 'at what time will he arrive?'
• wika˯ks wa˯amats s7apsulh-s̠? 'where does he live?'
• wic˯7itsʼik sklh-s̠ ti˯snx˯tʼayc 'and that's when the sun sets'
• wic txw stlʼap-s̠ 'that's when he went'
• s7aymis sksnm̠ak-s̠ 'he always works'
• kʼcim˯tsʼ stsic-s̠ ilh 'now they saw that it was her'
• anayk tʼayc ska˯tlʼap-s̠ 'he wants to go'
• tlʼiliwa s7mt-s̠ 'he got up fast'
• yalhkayc tʼayc sxs-s̠ 'this one is too fat'
• kaynucs˯ma ska˯putlʼ-s̠ 'maybe he will come tomorrow'

On the inter-sentential level, verbal -s and -Ø ("zero suffix") differ in that -Ø introduces a new topic, while -s links topics. -Ø can be rendered as 'he/she (...)', and -s as '(...), and he/she (...)':

• Smsmayamkits ti˯Qwaxw˯tc n ti˯Tʼuka˯tc. Alh7ay-Ø̠˯kwsu ta˯Tʼuka˯tx ala˯kulhuuts.
  • 'I will tell a story about Raven and Mink. Well, Mink was doing things on a beach.'
• Us7atsyanmaw swntsʼlhtaw. Numawii-Ø̠˯kwʼilutsʼik ta˯Tlʼupana˯tx sputlʼaylaycs c˯a˯pʼwi.
  • 'They boarded the canoe and went halibut-fishing. Eventually, only Cormorant managed to catch some halibut.'
• Lhkwʼmim ta˯qiqti˯tx c˯ta˯tlʼmsta˯tx. Alh7ay-s̠˯tuu ta˯qiqti˯tx slhkwʼmis ta˯tlʼmsta˯tx.
  • 'The young boy was loved by the man. And the young boy, too, loved the man.'
• "Tsqm˯na," tsut˯kwʼitsʼik tʼayc. Tsqm-s̠˯kwtutuu tx.
  • '"Now open your mouth," he then said. And, indeed, he did open his mouth.'

The following are the possible person markers for transitive verbs, with empty cells indications non-occurring combinations and '--' identifying semantic combinations which require the reflexive suffix -tsut- followed by the appropriate intransitive suffix:

Two-participant event inflections

Transitive inflection			Experiencer:
			singular			plural
			1	2	3	1	2	3
Executor:	singular	1	–	-tsinu	-its		-tulhap	-tits
		2	-tscw	–	-icw	-tulhnu		-ticw
		3	-tss	-tst	-is	-tulhs	-tap	-tis
	plural	1		-tulhnu	-ilh	–	-tulhap	-tilh
		2	-tsap		-ip	-tulhp	–	-tip
		3	-tsant	-tst	-it	-tulht	-tap	-tit

E.g. spʼ-is ti-7imlk-tc ti-stn-tc 'the man struck the tree'.

Whether a word can serve as an event is not determined lexically, e.g. 7immllkii-Ø ti-nus7uulx-tc 'the thief is a boy', nus7uulx-Ø ti-qʼs-tc 'the one who is ill is a thief'.

There is a further causative paradigm whose suffixes may be used instead:

Causative paradigm

Transitive inflection			Experiencer:
			singular			plural
			1	2	3	1	2	3
Executor	singular	1	–	-tuminu	-tuts		-tumulhap	-tutits
		2	-tumcw	–	-tucw	-tumulhcw		-tuticw
		3	-tum	-tumt	-tus	-tumulhs	-tutap	-tutis
	plural	1		-tumulhnu	-tulh	–	-tumulhap	-tutilh
		2	-tumanp		-tup	-tumulhp	–	-tutip
		3	-tumant	-tumt	-tut	-tumulht	-tutap	-tutit

This has a passive counterpart:

Passive Causative paradigm

Passive Causative	Singular	Plural
1st Person	-tuminits	-tuminilh
2nd Person	-tumt	-tutap
3rd Person	-tum	-tutim

This may also have a benefactive gloss when used with events involving less activity of their participant (e.g. nuyamlh-tus ti-7imlk-tc ti-7immllkii-tc 'the man made/let the boy sing'/'the man sang for the boy'), while in events with more active participants only the causative gloss is possible. In the later group even more active verbs have a preference for the affix -lc- (implying passive experience) before the causative suffix.

The executor in a transitive sentence always precedes the experiencer. However, when an event is proceeded by a lone participant, the semantic content of the event determines whether the participant is an executor or an experiencer. This can only be determined syntactically if the participant is marked by the preposition 7ulh-, which marks the experience.

Some events are inherently transitive or intransitive, but some may accept multiple valencies (e.g. 7anayk 'to be needy'/'to want [something]').

Prepositions may mark experiencers, and must mark implements. Any participants which are not marked by prepositions are focussed. There are three voices, which allow either the executor, the experiencer, or both to have focus:

• Active voice – neither is marked with prepositions.
• Passive voice – the event may have different suffixes, and the executor may be omitted or marked with a preposition
• Antipassive voice – the event is marked with the affix -a- before personal markers, and the experiencer is marked with a preposition

The affix -amk- (-yamk- after the antipassive marker -a-) allows an implement to have its preposition removed and to be focused. For example:

• nuyamlh-Ø ti-man-tc 7ulh-ti-mna-s-tc c-ti-syut-tc 'the father sang the song to his son'
• nuyamlh-amk-is ti-man-tc ti-syut-tc 7ulh-ti-mna-s-tc 'the father sang the song to his son'

Prepositions

There are four prepositions which have broad usage in Nuxalk:

Prepositions

Prepositions	Proximal	Distal
Stative	c-	7alh-
Active	7ulh-	wiclhh-

Deixis

Nuxalk has a set of deictic prefixes and suffixes which serve to identify items as instantiations of domains rather than domains themselves and to locate them in deictic space. Thus the sentences watsʼ-Ø ti-tlʼikm-tc and ti-watsʼ-Ø ti-tlʼikm-tc, both 'the one that's running is a dog', are slightly different – similar to the difference between the English sentences 'the visitor is Canadian' and 'the visitor is a Canadian' respectively.

The deixis system has a proximal/medial/distal and a non-demonstrative/demonstrative distinction. Demonstratives may be used when finger pointing would be appropriate (or in distal space when something previously mentioned is being referred to).

Proximal demonstrative space roughly corresponds to the area of conversation, and proximal non-demonstrative may be viewed as the area in which one could attract another's attention without raising one's voice. Visible space beyond this is middle demonstrative, space outside of this but within the invisible neighborhood is medial non-demonstrative. Everything else is distal, and non-demonstrative if not mentioned earlier.

The deictic prefixes and suffixes are as follows:

Deictic suffixes

Deictic Suffixes	Proximal		Medial		Distal
	Non-Demon- strative	Demon- strative	Non-Demon- strative	Demon- strative	Non-Demon- strative	Demon- strative
Masculine	-tc	-tʼayc	-lh	-tʼax	-tx	-tax
Feminine	-tsc	-tsʼayc	-lh	-7ilh7aylh	-7ilh	-7ilh
Plural	-ts	-7ats	-lh	-tʼaxw	-txw	-tux

Female affixes are used only when the particular is singular and identified as female; if not, even if the particular is inanimate, masculine or plural is used.

The deictic prefixes only have a proximal vs. non-proximal distinction, and no demonstrative distinction:

Deictic prefixes

Deictic Prefixes	Proximal	Medial and Distal
Masculine	ti-	ta-
Feminine	tsi-	lha- (7ilh-)
Plural	wa-	ta- (tu-)

tu- is used in earlier varieties and some types of narratives, except for middle non-demonstrative, and the variant 7ilh- may be used "in the same collection of deictic space".

While events are not explicitly marked for tense per se, deixis plays a strong role in determining when the proposition is being asserted to occur. So in a sentence like mus-is ti-7immllkii-tc ta-qʼlscw-tʼax 'the boy felt that rope', the sentence is perceived as having a near-past (same day) interpretation, as the boy cannot be touching the rope in middle space from proximal space. However this does not hold for some events, like kʼc 'to see'.

A distal suffix on any participant lends the event a distant past interpretation (before the past day), a medial suffix and no distal suffix lends a near past time, and if the participants are marked as proximal the time is present.

Not every distal participant occurs in past-tense sentences, and vice versa—rather, the deictic suffixes must either represent positions in space, time, or both.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns are reportedly nonexistent but the idea is expressed via verbs that translate as "to be me", etc.

Pronouns	Singular	Plural
1st person	/ʔ/nts	lhmilh
2nd person	/ʔ/inu	lhup
3rd person	tic, tsic	wic

Particles

Particles

Particle	Label	Gloss
kw	Quotative	'he said'
ma	Dubitative	'maybe'
7alu	Attemptive	'try'
tsk	Inferential Dubitative	'I figure'
tsakw	Optative	'I wish/hope'
su	Expectable	'again'
tu	Confirmative	'really'
ku	Surprisative	'so'
lu	Expective	'expected'
a	Interrogative	[yes/no questions]
tsʼ	Perfective	'now'
tsʼn	Imperfective	'now'
kwʼ	Usitative	'usually'
mas	Absolutive	'always'
ks	Individuative	'the one'
lhuu	Persistive	'still, yet'
tuu	Non-contrastive conjunction	'and'
7i...k	Contrastive conjunction	'but'

See also

• Coast Salish languages
• Interior Salish

Bibliography

• Bagemihl, Bruce (1991a). "Syllable Structure in Bella Coola". Proceedings of the North East Linguistics Society. 21: 16–30. hdl:20.500.14394/36612.
• Bhat, D.N.S. (2004). Pronouns. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Hoard, James (1978). "Syllabification in Northwest Indian Languages". In Bell; Bybee-Hooper (eds.). Syllables and Segments. pp. 67–68.
• Davis, Philip W.; Saunders, Ross (1997). A Grammar of Bella Coola. University of Montana Occasional Papers in Linguistics. Vol. 13. Missoula, MT: University of Montana. ISBN 1-879763-13-3.
• Nater, Hank F. (1984). The Bella Coola Language. Mercury Series, Canadian Ethnology Service. Vol. 92. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada.
• Nater, Hank (16 January 2022). "The Nuxalk Language : (lexicon, narratives, grammar)". ScienceOpen Preprints. doi:10.14293/S2199-1006.1.SOR-.PPC20XL.v1.
• Nater, Hank (2024). Reisinger, D. K. E.; Griffin, Laura; Hannon, Ella; Mellesmoen, Gloria; Nederveen, Sander; Oliver, Bruce; Schillo, Julia; Schneider, Lauren; Trotter, Bailey (eds.). Voiceless Words in Bella Coola: Fact vs. Fiction (PDF). ICSNL 59. Papers for the International Conference on Salish and Neighbouring Languages 59. Vancouver, BC. pp. 411–422.

Further reading

• Bagemihl, Bruce (1991b). "Syllable Structure in Bella Coola". Linguistic Inquiry. 22 (4): 589–646. JSTOR 4178744.
• Bagemihl, Bruce (1998). "Maximality in Bella Coola (Nuxalk)". In Czaykowska-Higgins, E.; Kinkade, M. D. (eds.). Salish Languages and Linguistics: Theoretical and Descriptive Perspectives. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 71–98. doi:10.1515/9783110801255.71. ISBN 978-3-11-015492-4.
• Bauer, Laurie (2007). The Linguistics Student's Handbook. Edinburgh.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Davis, Philip W.; Saunders, Ross (1973). "Lexical Suffix Copying in Bella Coola". Glossa. 7: 231–252.
• Davis, Philip W.; Saunders, Ross (1975). "Bella Coola Nominal Deixis". Language. 51 (4): 845–858. doi:10.2307/412696. JSTOR 412696.
• Davis, Philip W.; Saunders, Ross (1976). "Bella Coola Deictic Roots". International Journal of American Linguistics. 42 (4): 319–330. doi:10.1086/465436. S2CID 145541460.
• Davis, Philip W.; Saunders, Ross (1978). "Bella Coola Syntax". In Cook, E.-D.; Kaye, J. (eds.). Linguistic Studies of Native Canada. Vancouver: University of British Columbia. pp. 37–66.
• Davis, Philip W.; Saunders, Ross (1980). Bella Coola Texts. British Columbia Provincial Museum Heritage Record. Vol. 10. Victoria: British Columbia Provincial Museum. ISBN 0-7718-8206-8.
• Forrest, Linda (1994). "The de-transitive clauses in Bella Coola: Passive vs. inverse". In Givón, T. (ed.). Voice and Inversion. Amsterdam: Benjamins. pp. 147–168.
• Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7.
• Montler, Timothy. (2004–2005). (Handouts on Salishan Language Family).
• Nater, Hank F (1977). Stem List of the Bella Coola language. Lisse: Peter de Ridder.
• Nater, Hank F. (1979). "Bella Coola Phonology". Lingua. 49 (2–3): 169–187. doi:10.1016/0024-3841(79)90022-6.
• Nater, Hank F. (1990). A Concise Nuxalk–English Dictionary. Mercury Series, Canadian Ethnology Service. Vol. 115. Hull, QC: Canadian Museum of Civilization. ISBN 0-660-10798-8.
• Newman, Stanley (1947). "Bella Coola I: Phonology". International Journal of American Linguistics. 13 (3): 129–134. doi:10.1086/463942. S2CID 144523894.
• Newman, Stanley (1969). "Bella Coola Grammatical Processes and Form Classes". International Journal of American Linguistics. 35 (2): 175–179. doi:10.1086/465051. S2CID 144321836.
• Newman, Stanley (1969). "Bella Coola Paradigms". International Journal of American Linguistics. 37 (4): 299–306. doi:10.1086/465074. S2CID 143635971.
• Newman, Stanley (1971). "Bella Coola Reduplication". International Journal of American Linguistics. 37: 34–38. doi:10.1086/465133. S2CID 145174080.
• Newman, Stanley (1974). "Language Retention and Diffusion in Bella Coola". Language in Society. 3: 201–214. doi:10.1017/S0047404500004346. S2CID 146414559.
• Newman, Stanley (1976). "Salish and Bella Coola Prefixes". International Journal of American Linguistics. 42 (3): 228–242. doi:10.1086/465418. S2CID 144263124.
• Newman, Stanley (1989). "Lexical Morphemes in Bella Coola". In Key, M. R.; Hoenigswald, H. (eds.). General and Amerindian Ethnolinguistics: In Remembrance of Stanley Newman. Contributions to the Sociology of Language. Vol. 55. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 289–301. ISBN 0-89925-519-1.

External links

• Nuxalk Nation Website
• First Nations Languages of British Columbia Nuxalk page
• Nuxalk bibliography
• Nuxalk information at LanguageGeek.

• UCLA Archive for Bella Coola
• Bella Coola (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)