// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Columbia-Moses language say? It's a dialect.

Moses-Columbia
Moses-Columbia
Columbia-Wenatchi
Nxaʔamxcín
Pronunciation	[n̩xaʔamxət͡ʃín]
Native to	United States
Region	northern Idaho, eastern Washington
Ethnicity	230 Wenatchi, Chelan, Sinkiuse-Columbia, Entiat (2000 census)
Extinct	May 2, 2023, with the death of Pauline Stensgar (Qʷiy̓mátkʷ)
Language family	Salishan Interior Salish Southern Moses-Columbia; ; ;
Dialects	Columbian; Wenatchi;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	col
Glottolog	colu1241
ELP	Columbian
	Columbian is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Moses-Columbia, or Columbia-Wenatchi (in Moses-Columbia: Nxaʔamxcín), is an extinct Southern Interior Salish language, also known as Nxaảmxcín. Speakers traditionally lived in the Colville Indian Reservation.

Classification

Nxaʔamxcín is classified as a member of the Salishan languages, a family of languages spoken throughout the Pacific Northwest. Specifically, Nxaʔamxcín is part of the Southern subgroup of Interior Salish, along with the Okanagan, Salish–Spokane–Kalispel, and Coeur d'Alene languages.^[2]

Dialects

There were four dialects, Moses-Columbia (Sinkiuse, Columbian), Chelan, Entiat, and Wenatchi (Wenatchee). Wenatchi was the heritage language of the Wenatchi, Chelan, and Entiat tribes, Columbian of the Sinkiuse-Columbia.^[2]

History

The language was extensively documented beginning in the 1960s, when there were about 22 speakers left. A language revitalization program began in the 1990s.^[3] Pauline Stensgar, who died on May 2, 2023, at age 96, is reported to have been the last known fully fluent speaker. She helped develop dictionaries and textbooks in the language.^[4]^[3]

Phonology

Phonological inventory of the Columbia-Wenatchi dialect:^[2]

Consonants

Nxaʔamxcín has 41 consonants, as shown below.^[2]

Consonants
		Bilabial	Alveolar			Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Pharyngeal		Glottal
		Bilabial	median	sibilant	lateral	Palatal	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	plain	p	t	ts			k	kʷ	q	qʷ			ʔ
Plosive/ Affricate	glottalized	pʼ	tʼ	tsʼ	tɬʼ		kʼ	kʷ’	qʼ	qʷ’
Fricative				s	ɬ		x	xʷ	χ	χʷ			h
Sonorant	voiceless										ħ	ħʷ
	plain	m	n		l	j		w			ʕ	ʕʷ
	glottalized	mˀ	nˀ		lˀ	jˀ		wˀ			ʕˀ	ʕʷˀ
Trill	plain		r
Trill	glottalized		rˀ

/s/ and /ts/ are "pronounced with tongue blade articluation and resemble [ʃ] and [tʃ], respectively", although this does not apply for the glottalized affricate /tsʼ/.^[2]

Vowels

The three vowels in Moses-Columbia are /i/, /a/, /u/. They are sometimes transcribed as [e]; /i/, [o]; /u/, and [æ]; /a/, and could also tend to sound unstressed, almost as a schwa sound, /ə/.^[2]

Vocabulary

Here is a Nxaʔamxcín sample word

snkɬxwpáw’stn ‘clothesline’^[5]

References

1 2 Moses-Columbia at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
1 2 3 4 5 6 Willet, Marie Louise (2003). A Grammatical Sketch of Nxa'amxcin (Thesis). University of Victoria. hdl:1828/8056.
1 2 https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/fb226a7a-88ed-4b41-a5e1-85ef2d199682/content
↑ Hanlon, James (May 5, 2023). "Last fluent speaker of n̓xaʔm̓xčín̓ language dies at 96". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
↑ Czaykowska-Higgins, Ewa; Willett, Marie Louise (July 1997). "Simple Syllables in Nxaˀamxcín". International Journal of American Linguistics. 63 (3): 385–411. doi:10.1086/466337. ISSN 0020-7071.

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