Oowekyala

Oowekyala
Oowekyala
Ooweekeeno
’Wuik̓ala
Pronunciation	[ʔuwíkʼala]
Region	Northern Central Coast Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Ethnicity	Wuikinuxv people
Native speakers	6 (2014, FPCC)
Language family	Wakashan Northern Heiltsuk–Oowekyala Oowekyala; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	oowe1239
	Map of Wakashan languages

Oowekyala /uːˈwiːkjələ/,^[2] also Ooweekeeno and ’Wuik̓ala in the language itself, is a dialect (or a sublanguage) of Heiltsuk–Oowekyala, a Northern Wakashan language spoken around Rivers Inlet and Owikeno Lake in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, spoken by the Wuikinuxv, whose government is the Wuikinuxv Nation. Its speakers consider it to be a distinct language.

Name

The name of Oowekyala is derived from the root ʔəwik- 'back, inland' and the suffix -kʼala 'speech'. The same root is found in the name of the Wuikinuxv, with the suffix -inuxʷ 'tribe'. An Anglicized form of this name, Oowekeeno, has also been used to designate the language, also spelled Oweekeno, Wikeno, Owikeno, Oweekano, and Awikenox.^[3]^: 1

Classification

Oowekyala is one of the Wakashan languages, a language family distributed in western coastal British Columbia. It belongs to the Northern branch of the family, together with other related languages like Kwakʼwala, Haisla and Heiltsuk. The latter is frequently considered a dialect of the same language as Oowekyala, although speakers consider the two distinct, and there are many phonological and grammatical differences between the two. For example, Heiltsuk is a tonal language, while Oowekyala is not.^[3]^: 1

Phonology

Consonants

Oowekyala has 45 consonantal phonemes, as shown in the table below.^[3]^: 21

		Labial	Alveolar			Velar		Uvular		Glottal
		Labial	central	sibilant	lateral	plain	labial	plain	labial	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	t͡s	t͡ɬ	k	kʷ	q	qʷ
	voiced	b	d	d͡z	d͡l^[4]	ɡ	ɡʷ	ɢ	ɢʷ
	ejective	pʼ	tʼ	t͡sʼ	t͡ɬʼ	kʼ	kʷʼ	qʼ	qʷʼ
Fricative				s	ɬ	x	xʷ	χ	χʷ
Sonorant	short	m	n		l	j	w			ɦ
	glottalized	mˀ	nˀ		lˀ	jˀ	wˀ			ʔ
	long	mː	nː		lː

Phonologically, affricates are treated as stops, and nasals and approximants are treated as sonorants. Additionally, /ɦ/ and /ʔ/ are treated as sonorants.^[3]^: 21

Vowels

Oowekyala has phonemic short, long, and glottalized vowels:^[3]^: 21

	Front			Central			Back
	short	long	glottalized	short	long	glottalized	short	long	glottalized
Close	i	iː	iˀ				u	uː	uˀ
Mid				ə
Open				a	aː	aˀ

Oowekyala is the only Wakashan language with glottalized vowels, which are extremely restricted and can only appear "as the first syllabic sonorant in a word".^[3]^: 53

References

↑ Heiltsuk at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
↑ William C. Sturtevant, 1978. Handbook of North American Indians: Northwest Coast
1 2 3 4 5 6 Howe, Darin Mathew (2009). Oowekyala segmental phonology (Thesis). University Of British Columbia. doi:10.14288/1.0090571.
↑ Not [d͡ɮ]. Howe (2000:24)

Bibliography

Boas, Franz. (1928). Bella Bella texts. Columbia University contributions to anthropology (No. 5).
Boas, Franz. (1932). Bella Bella tales. Memoirs of the American Folklore Society (No. 25).
Hanuse, R., Sr.; Smith, H.; & Stevenson, D. (Eds.) (1983?). The Adjee and the Little Girl. Rivers Inlet, BC: Oowekyala Language Project.
Hilton, Suzanne; & Rath, John C. (1982). Oowekeeno oral traditions. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada.
Howe, Darin. (1998). Aspects of Heiltsuk laryngeal phonology. Ms., University of British Columbia.
Howe, Darin M. (2000). Oowekyala segmental phonology. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Ottawa).
Johnson, S.; Smith, H.; & Stevenson, D. (1983?). What time is it? Rivers Inlet, BC: Oowekyala Language Project.
Johnson, S.; Smith, H.; & Stevenson, D. (1983?). Fishing at Rivers Inlet. Rivers Inlet, BC: Oowekyala Language Project.
Johnson, S.; Smith, H.; & Stevenson, D. (1983?). Qaquthanugva uikala. Rivers Inlet, BC: Oowekyala Language Project.
Johnson, S.; Smith, H.; & Stevenson, D. (1983?). Sisa'kvimas. Rivers Inlet, BC: Oowekyala Language Project.
Johnson, S.; Smith, H.; & Stevenson, D. (1983?). ’Katemxvs ’Wuik’ala. Rivers Inlet, BC: Oowekyala Language Project.
Johnson, S.; Smith, H.; & Stevenson, D. (1984?). Oowekyala words. Rivers Inlet, BC: Oowekyala Language Project.
Lincoln, Neville J.; & Rath, John C. (1980). North Wakashan comparative root list. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada.
Poser, William J. (2003). The status of documentation for British Columbia native languages. Yinka Dene Language Institute Technical Report (No. 2). Vanderhoof, British Columbia: Yinka Dene Language Institute.
Rath, John C. (1981). A practical Heiltsuk-English dictionary. Canadian Ethnology Service, Mercury Series paper (No. 75). Ottawa: National Museum of Man.
Stevenson, David. (1980). The Oowekeeno people: A cultural history. Ottawa, Ontario: National Museum of Man (now Hull, Quebec: Museum of Civilization). (Unpublished).
Stevenson, David. (1982). The ceremonial names of the Oowekeeno people of Rivers Inlet. Ottawa, Ontario: National Museum of Man (now Hull, Quebec: Museum of Civilization). (Unpublished).
Storie, Susanne. (Ed.). (1973). Oweekano Stories. (Special Collections: E99). Victoria: British Columbia Indian Advisory Committee.
Windsor, Evelyn W. (1982). Oowekeeno oral traditions as told by the late chief Simon Walkus, Sr. Hilton, S.; & Rath, J. C. (Eds.). Mercury series (No. 84). Ottawa: National Museum of Man.

External links

The Heiltsuk-Oweek'ala Language
Bibliography of Materials on the Heiltsuk Language
The Wakashan Languages
map of Northwest Coast First Nations (including Oowekyala, shown as "Oowekeeno")

[1] Heiltsuk at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] William C. Sturtevant, 1978. Handbook of North American Indians: Northwest Coast

[:0-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Howe, Darin Mathew (2009). Oowekyala segmental phonology (Thesis). University Of British Columbia. doi:10.14288/1.0090571.

[4] Not [d͡ɮ]. Howe (2000:24)

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