Nuučaan̓uł / Nuu-chah-nulth

Nuučaan̓uł text

Nuučaan̓uł (ISO 639-3 noo shared with Diidiitidq) is a southern Wakashan language spoken in the south-western section of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It is closely related to Diidiitidq and Makah.

The usual Nuučaan̓uł orthography follows the Americanist linguistics tradition, with the goal of “one letter, one sound”, including some rather complicated letters, like č̓, and some unfamiliar ones: ʕ ƛ.

The Canadian Census counts 560 people with knowledge of Nuučaan̓uł in 2016, up from from 505 in 2001. According to Howe and Cook, there are 200 speakers.

Nuučaan̓uł Consonants

Americanist Orthography

	bilabial	alveolar	alveolar affricate	palato-alveolar	lateral	velar	velar rounded	uvular	uvular rounded	pharyngeal	glottal
voiced stop	(b)	(d)									ʔ
voiceless stop	p	t	c	č	ƛ	k	kʷ	q	qʷ
ejective stop	p̓	t̓	c̓	č̓	ƛ̓	k̓	k̓ʷ	(q̓)	(q̓ʷ)
voiceless fricative			s	š	ł	x	xʷ	x̣	x̣ʷ	ḥ	h
nasal / resonant	m	n		y	(l)	ŋ	w			ʕ
glottalised	m̓	n̓		y̓	(l̓)		w̓

Nuučaan̓uł Vowels

Americanist Orthography

	front	central	back
high	i – ii		u – uu
mid	e – ee		(o – oo)
low		a – aa

Notes for Nuučaan̓uł

1. Doubling the vowel indicates the sound is held for a longer duration. This may also be represented with a colon or a single raised dot: a: for aa, e· for ee, etc.
2. Letters in parentheses are either rare or appear in loan words.
3. I have seen no examples of a capital letter for either λ or ƛ. Where this letter should be capitalised, I have only seen its lowercase form. An upside-down capital Y as occurs elsewhere in the region in different languages.
4. There are a few words which may contain q̓ and q̓ʷ: q̓aanaƛ̓a ‘wolf’, q̓ałšiƛ ‘quarrel’, q̓ʷaayiƛ̓imʔatḥ, q̓ʷalisic.

No:cha:n’ol Consonants

Orthography in Sa:ya:ch'apis and To:tism 2007

	bilabial	alveolar	alveolar affricate	palato-alveolar	lateral	velar	velar rounded	uvular	uvular rounded	pharyngeal	glottal
voiceless stop	p	t	ts	ch	tl	k	kw	q	qw		ʔ
ejective stop	p'	t'	c'	ch'	tl'	k'	kw'	q'	qw'
voiceless fricative			s	sh	l	x	xw	x̱	x̱w	ẖ	h
nasal / resonant	m	n		y			w			ʔ̱
glottalised	m'	n'		y'			w'

No:cha:n’ol Vowels

Orthography in Sa:ya:ch'apis and To:tism 2007

	front	central	back
high	i – i:
high-mid			o – o:
low-mid	e – e:		o̱ – o̱:
low		a – a:

Notes for No:cha:n’ol

1. This revised orthography appears in the recent edition of Sa:ya:ch'apis and To:tisim's telling of The Origin of the Wolf Ritual as recorded by E. Sapir between 1910 and 1923. It is not Sapir's original method of transcription. I am not aware if it is currently in use in a speaking community.

Nuuchaan̓ulh Consonants

Bouchard Orthography

	bilabial	alveolar	alveolar affricate	palato-alveolar	lateral	velar	velar rounded	uvular	uvular rounded	pharyngeal	glottal
voiceless stop	p	t	ts	ch	tl	k	kw	ḵ	ḵw		7
ejective stop	p'	t'	ts'	ch'	tl'	k'	kw'	ḵ'	ḵw'
voiceless fricative			s	sh	lh	x	xw	x̱	x̱w	ẖ	7̱
nasal / resonant	m	n		y			w
glottalised	m̓	n̓		y̓			w̓

Nuuchaan̓ulh Vowels

Bouchard Orthography

	front	central	back
high	i – ii		u – uu
mid	e – ee		(o – oo)
low		a – aa

Notes for Nuuchaan̓ulh

1. This orthography was proposed by Randy Bouchard and presented in Ellis and Swan 1981. Bouchard's orthography follows the common system he has proposed for many British Columbia languages