X̄a'islak̓ala Text
X̄a'islak̓ala or Haisla (ISO 639-3 has) is a Wakashan language spoken on the British Columbia mainland around the Douglas Channel, across from the Queen Charlotte Islands. There are two main dialects spoken, Kitamaat and Kitlope.
I have come across at least three writing systems for Haisla. The first is used by the community as shown on the Wisenis Haislakala site. The second is a system developed by, I believe, by Hein Vink, and it closely resembles the community orthography. The third is the orthography as given in Lincoln and Rath 1986 (L&R).
The Canadian Census counts 175 people with knowledge of Haisla in 2016. According to Howe and Cook, there are 200 speakers.
X̄a’islak̓ala Consonants
Community Orthography
| bilabial | alveolar | alveolar affricate | lateral | velar (y‑offglide) | velar rounded | uvular | uvular rounded | glottal |
voiceless stop | b | d | z | λ | g | gʷ | ḡ | ḡʷ | ' |
aspirated stop | p | t | c | ƛ | k | kʷ | q | qʷ | |
ejective stop | p̓ | t̓ | c̓ | ƛ̓ | k̓ | k̓ʷ | q̓ | q̓ʷ | |
voiceless fricative | | | s | ɫ | x | xʷ | x̄ | x̄ʷ | h |
nasal / resonant | m | n | | l | y | w | | | |
glottalized | m̓ | n̓ | | l̓ | y̓ | w̓ | | | |
syllabic n/r | em | en | | el | (i) | (u) | | | (a) |
glottalized syllabic n/r | em̓ | en̓ | | el̓ | 'i | 'u | | | 'a |
X̄a’islak̓ala Vowels
Community Orthography
| front | central | back |
high | i | | u |
mid | | e | |
low | | a | aa (long) |
X̄a’ʼislak̓ala Consonants
Vink's Orthography
| bilabial | alveolar | alveolar affricate | lateral | velar (y‑offglide) | velar rounded | uvular | uvular rounded | glottal |
voiceless stop | b | d | z | dh | g | gᵒ | ḡ | ḡᵒ | ʼ |
aspirated stop | p | t | c | th | k | kᵒ | q | qᵒ | |
ejective stop | p̓ | t̓ | c̓ | t̓h | k̓ | k̓ᵒ | q̓ | q̓ᵒ | |
voiceless fricative | | | s | lh | x | xᵒ | x̄ | x̄ᵒ | h |
nasal / resonant | m | n | | l | y | w | | | |
glottalized | m̓ | n̓ | | l̓ | y̓ | w̓ | | | |
X̄a’ʼislak̓ala Vowels
Vink's Orthography
| front | central | back |
high | i | | u |
low | | a | |
X̌àh̓isl̩ak̓ala Consonants
Lincoln & Rath
| bilabial | alveolar | alveolar affricate | lateral | velar (y‑offglide) | velar rounded | uvular | uvular rounded | glottal |
voiceless stop | b | d | z | λ | g | gʷ | ǧ | ǧʷ | |
aspirated stop | p | t | c | ƛ | k | kʷ | q | qʷ | |
ejective stop | p̓ | t̓ | c̓ | ƛ̓ | k̓ | k̓ʷ | q | q̓ʷ | |
voiceless fricative | | | s | ɬ | x | xʷ | x̌ | x̌ʷ | |
nasal / resonant | m | n | | l | y | w | | | h |
glottalized | m̓ | n̓ | | l̓ | y̓ | w̓ | | | h̓ |
syllabic n/r | m̩ | n̩ | | l̩ | i | u | | | a |
glottalized syllabic n/r | m̩̓ | n̩̓ | | l̩̓ | i̓ | u̓ | | | a̓ |
Notes
- In one analysis (L&R), the vowels /i/, /u/, and /a/ are considered to be syllabic counterparts to /y/, /w/, and /'/.
- Stress is marked with an acute accent á, In L&R a grave accent à, and in Vink with a straight quote mark '.
- There are two digraphs 〈au〉 [ɔ] and 〈ai〉 [ɛ]—in Vink these are 〈e〉 and 〈o〉.