This exerpt is from the W̓uik̓ala story Nuùwaqawaxthayax̌i, found in the book Owekeeno Oral Traditions. “Waìxsiənc laàlis la tx̌as Nùxvənc,” n̓ìxl̓i x̌ìx̌apkvax̌i. “Wà k̓ci laàx̌is la qux̌vcx̌v 'ǎəl'xvstuùn̓usəlayac w̓àx̌bis,” wa li n̓ìxsuw̓ilas 'ǎuə̀mpasi, Nuùwaqawa. Nìlhasul̓ax̌at̓a, “Bàxvbakvalan̓usiwaxtha 'ǎəl'xvstuùn̓usəlaya w̓àx̌bis.” Gi dhuw̓əla' n̓ìxsul̓a,...
W̓uik̓ala Text W̓uik̓ala is a Northern Wakashan language closely related to Heiltsuk, and is spoken at Rivers Inlet and Owikeno lake on the west coast of British Columbia. The writing system is the same as one of the versions of Heiltsuk....
Heiltsuk (ISO 639-3 hei) is a northern Wakashan language spoken mid-way up the Pacific coast of British Columbia. The writing system presented here is based on the practical orthography as shown in Rath 1981. The current form is used in Kitasoo and Bella Bella,...
This Diidiitidq excerpt is from a story told by Kʷiistux̣ (Charlie Jones Sr.) to Bernice Naʕłna Touchie in 1977. Appearing in IJAL’s North West Coast Texts, it is entitled “Stealing Daylight”. In the current orthography, initial letters are typically left un-capitalised even when beginning a...
Diidiitidq Text The Diidiitidq language (ISO 639-3 noo) is spoken in and around the south-western tip of Vancouver Island. It is a southern Wakashan language closely related to Nuučaan̓uł and Makah. An English term for the language and people is often...
This X̄a'islak̓ala story, Báxʷbakʷalanusiwa was told by Gordon Robinson. I present it here in three versions, the Community orthography, Vink's orthography, and the original one primarily geared towards linguists which includes non-alphabetic symbols indicating the grammatical relationship between words and phonetic information. It...
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...
Below is the first two paragraphs of a narration which can be found at the beginning of a collection of texts compiled by Edward Sapir and Morris Swadesh. Modern Nuučaan̓uł orthography follows quite closely to that found in the text. The differences:...
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...
This excerpt from a Kwak̕wala text was narrated by a Da̱'naxda'x̱w man, Wetłax̱a̱'as (Jack Peters), and it relates events at Knight Inlet. This story was taken from “Kwakwa̱ka̱'wakw Settlements”, and it is written in the U'mista standard orthography as it appears...