Wakashan languages

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island.

As typical of the Northwest Coast, Wakashan languages have large consonant inventories—the consonants often occurring in complex clusters.

[edit] Family division

Wakashan consists of 7 languages:

I. Northern Wakashan

1. Haisla (a.k.a. Xaʔislak’ala)

2. Kwak'wala (a.k.a. Kwakiutl, spoken by Southern Kwakiutl, Kwakwaka'wakw people)

A. Heiltsuk-Oowekyala (a.k.a. Bella Bella)

3. Heiltsuk

4. Oowekyala

II. Southern Wakashan

5. Makah

6. Nitinaht (a.k.a. Nitinat, Ditidaht, Southern Nootkan)

7. Nuu-chah-nulth (a.k.a. Nootka, Nutka, Aht, West Coast, T’aat’aaqsapa)

[edit] Bibliography