Language contact
What happens when languages come into contact?
bilingualism
diglossia
etc.
Areal linguistics
Grammatical or lexical features shared by a group of
languages can be due to:




Chance
Universal Grammar
Geographical proximity ("areal linguistics")
Genetics (“historical linguistics”)
Similarities due to chance
 Irish duine 'man'
 Navajo diné 'man'
Similarities due to UG:
 All spoken languages have consonants and vowels.
 All languages have nouns and verbs.
Similarities due to geographical proximity (‘areal
linguistics’):
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 Clicks in south African Bantu languages (e.g. Zulu,
Zhosa, S. Sotho, Yeyi) < Khoisan
 Retroflex consonants in Indo-European languages <
Dravidian
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The Pacific Northwest Coast
‘stock’ (Nichols 1990) ‘the oldest grouping reachable by
application of the standard comparative method’ (e.g.
Indo-European)
‘family’ ‘first order split’ (within a stock) (e.g. Germanic,
Celtic)
Northwest language families and stocks
Salish stock
Bella Colla (language)
Main body of Salish (family)
Coast division
Tillamook (language)
Central
Tsamosan division
Inland
Maritime
Interior Division
Northern
Southern
Wakashan stock
Kwakiutlan (N. Wakashan) family
Haisla (Kitamat, Xa'isla)
Heiltsuk (Bella Bella)
Kwakw(')ala (Kwakiutl)
Nootkan (S. Wakashan) family
Nootka (Westcoast)
Nitina(h)t (Nuuchahnulth, T'aat'aaqsapa)
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Makah
Chimakuan stock
Chimakum/Chemakum
Quileute
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Na-Dene stock (5-6000 years)
Tlingit
Athabaskan-Eyak stock
Haida (isolate)
Penutian “superstock”
Tsimshian
Chinookan
Klamath-Sahaptian
Klamath
Sahaptian
Nez Perce
Sahaptin
Oregon Penutian
California Penutian
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Genetic density (diversity) in the Pacific NW
Genetic density (Nichols 1992): “the ratio of genetic
lineages to square miles in an area"
Areas of the world with the greatest genetic density:
New Guinea and adjacent insular Melanesia
west coast of North America
southeastern U.S.
Mesoamerica
northern Australia
Thompson and Kinkade (1990):
Pacific NW was the 2nd most diverse area of aboriginal N.
America (after California)
Jacobsen (1989): approximately 92 families in N. America
66 are located to the west of the Rockies
45 are located in the "Pacific strip"
(Goddard 1996: 62 families)
Language families of N. America which exhibit great
western diversity relative to eastern homogeneity:
Na-Dene
Algic
Eskimo-Aleut
Salish
Sahaptian
Uto-Aztecan
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Pacific NW areal phenomena
Phonology
 Richly developed consonantal systems
Generalized “Northwest Coast consonant inventory” (51
consonants)
p p’
b
(f)
m
m’
t t’
d
(’
)
n
n’
ts
ts’
dz
s
k k’ kw q q’
g
kw’ G
gw
x
xw 
qw 
qw’
Gw


t
t’
d

w 
h
l
l’
j
j’

w
w’
tl
tl’
dl

’
Consonant inventories in UPSID (Maddieson 1984)
Range: 6-95
Mean: 23
English: 24 consonants
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 Glottalized stops/affricates vs. non-glottalized, glottal
stop
 Velar vs. uvular contrasts (everywhere but Takelman,
Oregon Athabaskan)
 Labialized vs. unlabialized velar and uvular contrasts
(everywhere but Haida)
 Relatively few (Eyak, Athabaskan, Haida) or no (Tlingit,
Tillamook) labials; /w/ patterns with labio-velars rather
than labials; no labial fricatives
 One or two series of coronal sibilant affricates
 Multiple laterals: /l  tl’/ (may lack /l/); no // in
Takelma; no /tl’/ in Takelma, Kalapuyan and Coast
Tsimshian
 Relatively few (average 3 or 4, up to 6) distinctively
different vowels (typically /i u a /)
Vowel inventories in UPSID:
Range: 3-24
Mean: 9
English: 13-15 vowels
5 vowels: 22%
6 vowels: 14%
7 vowels: 11%
9 vowels: 9%
8 vowels: 8%
12 vowels: 6%
3 vowels: 6%
10 vowels: 5%
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Morphology of Pacific NW languages




Predominantly polysynthetic
Complex morphophonemics
Reduplication (but absent in Na-Dene, Haida)
Aspectual rather than tense distinctions
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Subareas
1. Eyak-Tlingit-Haida-Athabaskan
 no labial consonants
 shape based noun classificatory systems
 SOV word order
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2. Nasalless languages
 Makah and Nitinat (Wakashan)
 Quileute (Chimakuan)
 Lushootseed and Twana (Salish)
Also reduced inventory of nasals in nearby languages:
 Halkomelem (certain dialects): only /m/ (*n > /l/)
 Comox: /m n/~[b d]
Marginal forms with nasals in Lushootseed (Bates, Hess
and Hilbert 1994):
1. ‘small’ and diminutives.
 ‘small’ /bibad/, /mímad/, /míman’/, /mímn/
 ‘group of small items’ /máman/
 In baby talk forms of diminutives, voiced stops may be
replaced with nasals.
2. /nsúkm/ ‘west side of Miller Bay’
3. In myths, ritual sayings, prayers, and songs, certain
characters regularly replace voiced stops with nasals:
b d g gw --> m n  w
[mná]: [bdá] ‘child’ as pronounced by Raven
[ni]: [di] ‘this one’ as pronounced by Raven
[ni t]: [di t] ‘that’s the one’ as pronounced by
Crow’s seagull slaves
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Summary
 Pacific NW was an area of great genetic diversity at time
of contact.
 Phonological and morphological features can be
identified that make this a linguistic area.
 Subareas can also be identified.
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References
Bates, Dawn, Thom Hess, and Vi Hilbert (1994)
Lushootseed Dictionary. Seattle: University of
Washington Press.
Jacobsen, William H. (1989) The Pacific Orientation of
Western North American Languages. Presented at
Circum-Pacific Prehistory Conference, Seattle, WA.
Maddieson, Ian (1984) Patterns of Sounds. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Nichols, Johanna (1992) Linguistic Diversity in Space and
Time. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Shipley, William (1978) Native Languages of California.
California, ed. by Robert Heizer. (Handbook of N.
American Indians, 8.) Washington DC: Smithsonian.
80-90.
Thompson, Laurence and Dale Kinkade (1990) Languages.
Northwest Coast, ed. by Wayne Suttles. (Handbook of
N. American Indians, 7.) Washington DC:
Smithsonian. 30-51.
Thompson, Laurence and Terry Thompson (1972)
Language Universals, Nasals and the Northwest
Coast. Studies in Linguistics in Honor of George
Trager, ed. by M. Estellie Smith. The Hague: Mouton.
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