A Concise Dictionary Of The Nuuchahnulth Language Of Vancouver Island (Native American Studies)

by John T. Stonham

Series:Native American Studies (17)

Description

This is the first published dictionary of the Nuuchahnulth language of Vancouver Island, based primarily upon the Tsishaath variety and supplemented by material from a number of other dialects of the language. Nuuchahnulth is the preferred term for a group of First Nations peoples occupying the West Coast of Vancouver Island from Port Renfrew to Cape Cook. The traditional European name applied most commonly to both the people and the language is Nootka, although there have been notable show more exceptions, such as the use of the term Aht (adapted from the suffix - 'ath 'people of...') used by Knipe 1868 in his early description of the grammar of the language. Note should be taken of the distinction between the linguistic use of Nuuchahnulth, referring to the group of dialects north of Bamfield on the west coast and the socio-political use of the term, which extends to the Ditidaht and Pacheedaht bands south from Bamfield to Port Renfrew, who speak a distinct language. This dictionary is a first attempt at providing a detailed account of the lexicon of the Nuuchahnulth language, complete with examples and grammatical information. Prior to this there have been a number of short wordlists (e.g glossaries (e.g. Knipe 1868, Sapir & Swadesh 1939), but there has been no full dictionary with detailed grammatical information and examples published. Dictionaries are always works-in-progress and this one is no different: it will hopefully provide a foundation upon which to build ever more complete entries of each word of the language. The entries for this dictionary are based on data from a number of sources. The principal source for examples are the fieldnotes gathered by Edward Sapir between 1910 and 1922, principally in the Tsishaath variety, but including material from Clayoquot, Hupachasath, and Ucluelet varieties. Additional fieldnotes from Morris Swadesh in the late 1940s and my own fieldnotes since the 1980s were also consulted. Supplementing this material are forms from a number of additional sources, cited in the References at the end of the dictionary, but notably the chapter by St. Claire in Arima 1991 on Nuuchahnulth placenames, which provides detailed information on local placenames. 1982, and FNP 1995 on ethnobotany and ethnozoological terms, Rose 1981 on the Kyuquot dialect, and Drucker 1951 on ethnographical information. Sources are not cited for each entry and example, as this would have increased the length, and hence the cost, of the dictionary inordinately, but every effort has been made to provide full references to the sources. The dictionary is separated into two main parts: (1) a Nuuchahnulth-English dictionary, consisting of over 7,000 main entries with examples and detailed grammatical information, and (2) an English-Nuuchahnulth glossary, containing some 8,500 entries consisting of English headwords with their Nuuchahnulth equivalents and a marker of part of speech. Following the main body of the dictionary are several appendices, including an outline of the inflectional paradigms, an index of placenames derived from St. Claire 1991, and a list of references. In setting up the structure of entries, a number of issues were taken into consideration. First, headwords include roots, affixes and extended words, which include compounds, with specialised meanings. in part of speech, so there may be entries under several part of speech categories and a number of different senses. Roots may have bound forms, which are used in combination with derivational suffixes, noted in the dictionary by means of the label Variant followed by the bound form. Affixes, mainly suffixes with a handful of infixes, are more regular in terms of part of speech category, but may have several different senses and uses. A further important aspect of suffixes is the effect they may have upon the bases to which they attach. Sapir & Swadesh 1939 and Stonham 1999, among others, discuss this in more detail, so I will simply state here that a number of abbr show less