Shuswap language

Northern Interior Salish indigenous language of Canada

Many Indigenous languages, like Secwepemctsín, experienced rapid decline with the institution of the residential schools. These schools prohibited the use of Indigenous languages in speech and in writing, resulting in two to three generations of students who were severely punished for not using English. Although some children forced to attend these residential schools can still speak their mother tongue, they have experienced much trauma which has great negative consequences on the future generations. After residential schools were shut down, Aboriginal children entered the mainstream schooling system which is dominated by English. Inter generational transmission of Indigenous languages was severely disrupted due to the dominance of English in education and in the workplace. This further contributed to the drastic decline of Indigenous languages. For example, the number of fluent speakers of Secwepemctsín had dwindled to 3.5 per cent by the mid 1990s. The First Voices website has a Secwepemctsin (Eastern Dialect) Community Portal, a Secwepemc Community Portal, and a Splatsin (Eastern dialect) Community Portal for language learning. A November 2012 article estimated about 150 fluent speakers, mostly over 65, adding that "an estimated 400 students are learning the language, and "the majority of Secwepemctsin learners are under age 19." Secwépemc language applications are available for iOS. The Secwepemc Cultural Education Society released Nintendo DSi software in 2013 that teaches Secwepemctsin to young children. A language authority of ten elder fluent speakers, from East, West, and the North, are recording pronunciation. as of 2013, a language tutor was also in preparation, exportable onto CD for use offline. David Lacho, a University of British Columbia master's student, developed an augmented reality storybook app called Tuwitames, available on the Apple App Store, to help people learn the Splatsin dialect of Secwepemctsín in support of the community’s language revitalization initiatives. A cseyseten (language nest) at Adams Lake is conducted entirely in the Secwepemc language. A language nest program in Secwepemctsín also takes place with the Splatsin Tsm7aksaltn (Splatsin Teaching Centre) Society where the grandmothers (kikia7a) interact with and teach the children. On January 21, 2013, Thompson Rivers University began offering a Secwepemctsín language class taught by fluent speaker Janice Billy.

The Shuswap language has many consonants which the Roman alphabet is typically not used to represent. Two systems of representing Shuswap sounds are in use. One is the system used in Kuipers’ 298 page monograph on the language. It uses some letters which are not part of the Roman alphabet. The other system is based on one devised by Randy Bouchard of the British Columbia Language Project. It is based entirely on the Roman alphabet. The one exception is the symbol 7, which is used to represent a glottal stop. The Bouchard style system appears to be the one in use among Shuswap people themselves. Aside from the different symbols used, other differences exist between the two systems. The Kuipers’ system makes extensive use of automatic alternations. For example, the letter n is sometimes pronounced , sometimes , and sometimes The choice of pronunciation is based on automatically applied rules. The reader is expected to know these rules. The rules cover three classes of changes: (1) automatic darkening of vowels (Non automatic darkening of vowels is covered under Phonological Processes. ), (2) automatic alternation of sonorants between consonantal and vocalic pronunciation, and (3) alternation of plain velars, uvulars, and laryngeals with the corresponding rounded sounds. The Bouchard style system does not appear to require the reader to know so many alternation rules. Examples of words written in the Bouchard style can be seen on two websites. These websites do not contain enough examples to show how all the automatic alternations are handled in the Bouchard style system. Therefore the Kuipers’ system of spelling is used in this article.

Kuipers (1974) uses the alphabet shown in the Phonology section. The Shuswap Language Department uses a different alphabet:

A Shuswap word consists of a stem, to which can be added various affixes. Very few words contain two roots. Any stressed root can have an unstressed alternative, where the vowel is replaced by [ə]. Most roots have the form CVC or CC (the latter only if unstressed). Other roots are CVCC or CCVC. Suffixes begin either with a stressed vowel (dropped in forms where the root is stressed) or a consonant. Prefixes generally have the form C or CC .

Stress in Shuswap is not very prominent, and occurs only in longer words. Since and are always stressed and never is, stress is usually fairly simple to predict.

Nouns and verbs appear in for different forms, depending on their syntactic surroundings. The plain form: nouns and intransitive verbs, conjugated for person. Additionally, a distinction is made between object centered and subject centered words; compare [l m wiwktn] "the one I saw" with [l m wiwkcms] "the one that saw me." The suffixal form: for intransitive verbs, and also transitive verbs and nouns (third person singular only). This form is sometimes optional and sometimes obligatory. Examples of use include as an imperative substitute ([xwislxəx° wl meʔ kicx k], "run till you get there") and in "if" and "when" sentences ([l twiwtwn], "when I grew up"). The nominalized form: for nouns and intransitive verbs. A nominalized intransitive verb refers to the goal object of the action, as in [yʔen t’ sq°iʔq°e l nstix°C’e l pəxyewtəs] "this is the groundhog I shot yesterday." Nominalization is also used in questions, either yes or no or introduced with "what". The ʔs form: refers to a fact, with overtones of goal directedness. For example: [cuct kn ʔnsʔiʔλn] "I want to eat."

The word kokanee, a type of salmon, comes from Shuswap.