Lillooet language

Lillooet (/ˈlɪloʊɛt/; Lillooet: St̓át̓imcets / Sƛ̓aƛ̓imxǝc, [ˈʃt͡ɬʼæt͡ɬʼjəmxət͡ʃ]), also Lil’wat, is a Salishan language of the Interior branch spoken by the Stʼatʼimc in southern British Columbia, Canada, around the middle Fraser and Lillooet Rivers. The language of the Lower Lillooet people uses the name Ucwalmícwts,^[2] because St̓át̓imcets means "the language of the people of Sat̓", i.e. the Upper Lillooet of the Fraser River.

Lillooet
St̓át̓imcets, Sƛ̓aƛ̓imxǝc Ucwalmícwts, Lil̓wat7úlmec
Pronunciation	[ˈʃt͡ɬʼæt͡ɬʼjəmxət͡ʃ]
Native to	Canada
Region	British Columbia
Ethnicity	6,670 St̓át̓imc (2014, FPCC)[1]
Native speakers	120
Language family	Salishan Interior Salish Northern Lillooet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	lil
Glottolog	lill1248
ELP	St̓át̓imcets (Lillooet)
Lillooet is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Lillooet is a critically endangered language with around 120 fluent speakers and 393 semi-speakers. In 2022, there was a reported 1092 people learning the language.^[3]

Regional varieties

Lillooet has two main dialects:

• Upper/Northern Lillooet (a.k.a. St̓át̓imcets, Fountain)
• Lower/Southern Lillooet (a.k.a. Lil̓wat7úlmec, Mount Currie)

Upper Lillooet is spoken around Fountain, Pavilion, Lillooet, and neighboring areas. Lower Lillooet is spoken around Mount Currie and neighboring areas. An additional subdialect called "Skookumchuck" is spoken within the Lower Lilooet dialect area, but there is no information available in van Eijk (1981, 1997). A common self-designation used by the bands of the Lower Lillooet River below Lillooet Lake is Ucwalmicwts.

The Clao7alcw ("Raven's Nest") language nest program at Mount Currie, home of the Lil’wat, is conducted in the Lillooet language and was the focus of Onowa McIvor's Master's thesis.^[4]

As of 2014, "the Coastal Corridor Consortium—an entity made up of board members from First Nations and educational partners to improve aboriginal access to and performance in postsecondary education and training— ... [has] developed a Lil’wat-language program."^[5]

Phonology

Consonants

Like other languages of the American Northwest language area, including all Salishan languages, Lillooet has a large consonant inventory with extensive phonemic glottalization. 44 consonants are distinguished at six places of articulation. Every non-fricative consonant can be glottalized; only the glottalized lateral affricate /t͡ɬʼ/ lacks a plain counterpart, although the glottalized counterpart of /t/ has a sibilant release /t͡sʼ/, and the uvular glottalized consonants are affricated. Lillooet's consonant inventory is unusual in lacking a hissing sibilant fricative /s/, hence ⟨s⟩ is used to represent /ʃ/ in the practical orthography.

Analysis of van Eijk (1997)

		Bilabial	Dental			Postalv. /Palatal		Velar		Post- velar		Glottal
			central	lateral	retracted lateral	plain	retracted	plain	labial	plain	labial
Stop	plain	p	t			t͡ʃ	t͡ʂ	k	kʷ	q	qʷ
	glottalized	pʼ	t͡sʼ	t͡ɬʼ				kʼ	kʷʼ	q͡χʼ	q͡χʷʼ	ʔ
Fricative				ɬ		ʃ	ʂ	x	xʷ	χ	χʷ
Nasal	plain	m	n
	glottalized	mˀ	nˀ
Approximant	plain		z	l	l̠	j		ɰ	w	ʕ	ʕʷ	h
	glottalized		zˀ	lˀ	ḻˀ	jˀ		ɰˀ	wˀ	ʕˀ	ʕʷˀ

• Glottalized stops are pronounced as ejective consonants. Glottalized sonorants are pronounced with creaky voice. /nˀ/ = /nʼ/ = [n̰] are all essentially equivalent notation which are often used interchangeably in descriptions of Lillooet.
• The glottalized consonants of Lillooet contrast not only with plain consonants, but also with sequences of consonants and glottal stops. For example, /tisqlawˀa/ "the beaver, the money" (with /wˀ/) contrasts with /tiqʷlawʔa/ "the onion" (with /wʔ/).
• The dental approximants /z, zˀ/ are pronounced alternatively as interdental fricatives [ð, ðˀ] or as dental fricatives [z̪, z̪ˀ], depending on the dialect.
• There are four pairs of retracted and nonretracted consonants (which alternate morphophonemically). Retraction on consonants is essentially velarization, although additionally, nonretracted /t͡ʃ/ is phonetically laminal [t͡ʃ̻] whereas retracted /t͡ʃ̠/ is apical [t͡ʂ̺].
  • /t͡ʃ/ – /t͡ʃ̠/
  • /ʃ/ – /ʃ̠/
  • /l/ – /ḻ/
  • /lˀ/ – /ḻˀ/
• Among the post-velar consonants, the obstruents /q, qʷ, q͡χʼ, q͡χʷʼ, χ, χʷ/ are all post-velar (pre-uvular) [k̠, k̠ʷ, k̠͡x̠ʼ, k̠͡x̠ʷʼ, x̠, x̠ʷ] whereas the approximants [ʕ, ʕʷ, ʕˀ, ʕʷˀ] are either pharyngeal or true uvulars.

Vowels

Lillooet has 8 vowels:

	Front		Central		Back
	non- retracted	retracted	non- retracted	retracted	non- retracted	retracted
High	e ⟨e⟩	ɛ ⟨e̠⟩			o ⟨o⟩	ɔ ⟨o̠⟩
Mid			ə ⟨ə⟩	ʌ ⟨ə̠⟩
Low			ɛ ⟨a⟩	a ⟨a̠⟩

• The phonetic realization of the phonemes are indicated in brackets to the right, though many allophones exist; for example, the realization of /e/ ranges from [e~i], that of /o/ from [o~u], and that non-retracted vowel /a/ from [ɛ~æ]. Vowels in stressed syllables tend to have less central pronunciations compared to their unstressed counterparts. For example, guy̓guy̓túlh 'always sleeping' is underlyingly /ʕojˀʕojˀˈtoɬ/ but is realized as [ʕojˀʕojˀtuɬ], with the stressed /o/ being decentralized.
• All retracted vowels are indicated by a line under the vowel. These retracted vowels alternate morphophonemically.
• Since retracted /e̠/ and non-retracted /a/ can both be pronounced [ɛ], there is often phonetic overlap.

Phonological processes

• Some sequences give rise to an epenthetic /ə/.

Post-velar Harmony (retraction):

• Within roots, all consonant and vowel retracted-nonretracted pairs must be of the same type. That is, a root may not contain both a retracted and a nonretracted vowel or consonant. This is a type of retracted tongue root harmony (also called "pharyngeal harmony") involving both vowels and consonants, an areal feature of this region of North America shared by other Interior Salishan and non-Salishan languages (for example see Chilcotin vowel flattening).
• In addition to the root harmony restriction, some suffixes harmonize with the root to which they are attached. For instance, the inchoative suffix /-wéˀlx/ -wil’c:

ama "good"	/ʔáma/	+ /-wélˀx/	→	/ʔamawélˀx/ [ʔɛmɛwélˀx]	amawíl’c "to get better"
qvl "bad"	/qʌḻ/	+ /-wélˀx/	→	/qʌḻwé̠ḻˀx/ [qaɫwɛ́ɫˀx]	qvḻwíiḻʼc "to get spoiled"

Orthography

There are two orthographies,^[6] one based on Americanist Phonetic Notation that was developed by the Mount Currie School and used by the Lillooet Council, and a modification by Bouchard that is used by the Upper St̓át̓imc Language, Culture and Education Society.^[7] The latter orthography is unusual in that /tɬʼ/ is written ⟨t̓⟩, but it is preferred in many modern Lillooet-speaking communities.^[8]

Phoneme	Orthography
Vowels
/e/	i
/o/	u
/ə/	ǝ	e
/ɛ/	a
/ɛ/	ị	ii
/ɔ/	ụ	o
/ʌ/	ǝ̣	v
/a/	ạ	ao
Consonants
/p/	p
/pʼ/	p’	p̓
/t/	t
/tɬʼ/	ƛ’	t̓
/tʃ/	c	ts
/tʃˠ/	c̣	ṯs̱
/tsʼ/	c’	ts̓
/k/	k
/kʷ/	kʷ	kw
/kʼ/	k’	k̓
/kʷʼ/	k’ʷ	k̓w
/q/	q
/qʷ/	qʷ	qw
/qχʼ/	q’	q̓
/qχʷʼ/	q’ʷ	q̓w
/ʔ/	ʔ	7
/ʃ/	s
/ʃ̠/	ṣ	s̠
/x/	x	c
/xʷ/	xʷ	cw
/χ/	x̌	x
/χʷ/	x̌ʷ	xw
/m/	m
/mˀ/	m’	m̓
/n/	n
/nˀ/	n’	n̓
/ɬ/	ɬ	lh
/z/	z
/zˀ/	z’	z̓
/ɰ/	ɣ	r
/w/	w
/ɰˀ/	ɣ’	r̓
/wˀ/	w’	w̓
/ʕ/	ʕ	g
/ʕʷ/	ʕʷ	gw
/ʕˀ/	ʕ’	g̓
/ʕʷˀ/	ʕ’ʷ	g̓w
/h/	h
/j/	y
/jˀ/	y’	y̓
/l/	l
/ḻ/	ḷ	ḻ
/lˀ/	l’	l̓
/ḻˀ/	ḷ’	l̠̓

Grammar

Lillooet has two main types of words:

1. full words
   1. variable words
   2. invariable words
2. clitics
   1. proclitics
   2. enclitics

The variable word type may be affected by many morphological processes, such as prefixation, suffixation, infixation, reduplication, and glottalization.

Lillooet, like the other Salishan languages, exhibits predicate/argument flexibility. All full words are able to occur in the predicate (including words with typically noun-like meanings such as nk̓yap 'coyote', which in the predicate essentially means 'to be a coyote') and any full word is able to appear in an argument, even those that seem verb-like, such as t̓ak 'go along', which as an independent argument is equivalent to 'one that goes along'.^[9]

Sentence	T̓ak ti nk̓yápa.
Morphemes	t̓ak	ti-	nk̓yap	-a
Gloss	go.along	DET-	coyote	-DET
Parts	Predicate	Subject
Translation	The/a coyote goes along.
Sentence	Nḱyáp ti t̓aka.
Morphemes	nk̓yap	ti-	t̓ak	-a-a
Gloss	coyote	DET-	go.along	-DET
Parts	Predicate	Subject
Translation	The one going along is a coyote.

Reduplication

Lillooet, as is typical of the Salishan family, has several types of reduplication (and triplication) that have a range of functions such as expressing plural, diminutive, aspect, etc.

Initial reduplication:
kl̓ácw	'muskrat'	→	kl̓ekl̓ácw	'muskrats'	Plural
stálhlec	'standing up'	→	státalhlec	'keep standing up'	Continuative	(s- prefix, stem: -tálhlec)
sráp	'tree'	→	srepráp	'trees'	Collective/Plural	(stem: -rap)
snúk̓wa7	'friend/relative'	→	snek̓wnúk̓wa7	'friends/relatives'	Collective/Plural	(stem: -núk̓wa7)
Final reduplication/triplication:
p̓líxw	'boil over'	→	p̓líxwexw	'boiling over'	Ongoing Action
p̓líxw	'boil over'	→	p̓lixwixwíxw	'keep boiling over'	Continuative/Intensive
lhésp	'rash'	→	lhéslhsep	'rash all over'	Collective/Plural	(stem: lhes- with epenthetic e)

A more complicated type of reduplication is the internal reduplication used to express the diminutive. In this case the consonant before a stressed vowel is reduplicated after the stressed vowel and usually the vowel then changes to e (IPA: [ə]). Examples are below:

Internal reduplication:
naxwít	'snake'	→	naxwéxwt	'worm'	(naxwé-xw-t)
sqáxa7	'dog'	→	sqéqxa7	'pup'	(sqé-q-xa7)
sqláw̓	'beaver'	→	sqlélew̓	'little beaver'	(sqlé-l-ew̓)	epenthetic e

More than one reduplicative process can occur in a given word:

		Diminutive		Plural+Diminutive
sqáxa7	'dog'	sqéqxa7	'pup'	sqexqéqxa7	'pups'
s-qáxa7		s-qé-q-xa7		s-qex-qé-q-xa7

Lillooet has several other variants of the above types. Reduplication is further complicated by consonant glottalization (see van Eijk (1997) for details).

Mood and modality

The subjunctive mood appears in nine distinct environments, with a range of semantic effects, including:

• weakening an imperative to a polite request,
• turning a question into an uncertainty statement,
• creating an ignorance free relative.

Unlike Indo-European equivalents, the Lillooet subjunctive is not selected by attitude verbs.

Lillooet has a complex system of subject and object agreement. There are different subject agreement paradigms for transitive vs. intransitive predicates. For intransitive predicates, there are three distinct subject paradigms, one of which is glossed as 'subjunctive' by van Eijk (1997) and Davis (2006)

Sample text

The following is a portion of a story in van Eijk (1981:87) told by Rosie Joseph of Mount Currie.

Lillooet:

Nilh aylh lts7a sMáma ti húz̓a qweqwl̓el̓tmínan. N̓as ku7 ámlec áku7 tsípunsa. Nilh t̓u7 st̓áksas ti xláka7sa. Tsicw áku7, nilh t̓u7 ses wa7, kwánas et7ú i sqáwtsa. Wa7 ku7 t̓u7 áti7 xílem, t̓ak ku7 knáti7 ti pú7y̓acwa. Nilh ku7 t̓u7 skwánas, lip̓in̓ás ku7. Nilh ku7 t̓u7 aylh stsuts: "Wa7 nalh aylh láti7 kapv́ta!" Nilh ku7 t̓u7 aylh sklhaka7mínas ku7 láti7 ti sqáwtsa cwilhá k̓a, nao7q̓ spawts ti kwanensása...

International Phonetic Alphabet:

/neɬ ɛjɬ lt͡ʃʔɛ ˈʃmɛmɛ te ˈhozˀɛ qʷəqʷlˀəlˀtˈmenɛn. nˀɛʃ koʔ ˈɛmləx ˈɛkoʔ ˈt͡ʃeponʃɛ. neɬ t͡ɬʼoʔ ˈʃt͡ɬʼɛkʃɛʃ te ˈχlɛkɛʔʃɛ. t͡ʃexʷ ˈɛkoʔ neɬ t͡ɬʼoʔ ʃəʃ ɣʷɛʔ ˈkʷɛnɛʃ ətˈʔo e ˈʃqɛwt͡ʃɛ. wɛʔ koʔ t͡ɬʼoʔ ˈɛteʔ ˈχeləm t͡ɬʼɛk koʔ ˈknɛteʔ te ˈpoʔjˀɛxʷɛ. neɬ koʔ t͡ɬʼoʔ ˈʃkʷɛnɛʃ lepʼenˀˈɛʃ koʔ. neɬ koʔ t͡ɬʼoʔ ɛjɬ ʃt͡ʃot͡ʃ wɛʔ nɛɬ ɛjɬ ˈlɛteʔ kɛˈpʌtɛ neɬ koʔ t͡ɬʼoʔ ɛjɬ ʃkɬɛkɛʔˈmenɛʃ koʔ ˈlɛteʔ te ˈʃqɛwt͡ʃɛ xʷeɬˈɛ kʼɛ naʔqχʼ ʃpɛwt͡ʃ te kʷɛnənˈʃɛʃɛ/

English translation:

This time it is Máma I am going to talk about. She went that way to get some food from her roothouse. So she took along her bucket. She got there, and she stayed around, taking potatoes. She was doing that, and then a mouse ran by there. So she grabbed it, she squeezed it. So she said: "You get all squashed now!" So she opened her hand and she let go of what turned out to be a potato, it was a rotten potato that she had caught...