Pacific Northwest languages
Areal grouping of North American languages
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The Pacific Northwest languages are the indigenous languages of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The Pacific Northwest is the second-most diverse linguistic area, or sprachbund, in North America after California, and depending on the definition used, Pacific Northwest languages form about a dozen distinct language families and include over 50 individual languages. They have numerous shared areal features despite a lack of universal common ancestry, including animacy hierarchies and case markers that cliticize to the end of the word before the noun phrase being marked for case.[1]
They are also well known for their complex phonetic systems, particularly their large number of dorsal obstruents. Tlingit, for example, has a total of 47 consonants, including about 24 different stops and fricatives in the velar, uvular, and glottal areas (as well as five different lateral obstruents but no /l/ in most dialects). Also common in the area are a number of typologically uncommon sounds, such as glottalized sonorants, ejective consonants and pharyngeal consonants. Lillooet, a Salishan language, has ten different glottalized sonorants, seven ejectives at six different places of articulation, including the extremely rare ejective affricates [q͡χʼ] and [q͡χʷʼ], and four pharyngeal approximants.
The linguistic area is centered on the Salishan, Wakashan and Chimakuan families. Some features are also shared with Tsimshianic, Chinookan and Sahaptian languages, as well as Kutenai, a language isolate.
Classification
The classification of Pacific Northwest languages has been debated upon by linguists, with some placing them into macro-families such as Mosan and Penutian and others rejecting these proposals. Because of this controversy and discrepancies between the definition of the language area, between seven and eighteen different language families are represented in the region,[2][3] including several language isolates and more than 50 member languages.[4] The following tree reflects the classification given by Thompson and Kinkade except for not grouping the last five families under Penutian.
- Pacific Northwest languages
- Na-Dené
- Haida[b]
- Tsimshianic
- Maritime Tsimshian
- Nass-Gitksan
- Wakashan
- Northern
- Southern (Nootkan)
- †Chimakuan
- Salishan
- †Chinookan
- Lower Chinook
- Upper Chinook (including Kathlamet)
- †Takelma–Kalapuyan
- †Alsean
- Alsea
- Yaquina
- †Siuslaw[b]
- Siuslaw
- Lower Umpqua
- †Coosan
- Athabaskan languages are found outside the Pacific Northwest, but have a few languages that are included as part of the sprachbund. David Beck includes all Athabaskan languages along the Northwest Coast in the Pacific Northwest language area, including languages that are classified as Northern Athabaskan.[4]
- language isolate
