Tsimshian - An Illustrative Sketch

TSIMSHIAN

BY FRANZ BOAS

§ 1. DISTRIBUTION OF LANGUAGE AND DIALECTS

The Tsimshian (Chimmesyan) is spoken on the coast of northern British Columbia and in the region adjacent to Nass and Skeena rivers. On the islands off the coast the Tsimshian occupy the region southward as far as Milbank sound.

Three principal dialects may be distinguished: The Tsimshian proper, which is spoken on Skeena river and on the islands farther to the south; the Nîsqa′ε, which is spoken on Nass river, and the itkcan (Gyitkshan), which is spoken on the upper course of Skeena river. The first and second of these dialects form the subject of the following discussion. The description of the Tsimshian proper is set off by a vertical rule down the left-hand margin of the pages.

The Tsimshian dialect has been discussed by the writer¹ and by Count von der Schulenburg.² I have also briefly discussed the dialect of Nass river,³ and have published a collection of texts⁴ in the same dialect. References accompanying examples (like 290.2) refer to page and line in this publication; those preceded by ZE refer to a Tsimshian text with notes published by me.⁵

¹ Fifth Report of the Committee on the Northwestern Tribes of Canada (Report of the 59th Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1889, 877–889).

² Dr. A. C. Graf von der Schulenburg, Die Sprache der Zimshīan-Indianer (Brunswick, 1894).

³ Tenth and Eleventh Reports of the Committee on the Northwestern Tribes of Canada (Reports of the 65th and 66th Meetings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1895, 583–586; 1896 586–591).

⁴ Tsimshian Texts (Bulletin 27 of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, 1902).

⁵ Eine Sonnensage der Tsimschian, Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1908, 776–797.

PHONETICS (§§ 2-4)

§ 2. System of Sounds

The phonetic system of the Tsimshian dialects is in many respects similar to that of other languages of the North Pacific coast. It abounds particularly in k-sounds and l-sounds. The informants from whom my material in the Nass river dialect has been gathered used the hiatus frequently, without, however, giving the preceding stop enough strength to justify the introduction of a fortis. A few people from other villages, whom I heard occasionally, seemed to use greater strength of articulation; and there is little doubt that the older mode of pronunciation had a distinct series of strong stops. In the Tsimshian dialect the fortis survives clearly in the t and p; while the ts and k fortis have come to be very weak. I have also observed in this dialect a distinct fortis of the y, w, m, n, and l. In these sounds the increased stress of articulation brings about a tension of the vocal chords and epiglottis, the release of which gives the sound a strongly sonant character, and produces a glottal stop preceding the sound when it appears after a vowel. Thus the fortes of these continued sounds are analogous to the Kwakiutl εy, εw, εm, εn, and εl. Presumably the same sounds occur in the Nass dialect, although they escaped my attention. Differentiation between surd and sonant is difficult, particularly in the velar k series.

The phonetics of Tsimshian take an exceptional position among the languages of the North Pacific coast, in that the series of l stops are missing. Besides the sound corresponding to our l, we find only the ł, a voiceless continued sound produced by the escape of air from the space behind the canine teeth; the whole front part of the mouth being filled by the tip of the tongue, which is pressed against the palate. The Tsimshian dialect has a continued sonant k sound, which is exceedingly weak and resembles the weak medial r, which has almost no trill and is pronounced a little in front of the border of the hard palate. It corresponds to the sound in Tlingit which Swanton (see p. 165) writes , but which I have heard among the older generation of Tlingit distinctly as the same sound as the Tsimshian sound here discussed. With the assumption that it was originally the continued sonant corresponding to of other Pacific Coast languages agrees its prevalent u tinge. I feel, however, a weak trill in pronouncing the sound, and for this reason I have used the symbol r for denoting this sound. In some cases a velar trill appears, which I have written .

In the Nass dialect, liquids (m, n, l) that occur at the ends of words are suppressed. Tongue and lips are placed in position for these sounds, but there is no emission of air, and hence no sound, unless a following word with its outgoing breath makes the terminal sound audible.

The vocalic system of Tsimshian is similar to that of other Northwest Coast languages, with which it has in common the strong tendency to a weakening of vowels. The Tsimshian dialect has no clear a, but all its a’s are intermediate between a and ä. Only after w does this vowel assume a purer a tinge. A peculiarity of the language is the doubling of almost every long vowel by the addition of a parasitic vowel of the same timbre as the principal vowel, but pronounced with relaxation of all muscles.

Following is a tabular statement of the sounds observed in the Nass dialect.

The series of vowels may be rendered as follows:¹

This series begins with the u-vowel with rounded lips and open posterior part of mouth-opening, and proceeds with less protrusion of lips and wider opening of the anterior portion of the mouth to a; then, with gradual flattening of the middle part of the mouth-opening, through e to i.

The system of consonants is contained in the following table:

It is doubtful whether c (English sh) occurs as a separate sound; s seems rather to be pronounced with somewhat open teeth. The sounds g and k take very often a u-tinge. The semi-vowel w is almost always aspirated.

§ 3. Grouping of Sounds and Laws of Euphony

Clustering of consonants is almost unrestricted, and a number of extended consonantic clusters may occur; as, for instance, -ltkut , ppt, qsL, xt , and many others.

Examples are:

a′qLkudet they reached 111.1¹

ā′d’î skuL came 35.1

xs ā eagle 178.10

There are, however, a number of restrictions regulating the use of consonants before vowels. Terminal surd stops and the affricative ts are transformed into sonants whenever a vowel is added to the word.

It seems that single surd stops do not occur in intervocalic position. A number of apparent exceptions, like k’ōpE- SMALL, were heard by me often with sonant, and contain probably in reality sonants.

There are a number of additional intervocalic changes:

Intervocalic changes into y.

Intervocalic changes into w, ō.

Intervocalic x changes into . This last change is not quite regular.

In a few cases l is assimilated by preceding n.

an-hwî′n instead of an-hwî′l 40.6, 7

§ 4. The Phonetic Systems of Nass and Tsimshian

The system of vowels of Tsimshian is nearly the same as that of the Nass dialect, except that the pure a and ā do not occur. The vowels o ō, and e ē appear decidedly as variants of u ū and i ī respectively, their timbre being modified by adjoining consonants.

I have been able to observe the system of consonants of Tsimshian more fully than that of the Nass dialect. It may be represented as follows:

The terminal surd is much weaker than in the Nass dialect, and I have recorded many cases in which the terminal stop is without doubt a sonant:

Before g and k, terminal sonants become surds:

wī-ts!Em-lâ′opgE great cave ES 96.30

nE- ā′itgao his hat ES 90.1

Before t and vowels, the sound remains a sonant:

a′bE . . . to draw water . . . ES 96.10

hē′oldEt . . . many . . . ES 96.14

The fact that some terminal sounds always remain surd shows that in the cases of alternation of surd and sonant the latter must be considered the stem consonant.

Some of the sounds require fuller discussion. It has been stated before that the fortes, as pronounced by the present generation, are not as strong as they used to be and as they are among more southern tribes. The t-series is alveolar, the tip of the tongue touching behind the teeth. The affricatives have a clear continued s-sound, the tip of the tongue touching the upper teeth; while s has a decided tinge of the English sh. It is pronounced with tip of tongue turned back (cerebral) and touching the palate. The teeth are closed. The sound is entirely surd. The nasals m and n are long continued and sonant, even in terminal positions; m! and n! have great tension of oral closure with accompanying tension of glottis and epiglottis. The sound r has been described before. It is entirely absent in the Nass dialect. Bishop Ridley, who prepared the translation of the gospel on which Count von der Schulenburg’s grammar is based, has rendered this sound, which often follows a very obscure î or E, by ū; but I hear distinctly r. Thus, in place of Bishop Ridley’s nūyū (I), I hear n!E′ryu; instead of gūel, gE′rEl; instead of shgū, sgEr. In the Nass dialect, ē or ī takes the place of this sound:

The sound has, however, a close affinity to u, before which it tends to disappear.

płiä′r to tell; płiä′u I tell.

It is suggestive that many u-sounds of Tsimshian are ī or ē in Nass. This may indicate that the u and r in Tsimshian are either a later differentiation of one sound or that a loss of r has occurred in many forms. On the whole, the latter theory appears more plausible.

Examples of this substitution are the following:

In terminal position Tsimshian -Er corresponds to Nass -a , and after long vowels r to .

Examples of r following a long vowel are—

Combined with change of vowels are—

The sound , the continued sonant corresponding to , is heard very often in the middle and at the end of words, as an a′n TREES; but it disappears invariably when the word is pronounced slowly, and takes its place.

The sounds and of the Nass dialect do not occur in the Tsimshian dialect.

The ending of the Nass dialect is generally replaced by i in Tsimshian.

This change is evidently related to the substitution of y for before vowels.

Terminal x of the Nass dialect tends to be displaced by a terminal a.

Here belong also–

Vocalic changes, besides those referred to before in connection with the sound r, occur.

In place of au in Tsimshian we find ē in Nass.

Tsimshian āu is replaced in Nass by âô.

Initial wâ of Tsimshian is sometimes replaced by ō in Nass.

Another very frequent change is that from ā following w to î.

The substitution is, however, not regular,