Oowekyala dialect

Oowekyala
Spoken in	Northern Central Coast Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Ethnicity	Wuikinuxv people
Language family	Wakashan Northern Heiltsuk-Oowekyala Oowekyala
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Linguist List	hei-??

Oowekyala (also Wuikala, Rivers Inlet, Wuikenukv, Oweekeno, Wikeno, Owikeno, Oowekeeno, Oweekano, Awikenox, Oowek'yala, Oweek'ala) is a dialect (or a sublanguage) of Heiltsuk-Oowekyala, a Northern Wakashan (Kwakiutlan) language spoken around Rivers Inlet and Owikeno Lake in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, spoken by the Wuikinuxv people, whose government is the Wuikinuxv Nation.

Sounds

Consonants

The 45 consonants of Oowekyala:

		Bilabial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
			central	lateral		plain	labial	plain	labial
Nasal	short	m	n
	long	mː	nː
	glottalized	mˀ	nˀ
Plosive	voiced	b	d			ɡ	ɡʷ	ɢ	ɢʷ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ			kʰ	kʷʰ	qʰ	qʷʰ
	ejective	pʼ	tʼ			kʼ	kʷʼ	qʼ	qʷʼ	ʔ
Affricate	voiced		d͡ʒ	d͡ɮ
	aspirated		t͡sʰ	t͡ɬʰ
	ejective		t͡sʼ	t͡ɬʼ
Fricative	voiced									ɦ
	voiceless		s	ɬ		x	xʷ	χ	χʷ
Approximant	short			l	j		w
	long			lː
	glottalized			lˀ	jˀ		wˀ

Phonologically, affricates are treated as stops, and nasals and approximants are treated as sonorants. Additionally, /ɦ/ and /ʔ/ are treated as sonorants.

Vowels

Oowekyala has phonemic short, long, and glottalized vowels.:

	Front			Central			Back
	short	long	glottalized	short	long	glottalized	short	long	glottalized
Close	i	iː	iˀ				u	uː	uˀ
Mid				ə
Open				a	aː	aˀ

Syllables

Oowekyala, like Nuxálk (Bella Coola), allows long sequences of obstruents, as in the following 7-obstruent word:

[t͡sʼkʷʼχtʰt͡ɬʰkʰt͡sʰ]  'the invisible one here-with-me will be short'   (Howe 2000: 5)

External links

• The Heiltsuk-Oweek'ala Language
• Bibliography of Materials on the Heiltsuk Language
• The Wakashan Languages
• map of Northwest Coast First Nations (including Ooowekyala)

Bibliography

• Boas, Franz. (1928). Bella Bella texts. Columbia University contributions to anthropology (No. 5).
• Boas, Franz. (1932). Bella Bella tales. Memoirs of the American Folklore Society (No. 25).
• Hanuse, R., Sr.; Smith, H.; & Stevenson, D. (Eds.) (1983?). The Adjee and the Little Girl. Rivers Inlet, BC: Oowekyala Language Project.
• Hilton, Suzanne; & Rath, John C. (1982). Oowekeeno oral traditions. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada.
• Howe, Darin. (1998). Aspects of Heiltsuk laryngeal phonology. Ms., University of British Columbia.
• Howe, Darin M. (2000). Oowekyala segmental phonology. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Ottawa).
• Johnson, S.; Smith, H.; & Stevenson, D. (1983?). What time is it? Rivers Inlet, BC: Oowekyala Language Project.
• Johnson, S.; Smith, H.; & Stevenson, D. (1983?). Fishing at Rivers Inlet. Rivers Inlet, BC: Oowekyala Language Project.
• Johnson, S.; Smith, H.; & Stevenson, D. (1983?). Qaquthanugva uikala. Rivers Inlet, BC: Oowekyala Language Project.
• Johnson, S.; Smith, H.; & Stevenson, D. (1983?). Sisa'kvimas. Rivers Inlet, BC: Oowekyala Language Project.
• Johnson, S.; Smith, H.; & Stevenson, D. (1983?). ’Katemxvs ’Wuik’ala. Rivers Inlet, BC: Oowekyala Language Project.
• Johnson, S.; Smith, H.; & Stevenson, D. (1984?). Oowekyala words. Rivers Inlet, BC: Oowekyala Language Project.
• Lincoln, Neville J.; & Rath, John C. (1980). North Wakashan comparative root list. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada.
• Poser, William J. (2003). The status of documentation for British Columbia native languages. Yinka Dene Language Institute Technical Report (No. 2). Vanderhoof, British Columbia: Yinka Dene Language Institute.
• Rath, John C. (1981). A practical Heiltsuk-English dictionary. Canadian Ethnology Service, Mercury Series paper (No. 75). Ottawa: National Museum of Man.
• Stevenson, David. (1980). The Oowekeeno people: A cultural history. Ottawa, Ontario: National Museum of Man (now Hull, Quebec: Museum of Civilization). (Unpublished).
• Stevenson, David. (1982). The ceremonial names of the Oowekeeno people of Rivers Inlet. Ottawa, Ontario: National Museum of Man (now Hull, Quebec: Museum of Civilization). (Unpublished).
• Storie, Susanne. (Ed.). (1973). Oweekano Stories. (Special Collections: E99). Victoria: British Columbia Indian Advisory Committee.
• Windsor, Evelyn W. (1982). Oowekeeno oral traditions as told by the late chief Simon Walkus, Sr. Hilton, S.; & Rath, J. C. (Eds.). Mercury series (No. 84). Ottawa: National Museum of Man.