The Languages of Native North America

Tsimshianic family 525

TSIMSHIANIC FAMILY

Maritime = Tsimshian = Lower Tsimshianic: Coast Tsimshian - Tsihsmiah

proper = Sm'algyaXy Southern Tsimshian = Sgiiiij^
Interior = Nass-Gitksan: Nisqa'a = Nisga'a = Nisgha = Nishga = Nisha = Nass,
Gitksan = Gitksanimx (Eastern, Western)

Languages of the Tsimshianic family are spoken in northern British Columbia and
southeastern Alaska. The name Tsimshian comes from their name for the Skeena
River, Ksian, with placename locative k=, preceded by ts'm= *inside of an object':
ts'm=k=sian *inside the Skeena River' (Mulder 1994). Relations within the family are
discussed in Dunn 1979. In 1921 Sapir proposed that the Tsimshianic family might
constitute a northern outlier of the Penutian stock. Such a relationship is not
considered demonstrated, but the possibility remains under investigation (DeLancey,
Genetti, & Rude 1988, Tarpent 1997).

Coast Tsimshian or Sm'algya?^ (*real language') is now spoken fluently by perhaps
500-800 adults along the lower Skeena River around its mouth (Jean Mulder p.c.
1992). Communities are at Klemtu, Hartley Bay, Kitkatla, Kallum, Kitselas, Old Met-
lakatla, and Lax K'walaams (Port Simpson) in British Columbia and, since 1887, New
Metlakatla in Alaska. There are also speakers in the towns of Terrace and Prince
Rupert. Southern Tsimshian or Sgiiib^s ('the language beside'), the original speech of
Klemtu, was essentially undocumented before the work of John Dunn. It represents
a very conservative dialect of the Coast Tsimshian language, sometimes classified as
a separate language (Dunn 1979a, 1991). It lost speakers when most moved to the
mission settlement in Hartley Bay and switched to Coast or Heiltsuk. The number of
speakers remaining can be counted on one hand (Marie-Lucie Tarpent p.c. 1997).

For the Interior, Rigsby 1987 reports that Nisgha and Gitksan ate mutually
intelligible, but the communities consider themselves ethnically distinct. Nisgha is
spoken fluently by 700-1000 along the lower Nass River, north of the Skeena, in four
villages in British Columbia: Kincolith, Greenville, Gitwinksihlkw (Canyon City), and
(New) Aiyansh. Gitksan dialects ('people of the Skeena River') are spoken by around
1000 adults in seven villages along the Skeena River (Bruce Rigsby p.c. 1996):
Cedarvale (Miinhl Sginist), Kitwanga (Gitwangax), Kitwancool (Gitwinhlguu'l or Git-
anyaaw), Kitseguecla (Gijigyukwhla, later split into Carnaby or Sii Ts'eets'ixs and
Andimoohl or Adaawaj^l Gijigyukwhla), Hazelton (Git-an'maaxs or Git-an'maaks),
Glen Vowell (Sigit'ox), and Kispiox (Gisbayakws).

A survey of early work on Coast Tsimshian is in Mulder 1994. Published 19th-
century vocabularies include material collected by William Fraser Tolmie, who served
as Surgeon to the Hudson's Bay Company (Scouler 1841: 215-50, Tolmie & Dawson
1884), by John Kennedy, Chief Trader of the Hudson's Bay Company (Gibbs & Dall

526 7 Catalogue: language families and isolates

1877), and by George Gibbs of the BAE. Missionaries William Duncan and William
Ridley translated liturgical materials. Ridley's interpreter, Mrs. O. Morison of
Metlakatla, published 16 proverbs with analysis in 1889. Between 1886 and 1889
Franz Boas worked with both Coast Tsimshian and Nisgha. His material, along with
Ridley's translations of the Gospels, formed the basis of an extensive grammar in
German published in 1894 by von der Schulenberg (Flaherty 1982). In 1902 Raoul
de La Grasserie published descriptions of five B.C. languages, including Coast
Tsimshian, drawing material from Tolmie & Dawson 1884, Ridley's translation of
Matthew, and Schulenberg. Boas' early fieldwork yielded wordlists (1891), a
grammatical sketch (1889b), and texts (Boas 1886, 1895). Important contributions
were also made by Tsimshian-speaking scholars. Between 1902 and 1914 Henry W.
Tate, of Port Simpson, sent texts to Boas in Ridley's orthography with interlinear
translation. One was published with grammatical notes (Boas 1908), six were edited
with help from another speaker, Archie Dundas of Metlakatla (Boas 1912), a number
were published only in English (1916), and others remain unpublished. In 1911(d),
Boas published a larger grammatical sketch based on his own fieldwork with Coast
and Nisgha and Tate's texts. Another Tsimshian scholar, William Beynon, learned to
transcribe Coast, Nisgha, and Gitksan from Maurius Barbeau. Between 1915 and
1956 he sent Barbeau over 60 notebooks of mostly English texts with some Coast
vocabulary (Cove & MacDonald 1987). Between 1932 and 1939 he sent 252 narra-
tives and ethnographic reports to Boas, some revisions of the Tate texts. Some of
these texts have been retranslated and retranscribed in Hayward 1980, 1983a,b,c.

More recently extensive work on Coast Tsimshian has been carried out especially
by John Dunn and Jean Mulder. Phonology is described in Dunn 1970, 1980a, 1986;
Dunn & Hays 1981, 1983; and Sasama 1995, 1997. Dunn has also published descrip-
tions of reduplication (1979b, 1980b), derivational suffixes (1983), tense and aspect
(1979c), and relativization (1978a). Of special interest in Tsimshianic languages is
ergativity. Ergativity in Coast Tsimshian is discussed in Dunn 1979d, Mulder 1987,
1989a,b, and especially Mulder 1994. Language change and obsolescence are taken
up in Dunn 1972 and 1974 and neologisms in Stebbins 1997. A practical gram-mar
is in Dunn 1979e and a dictionary in Dunn 1978b, reprinted together in 1995.

Southern Tsimshian was not recorded until 1975. Its genetic position within the
family is discussed in Dunn 1979a, and a comparative wordlist is provided. Dunn has
discussed phonology (1979a, 1986, 1993) and syntax (1988, 1990, 1991).

Early work on Nisgha is described in Tarpent 1989. Boas gathered Nisgha legends
in Kincolith in 1894 and published them in 1902 with interlinear and free translations.
His 1911 grammatical sketch covers Nisgha as well as Coast Tsimshian. Nisgha
phonology is discussed in Tarpent 1990. Plural formation is described in Tarpent
1983, possessives in Tarpent 1986a, kinship terms in Sapir 1920d, arguments and

Tsimshianic family 527

gdjuncts in Tarpent 1988, and complex copular clauses in Tarpent 1991. Ergativity
in Nisgha, as in Coast Tsimshian, has been a focus of interest (Tarpent 1982, 1989,
Belvin 1985, 1990a,b, and Jelinek 1986). A detailed reference grammar is in Tarpent
1989 and a dictionary is in Tarpent 1986b.

Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The Languages of Native
North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.