Sechelt language

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Sechelt
Sháshíshálh
Pronunciation [ʃaʃiʃaɬ]
Native to Canada
Region British Columbia
Ethnicity 1,200 Sechelt people (2014, FPCC)[1]
Native speakers
4 (2014, FPCC)[1]
Salishan
Language codes
ISO 639-3 sec
Glottolog sech1246[2]

The Sechelt language, Sháshíshálh or Shashishalhem (/ʃáʃíʃáɬəm/), is a Coast Salish language spoken by the Shishalh (Sechelt) people of southwestern British Columbia, Canada, centered on their reserve communities in the Sechelt Peninsula area of the Sunshine Coast.

In 1999, the language was spoken by fewer than 40 elderly people.[3] A grammar of the language by linguist Ron Beaumont was published in 1985.[4]

In 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", created a Sechelt Nation language certificate.[5]

Sechelt is most closely related to Squamish, Halkomelem, and the Nooksack.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Sechelt at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ^ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Sechelt". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. 
  3. ^ Mithun, Marianne (2001). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 487. ISBN 978-0-521-29875-9. 
  4. ^ Beaumont, Ron (1985). She Shashishalhem, The Sechelt Language: Language, Stories, and Sayings of the Sechelt Indian people of British Columbia. Penticton, B. C.: Theytus Books. 
  5. ^ Wood, Stephanie (2014-01-22). "Despite limited resources, indigenous-language programs persevere in B.C.". Georgia Straight, Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2014-02-27. 

External links[edit]