The Sechelt language, ''SháshÃshálh'' or ''Shashishalhem'' (), is a
Coast Salish language spoken by the
Shishalh (Sechelt) people of the
Pacific Northwest Coast. It is spoken in the area now called southwestern
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, centred 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.
A grammar of the language by linguist Ron Beaumont was published in 1985.
They now only have 7 elderly/fluent speakers, but have many teachers that teach children from preschool all the way through till high school. UBC, Vancouver and Okanagan offers language courses, that give students the opportunity to learn various languages, Shashishalhem being one of the few
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.
Sechelt is most closely related to
Squamish,
Halkomelem
Halkomelem (; in the Upriver dialect, in the Island dialect, and in the Downriver dialect) is a language of various First Nations peoples of the British Columbia Coast. It is spoken in what is now British Columbia, ranging from southeastern ...
, and the
Nooksack.
Although critically endangered,
[
] the Sechelt people, with help from others, have reclaimed 603 phrases and 5659 words in total.
Phonology
Consonants
Vowels
The four vowel sounds may also have the allophones
¦, ɪ~ÊŠ~ÊŒ, e, o
See also
*
Shishalh
*
Sechelt, British Columbia
Sechelt (, Shishalh language chat'lich) is a district municipality located on the lower Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. Approximately 50 km northwest of Vancouver, it is accessible from mainland British Columbia by a 40-minute ferry tr ...
References
External links
First Nations Languages of British Columbia Sechelt pageOLAC resources in and about the Sechelt language
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shashishalh Language
Coast Salish languages
Indigenous languages of the Pacific Northwest Coast
First Nations languages in Canada
Critically endangered languages
Shishalh