#klallam

A Year in Language, Day 126: Klallam Klallam is a Salishan language of the Pacific Northwest, related to Saanich which was covered in a prior post. Like Saanich it is also a language I know of through my old professor Timothy Montler who has worked with members of the tribe to produce a published grammar and dictionary of the language. Klallam is currently considered extinct as the last native speaker died in 2014, though there are a handful of second language speakers and a desire to revitalize the language. Like other Salishan languages Klallam is polysynthetic, inflecting and compounding words to a high degree, and has a large consonant inventory including glottalized consonants, labialized consonants, and lateral fricatives (kind of like a “l” and an “s” fused together). Klallam makes ample use of reduplication, normally targeting just the first syllable of first consonant of the root, for a wide array of grammatical functions. With the right roots and inflection Klallam can construct words with consonant clusters to rival those of Slavic and Caucasian languages, for a good example I recommend this page of tongue twisters, especially the last one: http://www.cas.unt.edu/~montler/Klallam/kttd.htm (click the text to hear a recording).

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Twitter user @BrookeCnSna

we found sky in the ground today #elwha #territory #klallam #land