Liqʼwala

Liqʼwala
Liqʼwala
Native speakers	12
Language family	Wakashan Northern Liqʼwala; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
	Laich-kwil-tach territory

Liqʼwala (also rendered Liq̓ʷala and Lik'wala), is an endangered dialect of Kwakʼwala spoken by the Laich-kwil-tach people of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.^[2]

In 2017, according to Laurie Lewis of the Liqʼwala Language Revitalization Committee, only 12 individuals, all over 70, were fluent Liqʼwala speakers.^[1] The Campbell River Mirror reported in 2017 that an attempt would be made to teach the dialect through a Liqʼwala language immersion pilot program:

Lewis says they already have a mentor-apprentice program where a fluent elder works one-on-one with a qualified teacher for 300 hours, and between that elder and teacher, she is confident they could create a three-year pilot program that would provide a full immersion program. “We just want three years to make some fluent speakers so we can save our language,” Lewis says, “and I want to have the conversation about how we can do that. We believe we can do it.”

Phonology[]

Consonants
		Labial	Alveolar			Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
		Labial	plain	sibilant	lateral	Palatal	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	ts	tɬ	c	k	kʷ	q	qʷ	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	dz	dɮ		ɡ	ɡʷ	ɢ	ɢʷ
	ejective	pʼ	tʼ	tsʼ	tɬʼ	cʼ	kʼ	kʷʼ	qʼ	qʷʼ
Fricative				s	ɬ		x	xʷ	χ	χʷ	h
Sonorant	plain	m	n		l	j		w
Sonorant	glottalized	mˀ	nˀ		lˀ	jˀ		wˀ

Vowels^[3]
	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Low		a

Orthography[]

Liq'wala follows an orthography based on Americanist phonetic notation and thus varies significantly from the orthography employed by other dialects of Kwak'wala.^[3]^[4]

Liqʼwala alphabet
Uppercase	A	Ə	B	C		D		E	G		Ǧ		H	I	K
Lowercase	a	ə	b	c	c̓	d	dᶻ	e	g	gʷ	ǧ	ǧʷ	h	i	k	k̓

Uppercase	Kʷ		L		Ł		ƛ		M		N		O	P		Q
Lowercase	kʷ	k̓ʷ	l	l̓	ł	λ	ƛ	ƛ̓	m	m̓	n	n̓	o	p	p̓	q

Uppercase				S	T		U	W		X	Xʷ	X̌		Y
Lowercase	qʷ	q̓	q̓ʷ	s	t	t̓	u	w	w̓	x	xʷ	x̌	x̌ʷ	y	y̓	ʔ

The following table compares different orthographic representations of some Kwakʼwala words.

Revitalization efforts[]

In January 2019, School District 72 Campbell River passed a motion to pilot a Liq'wala immersion program at Ripple Rock Elementary in Campbell River, BC.

References[]

^ ^a ^b Davies, Mike (2017-04-19). "How do you save a dying language?". Campbell River Mirror. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
^ Inglis, Joy; Assu, Harry (2011-11-01). Assu of Cape Mudge: Recollections of a Coastal Indian Chief. UBC Press. ISBN 9780774843065.
^ ^a ^b "The Liq̓ʷala Language". www.languagegeek.com. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
^ Adam, Werle (2010). "Appendix A. Kwak̓wala alphabets and transliteration" (PDF). University of Victoria.

External links[]

Liq̓ʷala interactive alphabet

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[Mirror-1] Davies, Mike (2017-04-19). "How do you save a dying language?". Campbell River Mirror. Retrieved 2019-06-13.

[2] Inglis, Joy; Assu, Harry (2011-11-01). Assu of Cape Mudge: Recollections of a Coastal Indian Chief. UBC Press. ISBN 9780774843065.

[:0-3] "The Liq̓ʷala Language". www.languagegeek.com. Retrieved 2019-06-13.

[4] Adam, Werle (2010). "Appendix A. Kwak̓wala alphabets and transliteration" (PDF). University of Victoria.

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Liqʼwala
Native speakers	12^[1]
Language family	Wakashan Northern Liqʼwala
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Laich-kwil-tach territory