Re: NativeAmerican Langs

Colin Halverson wrote:
> I'm wondering if anyone knows what languages are spoken in British Columbia
> (that is, Native American Languages).  Especially if someone speaks them.
> Anyone know a good native american language site?  takk, danka, merci,
> sposiba, gracias, talte te, thanks
According to the maps and other stuff in Marianne Mithun's _The Languages of
Native North America_ (Great book, BTW), the native Languages of British
Columbia include:
Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit family:  Tsetsaut, Tlingit, Babine, Carrier,
Chilcotin, Nicola, Sekani, Kaska, Tahltan
Isolates: Haida, Kutenai
Salishan family: Shuswap, Bella Coola, Lillooet, Thompson, Okanagan, and
some Georgia Strait languages (Squamish, Comox, Halkomelem, and others, but
the map isn't too clear)
Tsimshianic family: Tsimshian, Nass-Gitksan
Wakashan: Haisla, Kwak'wala, Nootka, Bella Bella

Don't speak any of them--I do have some structural knowledge of Tsimshian,
and Athabaskan, but it's pretty limited.  I'd be pretty surprised if any of
these languages had websites, since most of these languages have real small
numbers of speakers, and such a small number of people are interested in
them, period. (Although I found something on Carrier writing at
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/carrier.htm).  North American is bit too
vast for a single site, I think--try looking for individual languages or
language families, and look in books (like the one above).
--Doug