Klallam (also Clallam) is a Straits Salishan language natively called Nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əmúcən, spoken by Klallam peoples. Klallam is spoken at Becher Bay on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and across the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the north coast of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.

Klallam is closely related to the Northern Straits dialects (including Saanich).

Jamie Valadez is a high school and middle school teacher who is working to revitalize Klallam in Port Angeles, Washington.

Timothy Montler is an American linguist who is one of the foremost experts in the Klallam language.

Sounds

Consonants

The 34 consonants of Klallam:

• Glottalized resonants /m’, n’, ɴ’, j’, w’/ are realized either

1. with creaky voice: [m̰, n̰, ɴ̰, j̰, w̰],
2. as decomposed glottal stop + resonant: [ʔm, ʔn, ʔɴ, ʔj, ʔw], or
3. as decomposed resonant + glottal stop: [mʔ, nʔ, ɴʔ, jʔ, wʔ]

• /k/ is borrowed from English and occurs in only a few words.
• /l/ also rarely occurs in Klallam.

Vowels

The 4 vowels of Klallam:

• Vowels may be stressed or unstressed. Unstressed vowels are shorter and lower in intensity than stressed vowels.
• Vowels are lowered when followed by a glottal stop /ʔ/:

'bird'   /ʦ’iʔʦ’əm’/ → [ ʦ’ɛʔʦ’əm’ ]

'deer'   /huʔpt/ → [ hoʔpt ]

'salmon backbone'   /sχəʔqʷəʔ/ → [ sχaʔqʷaʔ ]

• Vowels are also often lowered when followed by a glottalized resonant (i.e., /m’/, /n’/, /ɴ’/, /j’/, /w’/).

Grammar

External links

• Klallam language (Timothy Montler's site) (main page) (includes sound files, but must use Internet Explorer)
  • Introduction
  • Map
  • Family tree
  • Alphabet
  • Wordlist
  • Phrases
  • "The Flood" (story)
  • "Two Deaf Fisherman" (story)
• Washington Post: "Northwest Tribe Struggles to Revive Its Language"
• Elaine Grinnell, Klallam storyteller and basket & drum maker
• Klallam at Ethnologue

Bibliography

• Brooks, Pamela. (1997). John P. Harrington's Klallam and Chemakum place names. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages, 32, 144-188.
• Fleisher, Mark. (1976). Clallam: A study in Coast Salish ethnolinguistics. (Doctoral disseration, Washington State University).
• Fleisher, Mark. (1977). Aspects of Clallam phonology and their implication of reconstruction. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salishan Languages, 12, 132-141.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Montler, Timothy. (1996). Languages and dialects in Straits Salishan. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages, 31, 249-256.
• Montler, Timothy. (1996). Some Klallam paradigms. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages, 31, 257-264.
• Montler, Timothy. (1998). The major processes affecting Klallam vowels. Proceedings of the International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages, 33, 366-373.
• Montler, Timothy. (1999). Language and dialect variation in Straits Salishan. Anthropological linguistics, 41 (4), 462-502.
• Montler, Timothy. (2005). [Personal communication].
• Thompson, Laurence; & Thompson, M. Terry. (1969). Metathesis as a grammatical device. International Journal of American Linguistics, 35, 213-219.
• Thompson, Laurence; & Thompson, M. Terry. (1971). Clallam: A preview. University of California Publications in Linguistics, 65, 251-294.
• Thompson, Laurence; Thompson, M. Terry; & Efrat, Barbara. (1974). Some phonological developments in Straits Salish. International Journal of American Linguistics, 40, 182-196.