The Nuu-chah-nulth (also Nootka, Nutka, Aht, West Coast, T’aat’aaqsapa, Nuuchahnulth) people are indigenous peoples of Canada. The group ia a First Nations whose traditional home is in the Pacific Northwest on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The Nuu-chah-nulth are related to the Chinook and Kwakiutl peoples, and the Nuu-chah-nulth language is part of the Wakashan language group.

The Nuu-chah-nulth, and other Pacific Northwest cultures, were famous for their potlatch ceremonies, in which the host would generous gifts on guests.

The Nuu-chah-nulth were among the first Pacific peoples north of California to come into contact with Europeans. Competition between Spain and the United Kingdom over control of Nootka Sound led to a bitter international dispute around 1790, which was settled when Spain agreed to relinquish its claims to the North Pacific coast.

The Nuu-chah-nulth were one of the only groups on the Pacific Coast who hunted whales.

At the time of early contact with European explorers, up until 1830, more than 90 percent of the Nuu-chah-nulth were killed by sexually-transmitted diseases, malaria, and smallpox, and by cultural turmoil resulting from contact with Westerners.

Origin of Name

When James Cook first encountered the villagers at Yuquot in 1778, they directed him to "come around" (in their language "nootka") with his ship to the harbour. Cook interpreted this as the name of their tribe. In 1981 the term Nuu-chah-nulth (meaning "all along the mountains") was chosen as the new name of the tribe.

Nuu-chah-nulth Bands

Nuu-chah-nulth bands today are:

1. Ahousaht: formed from the merger of the Ahousaht and Kelsemeht bands in 1951;
2. Ditidaht;
3. Ehattesaht ;
4. Hesquiaht ;
5. Kyuguot ;
6. Mowachaht or Muchalaht: formerly the Nootka band;
7. Nuchatlaht ;
8. Ohiaht ;
9. Opetchesaht ;
10. Pacheenaht ;
11. Tla-o-qui-aht: formerly Clayoquot;
12. Toquaht ;
13. Tsesaht ;
14. Uchucklesaht ;
15. Ucluelet.

Language

The Nuu-chah-nulth language is spoken on the west coast of Vancouver Island from Barkley Sound to Quatsino Sound in British Columbia. Nuu-chah-nulth is a Southern Wakashan language related to Nitinaht and Makah. Nuu-chah-nulth has approximately 150-200 speakers according to estimates by Kim (2003). Nuu-chah-nulth has 12 different dialects:

• Ahousaht  
• Ehattesaht (a.k.a. Ehattisaht)  [ʔiːħatisʔatħ]
• Hesquiat  [ħiʃkʷiːʔatħ]
• Kyuquot  [qaːj’uːk’atħ]
• Mowachaht  [muwaʧ’atħ]
• Nuchatlaht  [nuʧaːɬʔatħ]
• Ohiaht  [huːʔiːʔatħ]
• Clayoquot (a.k.a. Tla.o.qui.aht)  [taʔuːkʷiʔatħ]
• Toquaht  [t’uk’ʷaːʔatħ]
• Tseshaht (a.k.a. Sheshaht)  [ʧ’iʃaːʔatħ]
• Uchuklesaht (a.k.a. Uchucklesaht)  [ħuːʧuqtisʔatħ]
• Ucluelet  [juːɬuʔiɬʔatħ]

Sounds

Consonants

The 35 consonants of Nuu-chah-nulth:

• /ʕ’/ is an approximant, not a fricative (IPA does not have a unique symbol for this sound). This phoneme functions phonologically as a pharyngeal stop which is realized as a glottalized pharyngeal semivowel (approximant).

Vowels

The 6 vowels of Nuu-chah-nulth:

Nuu-chah-nulth has phonemic short and long vowels.

Links

• An extract from the forthcoming Nuuchahnulth Dictionary
• Nootka Texts
  • What Mosquitos are made of
  • Kwatyat and Wolf
  • Kwatyat and Sunbeam's Daughter
• Bibliography of Materials on the Nuuchanulth Language (YDLI)
• Nuuchahnulth (Nootka) (Chris Harvey’s Native Language, Font, & Keyboard)
  • Nuuchahnulth Example Text

Bibliography

• Ellis, David, W.; & Swan, Luke. (1981). Teachings of the tides: Uses of marine invertebrates by the Manhousat people. Nanaimo, British Columbia: Theytus Books.
• Hoover, Alan L. (Ed.). (2002). Nuu-chah-nulth voices: Histories, objects & journeys. Victoria, B. C.: Royal British Columbia Museum.
• Kim, Eun-Sook. (2003). Theoretical issues in Nuu-chah-nulth phonology and morphology. (Doctoral dissertation, The University of British Columbia, Department of Linguistics).
• McMillian, Alan D. (1999). Since the time of the tranformers: The ancient heritage of Nuu-chah-nulth, Ditidaht, and Makah. Vancouver: UBC Press.
• Sapir, Edward. (1938). Glottalized continuants in Navaho, Nootka, and Kwakiutl (with a note on Indo-European). Language, 14, 248-274.
• Sapir, Edward; & Swadesh, Morris. (1939). Nootka texts: Tales and ethnological narratives with grammatical notes and lexical materials. Philadelphia: Linguistic Society of America.
• Sapir, Edward; & Swadesh, Morris. (1955). Native accounts of Nootka ethnography. Publication of the Indiana University Research Center in Anthropology, Folklore, and Linguistics (No. 1); International journal of American linguistics (Vol. 21, No. 4, Pt. 2). Bloomington: Indiana University, Research Center in Anthropology, Folklore, and Linguistics. (Reprinted 1978 in New York: AMS Press, ISBN 0-4041-1892-5).
• Shank, Scott; & Wilson, Ian. (2000). Acoustic evidence for ʕ as a glottalized pharyngeal glide in Nuu-chah-nulth. In S. Gessner & S. Oh (Eds.), Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages (pp. 185-197). UBC working papers is linguistics (Vol. 3).