Thompson language
Interior Salishan language
title: "Thompson language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["interior-salish-languages", "first-nations-languages-in-canada", "languages-of-the-united-states", "indigenous-languages-of-the-north-american-plateau"] description: "Interior Salishan language" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Interior Salishan language ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Thompson |
| nativename | nɬeʔkepmxcín |
| states | Canada, United States |
| region | British Columbia, Washington |
| ethnicity | 3,105 Nlaka'pamux |
| speakers | 105 |
| date | 2022 FPCC |
| ref | e21 |
| familycolor | salishan |
| fam1 | Salishan |
| fam2 | Interior Salish |
| fam3 | Northern |
| script | Duployan shorthand (historical) |
| Latin (current) | |
| iso3 | thp |
| glotto | thom1243 |
| glottorefname | Thompson |
| map | Lang Status 40-SE.svg |
| mapcaption | |
| altname | Thompson River Salish |
| :: |
| name = Thompson | nativename = nɬeʔkepmxcín | pronunciation = | states = Canada, United States | region = British Columbia, Washington | ethnicity = 3,105 Nlaka'pamux | speakers = 105 | date = 2022 FPCC | ref = e21 | familycolor = salishan | fam1 = Salishan | fam2 = Interior Salish | fam3 = Northern | script = Duployan shorthand (historical) Latin (current) | iso3 = thp | glotto = thom1243 | glottorefname = Thompson | map = Lang Status 40-SE.svg | mapcaption = | altname = Thompson River Salish
Thompson (nɬeʔkepmxcín), (also known as Nlaka'pamuctsin, Nlaka'pamux, or Nthlakampx) is an Interior Salishan language spoken in the Fraser Canyon, Thompson Canyon, and Nicola Country of the Canadian province of British Columbia, and formerly in the North Cascades region of Whatcom and Chelan counties of the state of Washington in the United States. A dialect distinctive to the Nicola Valley is called Scw'exmx, which is the name of the subgroup of the Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) who live there.
Phonology
Nlaka'pamuctsin is a consonant-heavy language. The consonants can be divided into two subgroups: obstruents, which restrict airflow, and sonorants or resonants, which do not. The sonorants are often syllabic consonants, which can form syllables on their own without vowels.
Consonants
::data[format=table] | Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | median || sibilant || lateral | plain || lab. | plain || lab. | plain || lab. | Plosive/ Affricate | plain | ejective | Fricative | plain | voiced | glottalized | Sonorant | plain | glottalized | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::
Vowels
::data[format=table] | Front | Central | Back | nor. || ret. | nor. || ret. | Close | Mid | Open | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | ~ | | | | | | | | | | | ~ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::
Stress is used with an acute accent; á.
Writing systems
::data[format=table title="nɬeʔképmxcin consonant chart"]
| m̓ | n̓ | l̓ | z̓ | y̓ | ɣ̓ | w̓ | ʕ̓ | ʕ̓ʷ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
One of the writing systems used for Nlaka'pamuctsin uses the North American Phonetic Alphabet (NAPA) writing system.
The above consonant chart is based off the one found in "The Thompson Language" by Laurence C. Thompson & M. Terry Thompson.
Morphology and syntax
Researchers working in the Generative tradition have speculated that Salishan languages lack lexical categories such as nouns and verbs. Evidence for such an absence of contrast between parts of speech in Nlaka'pamuctsin come from a lack of clear morphological markers (e.g. morphemes) that differentiate nouns and verbs. Instead, generative linguists discuss morphology and syntax in Salishan based on a framework of predicates and particles. However, more contemporary work suggests a changing understanding of Salishan grammar. Some Salishanists believe that functional categories are not prescriptive of lexical categories. Work in Functional linguistics suggests that other factors beyond morphological evidence code lexical categories in languages. In Salishan, the distinction would be less overt than in some other languages.
Lexical suffixes
One morphological feature of Nlaka'pamuctsin is lexical suffixes. These are words that add nuance to predicates and can be affixed to the ends of root words to add their general meaning to that word. Thompson and Thompson assert that as a result of English language influence, speakers are using these more complex predicates less and less in favor of simpler predicates with complements and adjuncts, resulting in “a general decline in the exploitation of the rich synthetic resources of the language.”
::data[format=table]
| Suffix | Suffix meaning | Root | Root meaning | Suffixed form |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ꞊uyəm’xw | earth, land, place; in vicinity; (earth) oven; baked goods | /q’íx̣-t | strong, secure | /q’íx̣꞊ym’xw |
| √c’əɬ | cold | /c’ɬ꞊úym’xw | it is a cold country | |
| kw[ʔá]l’ | turn green | /kwa[ʔ]l’꞊úym’xw | the grass turns green | |
| √c’áp | ferment | n/c’áp꞊ym’xw | sour-dough, yeast bread | |
| ꞊ekst | hand, arm | √kiyèʔ | ahead, in front, principal, the eldest | s/kiyèʔ꞊qín'꞊kst |
| ꞊qin | head | |||
| ꞊xn | foot, leg | s/kiyèʔ꞊qín'꞊xn | big toe | |
| √k'əm | focal area | n/k'm꞊énk꞊xn | sole of foot | |
| ꞊ene(ʔ)k | belly, under side | |||
| :: |
References
Bibliography
References
- {{Harvnb. Thompson. Thompson. 1996
- Egesdal, Steven M.. (2011). "nɬeʔkèpmxcín: Thompson River Salish speech". Whatcom Museum.
- (2018). "Towards a new ethnohistory: community-engaged scholarship among the People of the River". University of Manitoba Press.
- Walkem, Brenda Shirley. (2023). "Investigating protein sources that the land and water provide to the Nlaka'pamux People". Master's Thesis.
- (2016). "Articulating What Infants Attune to in Native Speech". Ecological Psychology.
- (1992). "The Thompson Language". University of Montana Press.
- Koch, Karsten A.. (2011). "Prosodic Categories: Production, Perception and Comprehension".
- "Nłeʔkepmxcin - Nlha7kápmx Thompson".
- (1997). "American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America". Oxford University Press.
- (1999). "The Languages of Native North America". Cambridge University Press.
- (October 1998). "Word-Level Evidence for Lexical Categories in Salishan Languages". International Journal of American Linguistics.
- (2009). "The Lexical category debate in Salish and its relevance for Tagalog". Theoretical Linguistics.
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