Ethnicity Wuikinuxv people Glottolog oowe1239 | Native speakers 6 (2014, FPCC) | |
Region Northern Central Coast Regional District, British Columbia, Canada Language family Wakashan
Northern
Heiltsuk-Oowekyala
Oowekyala | ||
Oowekyala /uːˈwiːkjələ/, also Ooweekeeno and Wuikyala in the language itself, is a dialect (or a sublanguage) of Heiltsuk-Oowekyala, a Northern Wakashan language spoken around Rivers Inlet and Owikeno Lake in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, spoken by the Wuikinuxv, whose government is the Wuikinuxv Nation.
Contents
The name is also spelled Wuikala, Wuikenukv, Oweekeno, Wikeno, Owikeno, Oowekeeno, Oweekano, Awikenox, Oowek'yala, Oweek'ala.
Consonants
The 45 consonants of Oowekyala:
Phonologically, affricates are treated as stops, and nasals and approximants are treated as sonorants. Additionally, /ɦ/ and /ʔ/ are treated as sonorants.
Vowels
Oowekyala has phonemic short, long, and glottalized vowels.:
Syllables
Oowekyala, like Nuxálk (Bella Coola), allows long sequences of obstruents, as in the following 7-obstruent word:
[t͡sʼkʷʼχtʰt͡ɬʰkʰt͡sʰ] 'the invisible one here-with-me will be short' (Howe 2000: 5)