| Language name: | BELLA COOLA |
| UPSID number: | 6771 |
| Alternate name(s): | |
| Classification: | North American, Almosan |
| This language has | 31 segments |
| Its Frequency index is | 0.256204849 (average percentage of segments; 0.1: many very rare segments; 0.39: average; 0.7: many common segments) |
| The language has these sounds: | p tD c kW q qW ? p' tD' c' kW' q' qW' ts ts' "tlF' C xW X XW h "hlF s m nD "l j w I U a |
| Comment: | Bella Coola is spoken by perhaps 75 remaining fluent speakers in Bella Coola on the central coast of British Columbia. Reduplication rules that copy a single consonant clarify that the ejectives and affricates listed are not clusters. High vowels alternate with /w,j/. Syllabic instances of /m,n,l/ (phonetically shwa before sonorant) are largely predictable from phonological and morphological context. |
| Source(s): | Nater, H.F. 1984. The Bella Coola Language. National Museum of Man Mercury Series, Canadian Ethnology Service Paper No. 92. National Museums of Canada, Ottawa. Newman, S. 1947. Bella Coola I: Phonology. International Journal of American Linguistics 13/3: 129-134. |