Southern Tsimshian dialect

Southern Tsimshian, Sgüüx̣s^{[note 1]} (pronounced: /skiːxs/^[9]) or Sgüümk,^[7] is the southern dialect of the Tsimshian language, spoken by the Gitga'ata and Kitasoo Tsimshians in Klemtu, B.C. It became extinct with the death of the last remaining speaker, Violet Neasloss.

Southern Tsimshian
Sgüüx̣s
Pronunciation	[skiːxs]
Native to	Canada
Region	northwest British Columbia
Ethnicity	Tsimshian people
Extinct	2013, with the death of Violet Neasloss[1][2][3][better source needed]
Revival	4 learners (2018)[1]
Language family	Tsimshianic Maritime Tsimshian Southern Tsimshian
Language codes
ISO 639-2	tsi
ISO 639-3	tsi (with Coast Tsimshian)
Linguist List	tsi-sou
Glottolog	sout2962
ELP	Ski:xs (Southern Tsimshian)
Southern Tsimshian

People	Ts’msyan
Language	Sgüüx̣s
Country	La̱xyuubm Ts’msyen[4]

Sgüüx̣s is close to Coast Tsimshian and has been described^[10] as a highly conservative dialect, however the two may not have been mutually intelligible with Coast Tsimshian.^[11] The name Sgüüx̣s means "the language beside."

Specialist John Asher Dunn wrote several articles on the language,^[12] from which the term Southern Tsimshian arose.^[13]

Notes

1. Also spelled Sgüüxs,^[5] SgüüXs,^[6] Sgüüxs,^[7] or Ski:xs.^[8]

Further reading

1. Dunlop, Britt; Gessner, Suzanne; Herbert, Tracey; Parker, Aliana (2018). Report on the status of B.C. First Nations Languages (PDF) (Report) (3rd ed.). First People's Cultural Council.
2. "An amazing woman has gone to sleep, and her language with her • r/linguistics". reddit. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
3. muskwatch (17 December 2013). "Visiting with Violet Neasloss in Klemtu". Retrieved 2 May 2017 – via YouTube.
4. Armstrong, Chelsey Geralda; Lyons, Natasha; McAlvay, Alex C.; Ritchie, Patrick Morgan; Lepfsky, Dana; Blake, Michael (2023). "Historical ecology of forest garden management in Laxyuubm Ts'msyen and beyond". Ecosystems and People. 19 (1). doi:10.1080/26395916.2022.2160823.
5. Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, ed. (18 January 2018). The Oxford Handbook of Evidentiality. OUP Oxford. ISBN 9780191077401.
6. Mithun, Marianne (4 November 1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107392809.
7. Margaret Seguin, ed. (1993). The Tsimshian: Images of the Past, Views for the Present. UBC Press. ISBN 9780774804738.
8. Cataloguing the World's Endangered Languages. Taylor & Francis. 2 February 2018. ISBN 9781317413899.
9. "The South Tsimshian Language". yldi.org. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
10. Mithun, Marianne (2001). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge University Press. p. 525. ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
11. Halpin, Marjorie; Seguin, Margaret (1990). "Tsimshian Peoples: Southern Tsimshian, Coast Tsimshian, Nishga, and Gitksan". Handbook of North American Indians (PDF). Vol. 7. p. 267.
12. "South Tsimshian Bibliography". ydli.org. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
13. Menzies, Charles (2016). People of the Saltwater: An Ethnography of Git Lax M'oon. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803291706.