THE 



LANGUAGES OF NORTHWESTERN AMERICA. 



THE languages of the tribes west of the Rocky Mountains may be divided into two 

 classes, which differ very strikingly in their vncal elements and pronunciation. These 

 classes may be denominated the northern and southern, the latter being found chiefly 

 south of the Columbia, and the former, with one or two exceptions, on the north of that 

 river. To the northern belong the Tahkali-Umqua, the Selish, the Tshinuk, and the 

 lakon languages, with all on the " Northwest Coast" of which we have any knowledge. 

 The southern division comprehends the Sahaptin, the Shoshoni, the Kalapuya, Saste, 

 Lutuami, and all the Californian idioms, so far as we are acquainted with them. Those 

 of the northern class are remarkable for their extraordinary harshness, which in some is 

 so great as almost to surpass belief. The Chinooks, Chikailish, and Killamuks, appear 

 actually to labor in speaking, an illusion which proceeds, no doubt, from the effect 

 produced on the ear of the listener by the harsh elements with which their languages 

 abound, as well as by the generally rough and dissonant style of pronunciation. The jt 

 is, in these tongues, a somewhat deeper guttural than the Spanish jota. The g is an 

 extraordinary sound, resembling the hawking noise produced by an effort to expel phlegm 

 from the throat. A similar element (as we are assured on good authority) in the 

 Quicchuan or Peruvian language, is called by the Spanish grammarians the cc casta- 

 nutliis, and is compared to the sound made in cracking nuts with the teeth, from which, 

 of course, we can only infer its extreme harshness. TyJ is a combination uttered by 

 forcing out the breath at the side of the mouth, between the tongue and the palate. The 

 vocabularies, and the remarks upon them, will exhibit some other peculiarities of these 

 languages. They are all indistinct as well as harsh. The same element in the Tshinuk 

 and other tongues is heard at one time as a v, at another as a b, and again as an tn, 

 the latter being probably the most accurate representation. So the n and d are in several 

 undistinguishable, and we were constantly in doubt whether certain short vowels should 

 be written or omitted. 



The southern languages are, on the other hand, no less distinguished for softness and 

 harmony. The gutturals are found in two or three, into which they seem to have been 

 introduced by communication with the northern tribes. The rest want this class of 

 letters, and have, in their place, the labial/, the liquid r, and the nasal y, all of which 



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