j ON THE NORTH-WESLERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 555 
the Salish, the Chinook, and the Iakon languages, with all on the north- 
west coast of which we have any knowledge. The southern division 
comprehends the Sahaptin, the Shoshoni, the Kalapuya, Shaste, 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 labour in speak- 
_ ing; 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 the generally rough and dissonant style of pronuncia- 
tion. The x is in these tongues a somewhat deeper guttural than the 
Spanish jota. The q is an extraordinary sound, resembling the hawking 
_ noise produced by an effort to expel phlegm from the throat. Ty/ is 
_ acombination uttered by forcing out the breath at the side of the mouth 
_ between the tongue and the palate. These languages are all indistinct as 
_ well as harsh. The same element in the Chincok and other tongues is 
_ heard at one time as a v, at another as a J, and again as an m, the latter 
being probably the most accurate representation. Similarly the n and d 
are in several dialects indistinguishable, 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 f, the liquid r, and the nasal % (ng), all of which are 
unknown to the former. Difficult combinations of consonants rarely 
occur, and the many vowels make the pronunciation clear and sonorous. 
There is, however, a good deal of variety in this respect, some of the 
languages, as the Lutuami, Shaste, and Palaihnik, being smooth and 
agreeable to the ear, while the Shoshoni and Kalapuya, though soft, are 
nasal and indistinct.’ ! 
At the time when this description was written, I had formed no 
opinion as to the origin of these contrasted phonologies. I am now 
inclined to believe that the difference is due mainly to climatic influences. 
The harsh utterance extends from Alaska southward to the Columbia 
iver, where it suddenly ceases, and gives place to softer sounds. This 
is exactly the point at which the coast ceases to be lined by that network 
of islands, straits, and friths, whose waters, abounding in fish, afford the 
main source of subsistence to the tribes of the northern region. The 
climate, except for a brief summer, is that of an almost perpetual April 
or October. This part of the coast is one of the rainiest regions of the 
earth, and the fishermen in their canoes are almost constantly exposed to 
the chilling moisture. Their pronunciation is that of a people whose 
“yocal organs have for many generations been affected by continual coughs 
and catarrhs, thickening the mucous membrane and obstructing the air- 
passages. A strong confirmation of this view is found in Tierra del 
¥ 1 Ethnography and Philology, p. 533. The orthography here employ2d is some- 
what different from that of Dr. Boas, who, by my advice, has avoided the use of 
| Greek or other foreign characters, employing only English letters with various dia- 
_ critical marks. This alphabet somewhat disguises to the eye the extreme difficulties 
of the pronunciation. The ¢x/, for example, is written by him simply ¢/, but the / is 
defined as an ‘explosive J.’ It is the combination so frequent in the Mexican (or 
_ Nahuatl) tongue. 
, 
002 
