IX - Gitksan

The Gitksan language, also known as the Gitxsan language or Gitxsanimaax, is an indigenous language spoken predominantly in Northwest British Columbia. The name directly translates to “People of the Skeena River,” which derives from the Skeena Region where the language is spoken. With around 1,000 native speakers identified in a 2016 census, Gitksan is categorized as severely endangered; it is a Tsimshianic language, which is a family of endangered languages spoken in northwestern British Columbia and in Southeast Alaska. The first Canadian endangered language to be shared by Share Our Speech, Gitksan is a language to be remembered.

Geography

As mentioned before, the Gitksan language is a Tsimshianic language. The speakers of Gitksan are located in the Skeena Region, which hosts the Skeena River; it is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia. Since ancient times, the geographic location of the Gitksan speakers has aided them. The Skeena River provided a variety of resources such as food, water, and irrigation. It holds such an important value that the Gitksan language translates to “People of the River of Mist.”

History

The Gitksan people have shared relations with numerous tribes close to them for hundreds of years. This includes the Tsimshian and Wetʼsuwetʼen people. Like many other indigenous communities, the Gitksan faced numerous challenges when it came to colonization and expansion. However, there have been recent efforts at revitalization. The University of Northern British Columbia and Siiwiixo'osxwim Wilnataahl Gitksan Society created a program to revitalize the Gitksan language by allowing individuals to pass a certificate in order to teach the language to elementary and secondary schools.

Language

The Gitksan language has two major groups: Eastern and Western Gitksan. However, each village has its own dialect. The main differences between dialects include a lexical shift in vowels and stop lenition use present only in the Eastern dialects

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