I've just discovered the Nuxalk language

[Jonlang]

This probably isn't new to some of you, but I just stumbled upon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuxalk_language. This language look absolutely bonkers to my eye! Here's an example from the Wikipedia article:

clhp'xwlhtlhplhhskwts'
/xɬpʼχʷɬtʰɬpʰɬːskʷʰt͡sʼ/
Then he had had in his possession a bunchberry plant.

No vowels. Not one. I mean, if I try to say that it sounds like I'm mimicking radio static It's sad to read that it's nearing extinction too.

[Vijay]

Welcome to the entire Salishan family.

[Zaarin]

Welcome to the bulk of the Pacific Northwest sprachbund: big consonant inventories, ejectives including ejective fricatives (Tlingit's /xʼʷ χʼʷ/ are believed to be found nowhere else in the world), lack of plain velar plosives, lateral obstruents but frequently no lateral approximant, usually three or four vowels (though some Salishan varieties are analyzed as having two and Tlingit has five), extreme polysynthesis, highly specific locative particles, ergativity--it's a delightfully weird region, in terms of linguistics. Not many languages have the...complex phonotactics of Nuxalk, though (in fact, some of the Salishan languages simply defy the concept of a "syllable," forget syllable structure...); Haida, for example, is CV(C), and I believe Tlingit is (C)V(C). A handful of PNW languages in Washington, like Nitinaht (aka Ditidaht), are noteworthy for lacking nasal consonants.

Some of the features of the PNW sprachbund extend into the Plateau, as well; the Sahaptian languages like Nez Perce are pretty fascinating, for example.

[Xephyr]

(Don't take this personally, Jonlang, but:)

I hate that example sentence. It's a meme. It's the only thing anyone ever says about Bella Coola. Sure, whatever, it's technically a licit word in the language (Nater, Bella Coola Language, page 5)-- I don't care, but it's not at all representative of the Bella Coola or the Salishan aesthetic. Vowel-less words aren't very common and almost always very short (e.g. the deictics c and tx̣ʷ). Really, Salishan languages have plenty of vowels. To be honest, it reminds me a bit of how people will sometimes claim that speakers of African Khoesan languages "speak only in clicks". There's an entire language there, and behind that an entire language family, and behind that an entire region (Tsimshianic doesn't get nearly the love it deserves)-- and yet for years all anyone's been able to say is "Whoa did you know Nuxalk lets you say txlhtqtqtlxkjxlqthlxthakltsth something something bunchberry plant??"

[/scrooge]

[Frislander]

Welcome to the bulk of the Pacific Northwest sprachbund: big consonant inventories, ejectives including ejective fricatives (Tlingit's /xʼʷ χʼʷ/ are believed to be found nowhere else in the world), lack of plain velar plosives, lateral obstruents but frequently no lateral approximant, usually three or four vowels (though some Salishan varieties are analyzed as having two and Tlingit has five), extreme polysynthesis, highly specific locative particles, ergativity--it's a delightfully weird region, in terms of linguistics. Not many languages have the...complex phonotactics of Nuxalk, though (in fact, some of the Salishan languages simply defy the concept of a "syllable," forget syllable structure...); Haida, for example, is CV(C), and I believe Tlingit is (C)V(C).

In fact initial clusters are actually fairly rare in the region; they are absent from Wakashan excluding Heiltsuk-Oowekyala (which otherwise resembles Bella Coola very much and has been in significant contact with it), to the extent that contact with Wakashan caused the Salishan language Comox to completely lack prefixes and initial clusters in a family where they are otherwise common as muck.

I hate that example sentence. It's a meme. It's the only thing anyone ever says about Bella Coola. Sure, whatever, it's technically a licit word in the language (Nater, Bella Coola Language, page 5)-- I don't care, but it's not at all representative of the Bella Coola or the Salishan aesthetic. Vowel-less words aren't very common and almost always very short (e.g. the deictics c and tx̣ʷ). Really, Salishan languages have plenty of vowels. To be honest, it reminds me a bit of how people will sometimes claim that speakers of African Khoesan languages "speak only in clicks". There's an entire language there, and behind that an entire language family, and behind that an entire region (Tsimshianic doesn't get nearly the love it deserves)-- and yet for years all anyone's been able to say is "Whoa did you know Nuxalk lets you say txlhtqtqtlxkjxlqthlxthakltsth something something bunchberry plant??"

Can't fault this at all (and I would honestly say even Wakashan is overlooked in comparison to Salishan), and honestly it distracts from some of the more interesting points about Salishan vowels systems, including the fact that both Halkomelem and Saanich natively have the system /i e ə a/, i.e. they lack rounded vowels in native words. This system has only been proposed for one other languge (Enindhilyangkwa in Australia), making it possibly even rarer than the oft-trotter-out /ə a/ system found in Ubykh, Abkhaz and Arrernte among others.

[Jonlang]

(Don't take this personally, Jonlang, but:)

I hate that example sentence. It's a meme. It's the only thing anyone ever says about Bella Coola. Sure, whatever, it's technically a licit word in the language (Nater, Bella Coola Language, page 5)-- I don't care, but it's not at all representative of the Bella Coola or the Salishan aesthetic. Vowel-less words aren't very common and almost always very short (e.g. the deictics c and tx̣ʷ). Really, Salishan languages have plenty of vowels. To be honest, it reminds me a bit of how people will sometimes claim that speakers of African Khoesan languages "speak only in clicks". There's an entire language there, and behind that an entire language family, and behind that an entire region (Tsimshianic doesn't get nearly the love it deserves)-- and yet for years all anyone's been able to say is "Whoa did you know Nuxalk lets you say txlhtqtqtlxkjxlqthlxthakltsth something something bunchberry plant??"

If it bothers you that much why don't you update the article to better represent the language? At least then when ignoramuses like me come along we can learn something useful. I was, however, aware that the language has plenty of vowels. I searched YouTube for a video containing some spoken Nuxalk and found this.

[Imralu]

Here's a Christmas song in another one of the Salish languages.