About x̄á’isla

The Haisla language is spoken on the British Columbia mainland, around the Douglas Channel, across from the Queen Charlotte Islands. There are two main dialects spoken, Kitamaat and Kitlope.

 

The Haisla language is spoken by the descendants of the Gitamaat and Kitlope bands from the Kitimat area of the northern coast of British Columbia. Haisla is one of the Wakashan tongues, related closely to Kwak’wala (previously called Kwakiutl) and Heiltsuk (Bellabella) and more distantly to the Nuuchahnulth (Nootka), Nitinat and Makah. The Wakashan Language Family is one of the six language families of the northern Northwest Coast cultural area.

Haisla names and words are written in a phonetic alphabet developed to allow the sounds of the Haisla language to be distinguished. Several different scientifically accurate alphabets have been used for writing Haisla. We use a transcription system based on a Haisla alphabet devised by Emmon Bach.

 

Also have a look at other existing x̄á’isla language resources here.