User:Scowan32/Nisga'a language

History
Like almost all other First Nations languages of British Columbia, Nisga’a is an endangered language. In the 2018 Report on the Status of B.C. First Nations Languages, there were 311 fluent speakers and 294 active language learners reported in a population of 6,113.

Other notable documentation of the Nisga'a language include 'A Short Practical Dictionary of the Gitksan Language' compiled by Bruce Rigsby and Lonnie Hindle, published in 1973 in Volume 7, Issue 1 of Journal of Northwest Anthropology. In this dictionary, Rigsby created a simple alphabet for Nisga'a that is widely used today.

A total of 6092 words and 6470 phrases has been archived on the Nisga'a Community Portal at First Voices.

Revitalization efforts
A recent project called “Raising Nisga’a Language, Sovereignty, and Land-Based Education Through Traditional Carving Knowledge” (RNL) was started by Nisga’a professor Amy Parent at University of British Columbia working with and the Laxgalts’ap Village Government. It will run over several years and aims to combine virtual reality technology with traditional knowledge in Nisga'a.

Vowels
The high and mid short front vowels /i/ and /e/ as well as the high and mid short back vowels /u/ and /o/ are largely found to be in complementary distribution in native Nisga'a words but these pairs of sounds contrast one another in words borrowed into the language, making them distinct.