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Shuswap language

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Shuswap language

The Shuswap language (/ˈʃʃwɑːp/; secwepemctsín /ʃəxʷəpəmxˈtʃin/) is a northern Interior Salish language traditionally spoken by the Secwépemc [ʃəˈxʷɛpəməx] or Shuswap people of British Columbia. An endangered language, Shuswap is spoken mainly in the Central and Southern Interior of British Columbia between the Fraser River and the Rocky Mountains. According to the First Peoples' Cultural Council, 200 people speak Shuswap as a mother tongue, and there are 1,190 semi-speakers.

Shuswap is the northernmost of the Interior Salish languages, which are spoken in Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the United States. There are two dialects of Shuswap:

The other Northern Interior Salish languages are Lillooet and Thompson.

Most of the material in this article is from Kuipers (1974).

Many Indigenous languages, like Secwepemctsín, experienced rapid decline with the institution of the residential schools. These schools prohibited the use of Indigenous languages in speech and in writing, resulting in two to three generations of students who were severely punished for not using English. Although some children forced to attend these residential schools can still speak their mother tongue, they have experienced much trauma which has great negative consequences on the future generations.

After residential schools were shut down, Aboriginal children entered the mainstream schooling system which is dominated by English. Inter-generational transmission of Indigenous languages was severely disrupted due to the dominance of English in education and in the workplace. This further contributed to the drastic decline of Indigenous languages. For example, the number of fluent speakers of Secwepemctsín had dwindled to 3.5 per cent by the mid-1990s.

An interface to Facebook is available in Secwepemctsín. The First Voices website has a Secwepemctsin (Eastern Dialect) Community Portal, a Secwepemc Community Portal, and a Splatsin (Eastern dialect) Community Portal for language learning. A November 2012 article estimated about 150 fluent speakers, mostly over 65, adding that "an estimated 400 students are learning the language, and "the majority of Secwepemctsin learners are under age 19." Secwépemc language applications are available for iOS. The Secwepemc Cultural Education Society released Nintendo DSi software in 2013 that teaches Secwepemctsin to young children. A language authority of ten elder fluent speakers, from East, West, and the North, are recording pronunciation. As of 2013, a language tutor was also in preparation, exportable onto CD for use offline. David Lacho, a University of British Columbia master's student, developed an augmented reality storybook app called Tuwitames, available on the Apple App Store, to help people learn the Splatsin dialect of Secwepemctsín in support of the community's language revitalization initiatives.

A cseyseten (language nest) at Adams Lake is conducted entirely in the Secwepemc language. A language nest program in Secwepemctsín also takes place with the Splatsin Tsm7aksaltn (Splatsin Teaching Centre) Society where the grandmothers (kikia7a) interact with and teach the children. On January 21, 2013, Thompson Rivers University began offering a Secwepemctsín language class taught by fluent speaker Janice Billy.

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