Nez Perce

Introduction

Nez Perce, also spelled Nez Percé or called Nimipuutímt, is a Sahaptian language related to the several dialects of Sahaptin. Nez Perce is an endangered language and is currently spoken by an estimated 60-70 fluent speakers the majority of whom reside on the Nez Perce reservation (ID). A small number of speakers of the Lower River Nez Perce dialect reside on the Umatilla (OR) and Colville (WA) Indian reservations.

The Nez Perce language is a polysynthetic language and, as such, it displays an enriched morphological system whereby complex propositions can be expressed at the level of a single word.

The Nez Perce Verb

• Verbs are classified into two verb types: VC and VS.
• Morphosyntactic words, inclusive of a verb stem, share in a single intonation and vowel harmonic contour known as culiminativity.
• Verb roots and verb affixes share Tense, Aspect, and Modality.
• Verb roots and verb affixes expressing a complex sequence of predicates share in its Argument Structure via its pronominal system.
• Verb roots and verb affixes are semantically interpretable as referring to subparts of a core event.
• Verb roots and verb affixes show a distinct order in their position of exponence.

Verblist

• cewcewí
• ˀiyeléhtse