Alternate Names: Nass, Nisgha, Nishga, Nishka, Nisk’a, Nisqa’a
Dialects: Variation within Nisga’a not great enough to be considered dialects. High degree of inherent intelligibility between Nisga’a and Gitxsan ,.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 610 (2011 census). Ethnic population: 5,400 (Krauss 1997). L2 users: 1,500.
Language Use: Taught in public school since 1976 and at local community college and the University of Northern British Columbia (Golla 2007). Speakers 30 and older. Some older people also use Tsimshian [tsi]. Also use English [eng]. Used as L2 by Gitxsan [git].
Language Development: Schools try to teach oral and written Nisga’a. Taught in primary schools. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible portions: 1906.
Typology: VSO; prepositions; genitives after noun heads; articles, adjectives, numerals before noun heads; relatives without noun heads; question word initial in sentence; 3 or 4 prefixes, 1 inflectional suffix; word order distinguishes subjects, objects, indirect objects, given and new information, topic and comment; verb affixes mark person and number of subject and object unless obscured by phonological rule; pronominal system is fully ergative; morphological passives, but not by construction; direct causatives indicated by suffixes, indirect (jussive) by prefix; CVC; nontonal.
Writing System: Latin
Nation of Origin: Canada
Other Comments: Nisga’a consider Gitxsan , ethnically distinct. Christian.