Evidence on the Adequacy of First Nations Consultation - BC Hydro ...

DRAFT REPORT: Rights and Title Interests in the Columbia Valley Transmission Project Area
4.0 LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL AFFILIATIONS OF THE
CLAIMANT GROUPS
The follow section examines the identity of the claimant groups and the territory that they are
said to have used and occupied in the historic period.
4.1 Ktunaxa Linguistic and Ethnic Affiliations
The “Ktunaxa” or Kutenai people speak the Kutenai language. Although “Ktunaxa” is now a
widely-used popular term in British Columbia, most linguistic and ethnographic studies continue
to use the spelling “Kutenai” which is often spelled “Kootenai” in the United States. Another
spelling, “Kootenay,” appears in geographical names in British Columbia, and is widely known.
There have been literally dozens of spellings of this term since it was first recorded in the early
1800s.
“Kutenai” is an anglicization of the term “kotonáwa,” a word said to be used by the Blackfoot to
refer to the Kutenai people. Apparently the term “kotonáwa” is based on a root “kotóna-” which
itself may ultimately be derived from the Kutenai word “ktunaxa/ “ (written as “Ktunaxa”).
This term, “ktunaxa/ ”, as well as the term “ksanka” are the two words in the Kutenai language
which are used to describe the Kutenai people as a whole, as well as the language. It is said that
the Montana Kutenai in particular use the word “ksanka” while other Kutenai people generally
use the term “ktunaxa/ ”. 245 Similar information is provided by anthropologist Bill Brunton who
notes that the Montana “Kootenai” (Kutenai) use the term “ksanka” for both “themselves and for
all Kootenais.” Brunton states as well his view that “it is possible that ksanka originally applied
only to the Lower Kootenai while ktunaxa applied to the Upper Kootenai” 246 (see below for the
distinction between Upper and Lower Kutenai).
Most linguists identify Kutenai as a “linguistic isolate” meaning that it is not related to any other
known language. 247 At one time, all the language families of the Northwest Coast and Plateau
culture were classified into one of three “phyla”—Na-Dene, Algonkin-Wakashan and
Penutian—although these phyla are no longer accepted as valid by most linguists. Kutenai,
245 Lawrence Morgan (1991). A Description of the Kutenai Language. Unpublished Ph.D dissertation in
Linguistics. Department of Linguistics, University of California at Berkeley. Pp. 1-2.
246 Bill B. Brunton (1998). Kutenai. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 12, Plateau (ed. by Deward
E. Walker Jr.). Smithsonian Institution: Washington DC. Page 236.
247 Dale Kinkade, William W. Elmendorf, Bruce Rigsby and Haruo Aoki (1998). Languages. Handbook of
North American Indians, Vol. 12, Plateau (ed. by Deward E. Walker Jr.). Smithsonian Institution: Washington DC.
Pp. 49-52.
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