Thompson (endonym: ) – also known as Nlakaʼpamuctsin, Nlakaʼpamux, or Nthlakampx – is an Interior Salishan language spoken by the Nlakaʼpamux people (also known as the Thompson people). It is spoken in the Fraser Canyon, Thompson Canyon, and Nicola Country of the Canadian province of British Columbia and was formerly spoken in the North Cascades region of Whatcom and Chelan counties of Washington State in the United States. A dialect distinctive to the Nicola Valley is called Scwʼexmx, which is the name of the subgroup of the Nlakaʼpamux who live there.
Phonology
Thompson is a consonant-heavy language. The consonants can be divided into two subgroups: obstruents, which restrict airflow, and sonorants or resonants, which do not. The sonorants are often syllabic consonants, which can form syllables on their own without vowels.
Consonants
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
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! rowspan="2" colspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" | Bilabial
! colspan="3" | Alveolar
! rowspan="2" | Palatal
! colspan="2" | Velar
! colspan="2" | Uvular
! colspan="2" | Pharyngeal
! rowspan="2" | Glottal
|-
! <small>median</small> || <small>sibilant</small> || <small>lateral</small>
! <small>plain</small> || <small>lab.</small>
! <small>plain</small> || <small>lab.</small>
! <small>plain</small> || <small>lab.</small>
|-
! rowspan="2" | Plosive/<br>Affricate
! <small>plain</small>
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! <small>ejective</small>
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! rowspan="3" | Fricative
! <small>plain</small>
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! <small>voiced</small>
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! <small>glottalized</small>
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! rowspan="2" | Sonorant
! <small>plain</small>
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! <small>glottalized</small>
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Vowels
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" |Front
! colspan="2" |Central
! rowspan="2" |Back
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!<small>nor.</small> || <small>ret.</small>
!<small>nor.</small> || <small>ret.</small>
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!Close
| colspan="2" | ~
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!Mid
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| colspan="2" | ~
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!Open
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Stress is used with an acute accent; á.
Writing systems
{| class="wikitable"
|+nɬeʔképmxcin consonant chart
|p̓
|(t̓)
|ƛ̓
|c̓
|c̓
|k̓
|k̓ʷ
|q̓
|q̓ʷ
|ʔ
|-
|p
|t
|ɬ
|c̣
|c
|k
|kʷ
|q
|qʷ
|ʔ
|-
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|ɬ
|ṣ
|s
|x
|xʷ
|x̣
|x̣ʷ
|h
|-
|m
|n
|l
|z
|y
|ɣ
|w
|ʕ
|ʕʷ
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|-
|m̓
|n̓
|l̓
|z̓
|y̓
|ɣ̓
|w̓
|ʕ̓
|ʕ̓ʷ
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|}
One of the writing systems used for Thompson uses the North American Phonetic Alphabet (NAPA) writing system. Instead, generative linguists discuss morphology and syntax in Salishan based on a framework of predicates and particles.
Lexical suffixes
One morphological feature of Thompson is lexical suffixes.