Method and Conclusion. See here.
Results. A ratings system was designed in terms of how difficult it would be for an English-language speaker to learn the language. In the case of English, English was judged according to how hard it would be for a non-English speaker to learn the language. Speaking, reading and writing were all considered.
Ratings: Languages are rated 1-6, easiest to hardest. 1 = easiest, 2 = moderately easy to average, 3 = average to moderately difficult, 4 = very difficult, 5 = extremely difficult, 6 = most difficult of all. Ratings are impressionistic.
Time needed. Time needed for an English language speaker to learn the language “reasonably well”: Level 1 languages = 3 months-1 year. Level 2 languages = 6 months-1 year. Level 3 languages = 1-2 years. Level 4 languages = 2 years. Level 5 languages = 3-4 years, but some may take longer. Level 6 languages = more than 4 years.
This post will look at a number of Interior Salish languages – Straights Salish, Montana Salish, Lushootseed, and Halkomelem – in terms of how difficult it would be for an English speaker to learn it.
Interior Salish
Southern
Montana Salish is said to be just as hard to learn as Nuxálk. Spokane (Montana Salish) has combining and independent forms with the same meaning:
spim’cn – mouth
-cin – mouth
Montana Salish makes it onto a lot of craziest grammars lists.
This link shows an elder on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, Steven Smallsalmon, speaking Montana Salish. He also leads classes in the language. This is probably one of the strangest sounding languages on Earth.
Montana Salish is rated 6, hardest of all.
Central
Straits Salish has an aspectual distinction between persistent and nonpersistent. Persistent means the activity continues after its inception as a state. The persistent morpheme is -í. The result is similar to English:
figure out – nonpersistent
know – persistent
look at – nonpersistent
watch – persistent
take – nonpersistent
hold – persistent
-í is referred to as a “parasitic morpheme” and only occurs in stems that have an underlying ə which serves as a “host” for the -í morpheme.
How strange.
The Saanich dialect of Straits Salish is often listed in the rogue’s gallery of craziest grammars on Earth for the parasitic morphemes and for having no distinction between nouns and verbs. The writing system is often listed as one of the worst out there.
Straits Salish gets a 6 rating, hardest of all.
Halkomelem, spoken by 570 people around Vancouver, British Colombia, is widely considered to be one of the hardest languages on Earth to learn. In Halkomelem, many verbs have an orientation towards water. You can’t just say She went home. You have say how she was going home in relation to nearby bodies of water. So depending on where she was walking home in relation to the nearest river, you would say:
She was farther away from the water and going home.
She was coming home in the direction away from the water.
She was walking parallel to the flow of the water downstream.
She was walking parallel to the flow of the water upstream.
Halkomelem gets a 6 rating, hardest of all.
Lushootseed
Lushootseed is said to be just as hard to learn as Nuxálk. Lushootseed is one of the few languages on Earth that has no nasals at all, except in special registers like baby talk and the archaic speech of mythological figures. It also has laryngealized glides and nasals: w ̰ , m̥ ̰ , and n̥ ̰ .
Lushootseed is rated 6, hardest of all.
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