| Affix function | number of borrowed affixes |
|---|---|
Information and examples are from Nater (2000; 2010). Bella Coola has borrowed a portion of its lexicon from Chinook Jargon, a creole language related to Upper Chinook. The plural suffix it borrowed from Upper Chinook has no known cognates in the Salishan languages related to Bella Coola, but Upper Chinook has a similar plural suffix, which is identified as the source form. In Chinook, this plural suffix is part of a circumfix and the suffix part can be omitted. Today, Chinook and Bella Coola are spoken far away from each other. However, Nater (2010:204–207) argues that Bella Coola speakers were located near speakers of Chinookan languages until maybe the early 20th century, and that Bella Coola traders developed a vernacular variety that took in Chinook elements, including -uks, from where this suffix spread into other varieties of Bella Coola.
1 nominal number suffix