[3][4] Researchers working in the Generative tradition have speculated that Salishan languages lack lexical categories such as nouns and verbs.

Evidence for such an absence of contrast between parts of speech in Nlaka'pamuctsin come from a lack of clear morphological markers (e.g. morphemes) that differentiate nouns and verbs.

[5][6] Instead, generative linguists discuss morphology and syntax in Salishan based on a framework of predicates and particles.

Work in Functional linguistics suggests that other factors beyond morphological evidence code lexical categories in languages.

[2] Thompson and Thompson assert that as a result of English language influence, speakers are using these more complex predicates less and less in favor of simpler predicates with complements and adjuncts, resulting in “a general decline in the exploitation of the rich synthetic resources of the language.”[2]