Salishan languages
This article is about the Salish/Salishan language. For the Tacoma, Washington, neighbourhood, see Salishan, Tacoma, Washington.The
Salishan (also
Salish) languages are a group of languages of western
Canada and the
Pacific Northwest of the
United States. They are characterised by
agglutinativity and astonishing
consonant clusters—for instance the
Nuxálk word (IPA: ) meaning 'he had had a bunchberry plant' has 13 consonants in a row with no vowels.
 |
Pre-contact distribution of Salishan languages (in red) |
The terms
Salish and
Salishan are used interchangeably by Salishan linguists and anthropologists. The name
Salish is actually the name of the language of
Salish tribe in Montana. The name was later extended by linguists to refer to other related languages. Many languages do not have self-designations and instead have specific names for local dialects as the local group was more important culturally than larger tribal relations.
All Salishan languages are
endangered—some extremely so with only three or four speakers left. Practically all languages only have speakers who are over sixty years of age, and many languages only have speakers over eighty.
The Salishan language family consists of twenty-three languages. Below is a list of Salishan languages, dialects, and sub-dialects. This list is a linguistic classification that may not correspond to political divisions. Many Salishan groups consider their variety of speech to be a separate language rather than a
dialect.
I. Bella Coola: 1. Nuxálk (a.k.a. Bella Coola, Salmon River)::* Kimsquit::* Bella Coola::* Kwatna::* Tallheo
II. Coast Salish
A. Central Coast Salish (a.k.a. Central Salish):: 2. Comox:::* Comox (a.k.a. Qʼómox̣ʷs):::* Sliammon (Homalco-Klahoose-Sliammon) (a.k.a. "ay"aǰúθəm):: 3. Halkomelem::: Island (a.k.a. Hulʼq̱ʼumiʼnumʼ, həl̕q"əmín"əm"):::* Cowichan:::* Snuneymuxw/Nanaimo::: Downriver (a.k.a. Hunqʼum"i"num"):::* Katzie:::* Kwantlen:::* Musqueam::: Upriver (a.k.a. Upper Sto:lo, Halqʼəméyləm):::* Chehalis (Canada):::* Chilliwack:::* Tait:::* Skway:: 4. Lushootseed (a.k.a. Puget Salish, Skagit-Nisqually, Dxʷləšúcid)::: Northern:::* Skagit (a.k.a. Skaǰət):::* Snohomish (a.k.a. Sduhubš)::: Southern:::* Duwamish-Suquamish (a.k.a. Dxʷdu"abš):::* Puyallup (a.k.a. Spuyaləpubš):::* Nisqually (a.k.a. Sqʷali"abš):: 5. Nooksack (a.k.a. ɬə́čələsəm, ɬə́čælosəm) (†):: 6. Pentlatch (a.k.a. Pənƛ̕áč) (†):: 7. Shishalh (a.k.a. Sechelt, Seshelt, Shashishalhem, šášíšáɬəm):: 8. Squamish (a.k.a. Sqwxwu7mish, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, sqʷx̣ʷú"məš):: i. Straits Salish group (a.k.a. Straits)::: 9. Klallam (a.k.a. Clallam, Nəxʷsƛ̕áy"emúcən)::::* Becher Bay::::* Eastern::::* Western::: 10. Northern Straits (a.k.a. Straits)::::* Lummi (a.k.a. Xwlemiʼchosen, xʷləmi"čósən) (†)::::* Saanich (a.k.a. SENĆOŦEN, sənčáθən, sénəčqən)::::* Samish (a.k.a. Si"neməš)::::* Semaihmoo (a.k.a. Tah-tu-lo) (†)::::* Sooke (a.k.a. Tʼsou-ke, c"awk) (†)::::* Songhees (a.k.a. Lək"ʷəŋín"əŋ) (†):: 11. Twana (a.k.a. Skokomish, Sqʷuqʷú"bəšq, Tuwáduqutšad) (†):::* Quilcene:::* Skokomish (a.k.a. Sqʷuqʷú"bəšq)
B. Tsamosan (a.k.a. Olympic):: i. Inland::: 12. Cowlitz (a.k.a. Lower Cowlitz, Sƛ̕púlmš) (†)::: 13. Upper Chehalis (a.k.a. Q̉ʷay"áyiɬq̉) (†)::::* Oakville Chehalis::::* Satsop::::* Tenino Chehalis:: ii. Maritime::: 14. Lower Chehalis (a.k.a. ɬəw"ál̕məš) (†)::::* Humptulips::::* Westport-Shoalwater::::* Wynoochee::: 15. Quinault (a.k.a. Kʷínayɬ)::::* Queets::::* Quinault
C. Tillamook:: 16. Tillamook (a.k.a. Hutyéyu) (†)::: Siletz:::* Siletz::: Tillamook:::* Garibaldi-Nestucca:::* Nehalem
III. Interior Salish
A. Northern:: 17. Shuswap (a.k.a. Secwepemctsín, səxwəpməxcín)::: Eastern:::* Kinbasket:::* Shuswap Lake::: Western:::* Canim Lake:::* Chu Chua:::* Deadman's Creek-Kamloops:::* Fraser River:::* Pavilion-Bonaparte:: 18. Stʼatʼimcets (a.k.a. Lillooet, Lilloet, St'át'imcets):::* Lillooet-Fountain:::* Mount Currie-Douglas:: 19. Thompson River Salish (a.k.a. Nlakaʼpamux, Ntlakapmuk, nɬe"kepmxcín, Thompson River, Thompson Salish, Thompson, known in frontier times as the Hakamaugh, Klackarpun, Couteau or Knife Indians):::* Lytton:::* Nicola Valley:::* Spuzzum-Boston Bar:::* Thompson Canyon
B. Southern:: 20. Coeur d'Alene (a.k.a. Snchitsuʼumshtsn, snčícu"umšcn):: 21. Columbian (a.k.a. Columbia, Nxa"amxcín):::* Chelan:::* Entiat:::* Moses Columbia:::* Wenatchee (a.k.a. Pesquous):: 22. Colville-Okanagan (a.k.a. Okanagan, Nsilxcín, Nsíylxcən, ta nukunaqínxcən)::: Northern:::* Quilchena & Spaxomin [1]:::* Head of the Lakes:::* Penticton:::* Similkameen:::* Vernon::: Southern:::* Lakes-Colville-Inchelium:::* Methow:::* San Poil-Nespelem:::* Southern Okanogan:: 23. Spokane-Kalispel-Flathead (a.k.a. Kalispel):::* Flathead (a.k.a. Séliš):::* Kalispel (a.k.a. Qalispé)::::* Chewelah::::* Kalispel::::* Pend d'Oreile:::* Spokane (a.k.a. Npoqínišcn) |
Pentlatch, Nooksack, Twana, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, Cowlitz, and Tillamook are now
extinct. Additionally, the Lummi, Semiahmoo, Songhees, and Sooke dialects of Northern Straits are also extinct.
No relationship to any other language is well established. The most plausible connection is with the
language isolate Kutenai (Kootenai), which is generally considered not unlikely but not solidly established.
Edward Sapir suggested that the Salishan languages may be related to the
Wakashan and
Chimakuan languages in a hypothetical
Mosan family. This proposal persists primarily due to Sapir's stature. There is little evidence for it and no progress has been made in reconstructing such a family.
The Salishan languages, principally
Chehalis, contributed greatly to the vocabulary of the
Chinook Jargon.
* generalized sound system
* post-velar
harmony (more areal)
* syllables
*
reduplication* nonconcatenation (
infix,
metathesis,
glottalization)
* control
* tenselessness
* nounlessness controversy
*
Bibliography of Materials on Salishan Languages (YDLI)*
University of Montana Occasional Papers in Linguistics (UMOPL) (Native languages of the Northwest)*
Coast Salish Culture: an Outline Bibliography*
Coast Salish Collections*
International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages*
The Salishan Studies List (Linguist List)*
Okanagan language resources (includes sound files)*
Native Peoples, Plants & Animals: Halkomelem*
Saanich (Timothy Montler's site)*
Klallam (Timothy Montler's site)*
A Bibliography of Northwest Coast Linguistics*
Classification of the Salishan languages reflecting current scholarship*
Ethnologue classification for Salishan* Czaykowska-Higgins, Ewa; & Kinkade, M. Dale (Eds.). (1997).
Salish languages and linguistics: Theoretical and descriptive perspectives. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-015492-7.
* Kroeber, Paul D. (1999).
The Salish language family: Reconstructing syntax. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press in cooperation with the American Indian Studies Research Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington.
* Thompson, Laurence C. (1973). The northwest. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.),
Linguistics in North America (pp. 979-1045). Current trends in linguistics (Vol. 10). The Hauge: Mouton.
* Thompson, Laurence C. (1979). Salishan and the northwest. In L. Campbell & M. Mithun (Eds.),
The languages of native America: Historical and comparative assessment (pp. 692-765). Austin: University of Texas Press.
