Coast Salish languages explained

Coast Salish
Region:	Salish Sea (Strait of Georgia (British Columbia, Canada) and Puget Sound (Washington state)
Familycolor:	American
Family:	Salishan
Child1:	Central Salish
Child2:	Tsamosan †
Child3:	Tillamook †
Glotto:	none
Mapcaption:	Distribution of Coast Salish languages in the early 19th century
Map:	Coast Salish language map.svg

The Coast Salish languages, also known as the Central Salish languages,^[1] are a branch of the Salishan language family. These languages are spoken by First Nations or Native American peoples inhabiting the Pacific Northwest, in the territory that is now known as the southwest coast of British Columbia around the Strait of Georgia and Washington State around Puget Sound. The term "Coast Salish" also refers to the cultures in British Columbia and Washington who speak one of these languages or dialects.

Geography

The Coast Salish languages are spoken around most of the Georgia and Puget Sound Basins, an area that encompasses the sites of the modern-day cities of Vancouver, British Columbia, Seattle, Washington, and others. Archeological evidence indicates that Coast Salish peoples may have inhabited the area as far back as 9000 BCE. What is now Seattle, for example, has been inhabited since the end of the last glacial period (c. 8,000 BCE - 10,000 years ago).^[2]

In the past, the Nuxálk language (also known as Bella Coola) of British Columbia's Central Coast has also been considered Coast Salish. This language shares at least one phonological change with Coast Salish (the merger of the Proto-Salish pharyngeal approximants with the uvular fricatives), but it also displays certain similarities to the Interior Salish languages. If it is indeed a member of the Coast Salish branch, it was the first to split off from the rest.

Classification

The Coast Salish languages can be classified in anywhere from one to three branches. The Tsamosan and Tillamook languages are often considered by linguists to be independent branches under the Salishan language family, and not part of the Coast Salish branch.^[3]

Overview

Below is a list of the Coast Salish languages. Languages and dialects with no living native speakers are marked with .

• Coast Salish
  • Coast (Central) Salish
    • Comox
      • Island Comox
      • Sliammon (; also known as Mainland Comox)
    • Pentlatch
    • shíshálh (also known as Sechelt)
    • Squamish
    • Halkomelem
      • Upriver Halkomelem
      • Downriver Halkomelem
      • Island Halkomelem
    • Nooksack ^{[4] [5]}
    • Northern Straits (also known as North Straits)
      • Saanich ()
      • T'Souke
      • Lekwungen (also known as Songhees)
      • Semiahmoo
      • Lummi ()
      • Samish ()^[6]
    • S'Klallam (nəxʷsƛ̕áy̓emúcən;^[7] also known as Klallam)
    • Lushootseed
      • Northern Lushootseed ^[8]
      • Southern Lushootseed (;^[9] also known as Twulshootseed or Whulshootseed)
    • Twana (; also known as Skokomish)^[10]
  • Tsamosan
    • Quinault
    • Lower Chehalis
    • Upper Chehalis
      • Satsop
    • Cowlitz ^[11]
  • Tillamook/Oregon Salish
    • Tillamook
      • Tillamook
      • Siletz

See also

• Interior Salish languages
• Tillamook (extinct Salishan language)

Bibliography

• Bates, Dawn, Hess, Thom, and Hilbert, Vi; map by Dassow, Laura, 1994, Lushootseed dictionary, University of Washington Press, Seattle and London, . (alk. paper) Revised and expanded update of Hess, Thom, Dictionary of Puget Salish (University of Washington Press, 1976). Accessed Sep 24, 2009.
• Book: Boyd, Robert . The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence: Introduced Infectious Diseases and Population Decline Among Northwest Coast Indians . 1999 . University of Washington Press and University of British Columbia Press . Seattle and Vancouver. . (alk. paper)
• Book: Cole, Douglas and Chaikin, Ira . An iron hand upon the people: the law against the potlatch on the Northwest coast . 1990 . Douglas & McIntyre and University of Washington Press . Vancouver and Seattle . . (acid-free paper)
• Czaykowska-Higgins, Ewa and M. Dale Kinkade (1998) "Salish languages and linguistics" in ibid. (eds.) Salish Languages and Linguistics: Theoretical and Descriptive Perspectives. New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 1–71. .
• Web site: Dailey . Tom . 2006-06-14 . Duwamish-Seattle . Coast Salish Villages of Puget Sound . 2006-04-21.
  Page links to Village Descriptions Duwamish-Seattle section http://coastsalishmap.org/Village_Descriptions_Duwamish-Seattle.htm.
  Dailey referenced "Puget Sound Geography" by T. T. Waterman. Washington DC: National Anthropological Archives, mss. [n.d.] [ref. 2];
  Duwamish et al. vs. United States of America, F-275. Washington DC: US Court of Claims, 1927. [ref. 5];
  "Indian Lake Washington" by David Buerge in the Seattle Weekly, 1–7 August 1984 [ref. 8];
  "Seattle Before Seattle" by David Buerge in the Seattle Weekly, 17–23 December 1980. [ref. 9];
  The Puyallup-Nisqually by Marian W. Smith. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940. [ref. 10].
  Recommended start is "Coast Salish Villages of Puget Sound" http://coastsalishmap.org/start_page.htm.
• Kroeber, Paul D. (1999) The Salish Language Family: Reconstructing Syntax. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, .
• Web site: Lange . Greg . 2003-02-04 . 2000-12-08 . Smallpox Epidemic of 1862 among Northwest Coast and Puget Sound Indians . HistoryLink.org Essay 5171 . 2006-07-21.
  Lange referenced a very extensive list.
  Summary article
  • Web site: Lange . Greg . 2000-12-08 . Smallpox kills 14,000 Northwest Coast Indians from April to December 1862. . HistoryLink.org Essay 3176 . 2006-07-21 .
    Lange referenced Lange, "Smallpox Epidemic of 1862 among Northwest Coast and Puget Sound Indians" https://web.archive.org/web/20041106114041/http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5171, HistoryLink.org Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History. Accessed 8 December 2000.
• Encyclopedia: Miller . Jay (Lenape) . Hoxie, Frederick E. . Encyclopedia of North American Indians . Seattle (Si'al) . 1996 . Houghton Mifflin. Boston . 978-0-395-66921-1. 574 - 6.
• Web site: 2003-07-04 . per "Native Art of the Northwest Coast: Collection Insight" . The people and their land . Puget Sound Native Art and Culture . Seattle Art Museum . 2006-04-21.
• Encyclopedia: Suttles . Wayne . Lane, Barbara . Sturtevant, William C. . . South Coast Salish . 1990-08-20 . Smithsonian Institution . 7. Northwest coast . Washington . (v. 7) . 491. 0-87474-187-4 .
• Web site: Talbert . Paul . 2006-05-01 . SkEba'kst: The Lake People and Seward Park . The History of Seward Park . SewardPark.org . 2006-06-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20051214035236/http://www.sewardpark.org/sewardpark/history.html . 2005-12-14 . dead .
• Encyclopedia: Thompson . Lawrence C . Kinkade, M. Dale . Sturtevant, William C. . Handbook of North American Indians . Languages . 1990-08-20 . Smithsonian Institution . 7. Northwest coast . Washington . (v. 7) . 30–51. 0-87474-187-4 . Wayne Suttles (ed.)

Further reading

• Sarah C. Fletcher, (17 April 2000). "The First Nations of the North West Coast-Coast Salish; Connections to the environment, involvement in conservation." First Nations of the Northwest Coast: Coast Salish
• Tom Dailey. "Coast Salish Villages of Puget Sound", start page.
• Traditional Ecological Knowledge (PDF). "Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Coast Salish informs modern research and resource management."
• "Coast Salish. Collections: Archeology and Ethnology of the Gulf of Georgia" collection, Province of British Columbia

External links

• "Salishan Language Family." Native Languages of the Americas website

Notes and References

1. Book: Thompson, Laurence C. . Handbook of North American Indians . Kinkade . Dale . . 1990 . 9780160203909 . 7 . Washington, D.C. . 34-35.
2. Book: Carlson, Keith Thor . A Stó:lō-Coast Salish Historical Atlas . Vancouver, BC . Douglas & McIntyre . 2001 . 6–18 . 1-55054-812-3.
3. van Eijk . Jan P. . Fall 2017 . Salish Words for 'Black Bear' and 'Grizzly Bear' . Anthropological Linguistics . 59 . 3 . 324-325 . JSTOR.
4. Web site: 2023-09-21 . About Us . 2023-09-22 . Nooksack Indian Tribe . en-US.
5. Book: Richardson, Allan . Nooksack Place Names: Geography, Culture, and Language . UBC Press . 2011 . 9780774820455 . Vancouver.
6. Web site: Language . 2023-06-24 . Samish Indian Nation.
7. Web site: Klallam Language . 2023-10-26 . klallamlanguage.org.
8. Book: Bates, Dawn . Lushootseed Dictionary . Hess . Thom . Hilbert . Vi . . 1994 . 978-0295973234 . Seattle.
9. Web site: About Twulshootseed . 2023-10-27 . Puyallup Tribal Language.
10. Book: Drachman, Gaberell . tuwaduq - The Twana Language E-Dictionary Project . . 2020.
11. Web site: Cowlitz Coast Salish Dictionary . 2023-11-08 . Cowlitz Salish Dictionary . Cowlitz Indian Tribe.