| Pentlatch | |
| Nativename: | Pənƛ’áč |
| States: | Canada |
| Region: | Vancouver Island |
| Extinct: | 1940, with the death of Joe Nim Nim |
| Ref: | linglist |
| Familycolor: | American |
| Fam1: | Salish |
| Fam2: | Coast Salish |
| Fam3: | Central |
| Iso3: | ptw |
| Glotto: | pent1242 |
| Glottorefname: | Pentlatch |
| Linglist: | ptw |
| Map: | Pentlatch.png |
| Revived: | began 2017, declared living by 2023 |
| Ethnicity: | Pentlatch people |
The Pentlatch, Pentl’ach, Puntlatch, Puntlatsh or Puntledge language is a Salishan language that was spoken on Canada's Vancouver Island in a small area between Comox and Nanaimo, British Columbia. The Pentlatch people formerly numbered at least 3,000 with at least 90 settlements in the area. The language became extinct after the death of the last fluent speaker Joe Nim Nim in 1940,[1] but researchers from Qualicum First Nation declared it to be a living language in December 2023.[2]
In 2017, Qualicum Elder Bill Recalma, a speaker of Pentlatch, began working to record and teach what he knew of the language. He and his son Jessie have been working together to help revive it. The Pentlatch celebrated a ceremony celebrating the language's reawakening due to their efforts.[3] In 2023, the Pentlatch language was reclassified by Qualicum researchers as a living language and was added to the list of official First Nations' languages in British Columbia.
The name of this people and their language survives on the modern map as that of the Puntledge River, the Comox Valley locality of Puntledge and the name of the Pentledge 2 Indian Reserve, now allocated to the K'ómoks First Nation band government.[4] [5]