Samish dialect explained

Samish
Familycolor:American
Nativename:Xws7ámeshqen
States:United States, Canada
Ethnicity:Samish people
Fam1:Salishan
Fam2:Coast Salish
Fam3:Central Coast Salish
Fam4:Straits Salish
Fam5:North Straits Salish
Isoexception:dialect
Glotto:sami1249
Script:NAPA (Xws7ámeshqen Alphabet)
Notice:ipa
Pronunciation:pronounced as /[xʷsʔ'e.məʃ.qen]/

Samish (Xws7ámeshqen, pronounced as /xʷsʔ'e.məʃ.qen/)[1] is a dialect of the North Straits Salish dialect continuum spoken by the Indigenous Samish people of the Pacific Northwest. Samish is traditionally referred to as a language, but it is mutually intelligible with the other dialects of North Straits Salish. Samish is a Coast Salish language and is closely related to other languages in that family.

The Samish language is still spoken by some Samish tribal members, and the Samish Indian Nation's Xws7ámeshqen Program is working to revitalize the language in daily life. They offer classes to tribal citizens and have an online website with a wordlist and placenames.

Orthography

Xws7ámeshqen Alphabet[2] !Uppercase!Lowercase!IPA
7/ʔ/
Aa/e/
Chch/t͡ʃ/
Ch'ch'/t͡ʃ‘/
Ee/e~ə/
Hh/h/
Ii/i/
Kk/k~k’/
Kwkw/kʷ/
Kw'kw'/kʷ’/
Ll/l/
Lhlh/ɬ/
Mm/m/
Nn/n/
Ngng/ŋ/
Oo/ɔ/
Pp/p/
P'p'/p’/
Qq/q/
Q'q'/q’/
Qwqw/qʷ/
Qw'qw'/qʷʼ/
Ss/s/
Shsh/ʃ/
Tt/t/
T't'/t’/
Tl'tl'/t͡ɬ’/
Tsts/ts/
Ts'ts'/ts’/
Uu/u/
Ww/w/
/χ/
Xwxw/xʷ/
X̲wx̲w/χʷ/
Yy/j/

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Language . 2023-06-24 . Samish Indian Nation.
  2. Web site: Hall . Kelly . McCool . Christopher . Introduction to Samish Language . Samish Indian Nation . Samish E-Classroom.