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Coast Salish languages are a subgroup of the Salishan language family. These languages are spoken by
First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...
or Native American peoples inhabiting the
Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...
, in the territory that is now known as the southwest coast of
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...
around the
Strait of Georgia The Strait of Georgia (french: Détroit de Géorgie) or the Georgia Strait is an arm of the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the extreme southwestern mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada and the extreme northwestern mainland coast ...
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 Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...
,
Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...
, 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 A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...
(c. 8,000 BCE—10,000 years ago). In the past, the Nuxálk (or Bella Coola) of British Columbia's Central Coast have 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.


Languages

Listings are from north to south. Peoples generally inhabited the mentioned watershed and the shores if a body of water is mentioned, as well as further environs. Adjacent tribes or nations often shared adjacent resources and other practices, so boundaries were seldom distinct.


See also

*
Interior Salish languages The Interior Salish languages are one of the two main branches of the Salishan language family, the other being Coast Salish. It can be further divided into Northern and Southern subbranches. The first Salishan people encountered by American exp ...
* Tillamook (extinct Salishan language)


Notes and references


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. * . (alk. paper) * . (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. . *
Page links to Village Descriptions Duwamish-Seattle sectio


Dailey referenced "Puget Sound Geography" by T. T. Waterman. Washington DC: National Anthropological Archives, mss. .d. ef. 2
''Duwamish et al. vs. United States of America, F-275''. Washington DC: US Court of Claims, 1927. ef. 5
"Indian Lake Washington" by David Buerge in the ''Seattle Weekly'', 1–7 August 1984 ef. 8
"Seattle Before Seattle" by David Buerge in the ''Seattle Weekly'', 17–23 December 1980. ef. 9
''The Puyallup-Nisqually'' by Marian W. Smith. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940. ef. 10
Recommended start is "Coast Salish Villages of Puget Sound

* Kroeber, Paul D. (1999) ''The Salish Language Family: Reconstructing Syntax.'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, . *
Lange referenced a very extensive list.
Summary article **
Lange referenced Lange, "Smallpox Epidemic of 1862 among Northwest Coast and Puget Sound Indians

HistoryLink.org ''Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History''. Accessed 8 December 2000. * * * * * 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.

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



Native Languages of the Americas website {{DEFAULTSORT:Coast Salish Languages Coast Salish languages, Indigenous languages of the Pacific Northwest Coast Indigenous languages of Washington (state) First Nations languages in Canada First Nations in British Columbia Salishan languages