Oregon Penutian is a hypothetical

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in hist ...

in the

Penutian Penutian is a proposed grouping of language families that includes many Native American languages of western North America, predominantly spoken at one time in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California. The existence of a Penutian s ...

language phylum comprising languages spoken at one time by several groups of Native Americans in present-day western

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and western

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Various languages in the family are divided by dialects that are in most cases identical to the various identified tribal bands in the region. The languages were spoken largely along both banks of the lower and middle

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

, in the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...

, in the Oregon

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

, along the

Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Columbia ...

, and in the valleys of the Umpqua and Rogue rivers. The area in which the languages were spoken includes the most populated areas of Oregon today. Languages in the Oregon Penutian family are: *

Kalapuyan Kalapuyan (also Kalapuya) is a small extinct language family that was spoken in the Willamette Valley of Western Oregon, United States. It consists of three languages. The Kalapuya language is currently in a state of revival. Kalapuyan descenda ...

Takelma The Takelma (also Dagelma) are a Native American people who originally lived in the Rogue Valley of interior southwestern Oregon. Most of their villages were sited along the Rogue River. The name ''Takelma'' means "(Those) Along the River". His ...

* '' Coast Oregon group'' ** Alsean ** Siuslaw **

Coosan Coosan () is a townland and suburb just north of Athlone, County Westmeath in Ireland. The suburb is surrounded on three sides by Lough Ree and on one side by Athlone. Coosan attracts tourists over the summer months due to its location on the ...

Recent internal classifications of Penutian, such as that of Scott DeLancey, have abandoned Oregon Penutian, while retaining the Coast Oregon Penutian family.

References

Penutian languages Indigenous languages of the Pacific Northwest Coast Indigenous languages of the North American Plateau Indigenous languages of Oregon Indigenous languages of Washington (state) {{indigenousAmerican-lang-stub