The Siletz (pronounced SIGH-lets) were the southernmost of several divisions of the
Tillamook people
The Tillamook are a Native American tribe from coastal Oregon of the Salish linguistic group. The name "Tillamook" is a Chinook language term meaning "people of he villageNekelim (or Nehalem)", sometimes it is given as a Coast Salish term, meani ...
speaking a distinct dialect; the other dialect-divisions were: ''Salmon River'' on the
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
of that name, ''Nestucca'' on
Little
Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt
* ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film
*The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...
and
Nestucca River
The Nestucca River flows for about through forests near the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States. It drains a timber-producing area of the Northern Oregon Coast Range west of Portland.
Rising in the mountains of western Yamhi ...
and
Nestucca Bay
Nestucca Bay is a bay formed by the confluence of the Nestucca River and the Pacific Ocean in northwest Oregon in the United States. It is near the town of Pacific City, which is in southwestern Tillamook County, about south of Cape Lookout. ...
, ''
Tillamook Bay
Tillamook Bay is a small inlet of the Pacific Ocean, approximately 6 mi (10 km) long and 2 mi (3 km) wide, on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located just north of Cape Meares in western Tillamook Count ...
'' on the
bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
of that name and the mouths of the Kilchis, Wilson, Trask and Tillamook rivers, and ''
Nehalem'' on
Nehalem River
The Nehalem River is a river on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States, approximately long. It drains part of the Northern Oregon Coast Range northwest of Portland, originating on the east side of the mountains and flowing in ...
. The name "Siletz" comes from the name of the
Siletz River
The Siletz River flows about to the Pacific Ocean through coastal mountains in the U.S. state of Oregon. Formed by the confluence of its north and south forks near Valsetz in Polk County, it winds through the Central Oregon Coast Range. The ri ...
on which they live. The origin of the name is unknown (perhaps
Oregon Athabaskan? variants: Salǽˑtʃʼɪtʃʽ, Sai-lĕtc-́ĭc qûn-nĕ, and Sii-lee-ch'ish)
Their eastern neighbors the
Central Kalapuya tribes called them Tsä Shnádsh amím.
In
Chasta Costa and Euchre Creek-Tututni and
Chetco-Tolowa they were known as Shii-lee-ch'ish, the Naltunne-Tututni name was Sai-lĕtc-́ĭc me-́t̟ûn-nĕ (all with reference to the Siletz River) and the Upper Coquille-Tututni name ʃɪllǽˑttʃʼɪʃmæ̽-dɜnhæ or Sii-lee-ch'ish- dv-ne ("Siletz River People").
ILDA - Indigenous Languages Digital Archive
/ref>
Today they are a constituent band of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and the group from which the confederation received its name. In 1856 following the Rogue River Wars
The Rogue River Wars were an armed conflict in 1855–1856 between the U.S. Army, local militias and volunteers, and the Native American tribes commonly grouped under the designation of Rogue River Indians, in the Rogue River Valley area o ...
in southern Oregon, people from among more than 27 Native Tribes and Bands, speaking 10 distinct languages: Alsea/Yaquina, chinuk wawa (a.k.a. Chinook Jargon), Coos, Kalapuya, Molala, Shasta, Siuslaw/Lower Umpqua, Takelma, Tillamook, and a broad group of Athapascans speaking groups of SW Oregon, including Upper Umpqua, Coquille, Tututni, Chetco, Tolowa, Galice and Applegate River peoples who by treaty agreements and force were removed by the United States to the Coast Indian Reservation The Coast Indian Reservation is a former Indian reservation in the U.S. state of Oregon, established in 1855. It was gradually reduced in size and in the 21st century is known as the present-day Siletz Reservation.
History
The Coast Reservation wa ...
, later known as the Siletz Reservation
The Siletz Reservation is a 5.852 sq mi (15.157 km²) Indian reservation in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States, owned by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. The reservation is made up of numerous non-contiguous parcels of land in east-centra ...
.
Over generations the Siletz people have faced brutal federal policies which resulted their 1.1 million acre reservation being illegally taken from them. Then Congress passed the Western Oregon Termination Act, ending the government to government relationship with the Siletz Tribes. The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians was successful in lobbying Congress to repeal the Termination Act as applied to the Siletz and again was federally recognized as of Nov. 18, 1977. Today their members are enrolled in the federally recognized
This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in the United States is a federally recognized confederation of more than 27 Native American tribes and bands who once inhabited an extensive homeland of more than 20 million acres from northern Califo ...
The only native language still spoken on the reservation is Siletz Dee-ni, which is a combination of all Athbaskan dialectic variant vocabularies spoken by several of the original reservation tribes. In cooperation with the National Geographic Society and the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, the tribe produced a "talking dictionary" of Siletz Dee-ni in 2007 to aid in preservation and teaching.
History
Traditionally, the Siletz were believed to be a Salishan
The Salishan (also Salish) languages are a family of languages of the Pacific Northwest in North America (the Canadian province of British Columbia and the American states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana). They are characterised by ag ...
-speaking group; they inhabited an area along the central coast of Oregon near the Siletz River
The Siletz River flows about to the Pacific Ocean through coastal mountains in the U.S. state of Oregon. Formed by the confluence of its north and south forks near Valsetz in Polk County, it winds through the Central Oregon Coast Range. The ri ...
until the middle of the 19th century. The tribe was considered the southernmost group of the larger Coast Salish
The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coas ...
culture,[ which was centered near 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 Puget Sound
Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...
in what are now 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, ...
, Canada, and 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 ...
, United States.
The Siletz were closely related in language and culture to the Tillamook Tillamook may refer to:
Places:
* Tillamook County, Oregon, United States
* Tillamook, Oregon, a city, the seat of Tillamook County
* Tillamook River, United States
* Tillamook Bay, a bay in the northwestern part of Oregon
* Tillamook Head, a natu ...
tribe to their north 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 ...
. During or after the Rogue River Wars
The Rogue River Wars were an armed conflict in 1855–1856 between the U.S. Army, local militias and volunteers, and the Native American tribes commonly grouped under the designation of Rogue River Indians, in the Rogue River Valley area o ...
of 1855–1856, which extended to areas of northern California, members of the tribe were moved by the United States government to the Coast Indian Reservation The Coast Indian Reservation is a former Indian reservation in the U.S. state of Oregon, established in 1855. It was gradually reduced in size and in the 21st century is known as the present-day Siletz Reservation.
History
The Coast Reservation wa ...
, later called the Siletz Reservation
The Siletz Reservation is a 5.852 sq mi (15.157 km²) Indian reservation in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States, owned by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. The reservation is made up of numerous non-contiguous parcels of land in east-centra ...
.
The Tillamook and peoples of more than 20 other small tribes, including the Tolowa people
The Tolowa people or Taa-laa-wa Dee-ni’ are a Native American people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethno-linguistic group. Two rancherias (Smith River and Elk Valley) still reside in their traditional territory in northwestern California. Tho ...
of northern California, were also removed to the reservation.[ It is located along the ]Siletz River
The Siletz River flows about to the Pacific Ocean through coastal mountains in the U.S. state of Oregon. Formed by the confluence of its north and south forks near Valsetz in Polk County, it winds through the Central Oregon Coast Range. The ri ...
in the Central Oregon Coast Range
The Central Oregon Coast Range is the middle section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, and located in the west-central portion of the state of Oregon, United States roughly between the Salmon River and t ...
, 15 miles northeast of Newport, which is on the coast in Lincoln County.
Population
Language
The Siletz are believed to have spoken the "Siletz dialect" or "Southern Tillamook" of the Tillamook (Hutyéyu) language, which was part of the Coast Salish language
Coast Salish languages are a subgroup 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 ...
s. Tillamook was declared extinct when its last native speaker died in 1970.[
What is now known as the Siletz Dee-ni language was restricted historically to speakers in "a small area on the central Oregon coast."] Linguists have concluded that Siletz is not related to Tillamook at all, but is a form of Tolowa
The Tolowa people or Taa-laa-wa Dee-ni’ are a Native American people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethno-linguistic group. Two rancherias (Smith River and Elk Valley) still reside in their traditional territory in northwestern California. Tho ...
, an Athabaskan language
Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal ...
rather than a Salishan language. The Tolowa people
The Tolowa people or Taa-laa-wa Dee-ni’ are a Native American people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethno-linguistic group. Two rancherias (Smith River and Elk Valley) still reside in their traditional territory in northwestern California. Tho ...
were one of the 20 Native American groups whose descendants comprise the Confederated Tribes of Siletz.
In the 21st century, Siletz Dee-ni was the only native language still spoken on the reservation. Realizing that their language was endangered, the Consolidated Siletz tribe have taken actions to preserve and teach it. Also called Tolowa Dee-ni, the language has been studied by several groups (see books about the language below). Members of the tribe have worked with a variety of linguists to document the language. As they say, their work is "a comprehensive attempt to include the similarities and the differences of the known dialects of the Southwest Oregon / Northwestern California Athabaskan Language."["Guide to using the Siletz Dictionary" by Amy Smolek, in Anderson, Gregory D.S. and K. David Harrison. (2007) ''Siletz Talking Dictionary,'' Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages; accessed 25 November 2016](_blank)
/ref>
The Siletz have also taken part in an international effort by the National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world.
Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...
, the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages (LTIEL) is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization based in Salem, Oregon, United States. The institute's focus is to scientifically document endangered languages, as well as assist communities with ...
, and linguists such as K. David Harrison of Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...
to save languages that are threatened with extinction. Alfred "Bud" Lane, among the last fluent native speakers of Siletz on the reservation, has recorded 14,000 words of the Siletz Dee-ni language. Lane and other Siletz had decided they wanted to work to preserve and revive the language.
Lane's work was used to help produce a Siletz talking dictionary, one of eight dictionaries produced for endangered languages in this project, as reported at the annual meeting in 2012 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
(AAAS). The bi-lingual dictionary, in English and Siletz Dee-ni, with illustrations, will be used to teach the dialect to tribal members in the Siletz Valley. Such digital tools and social media can help small groups communicate. Professor Harrison said, "... a positive effect of globalisation is that you can have a language that is spoken by only five or 50 people in one remote location, and now through digital technology that language can achieve a global voice and a global audience."
References
Further reading
*''Tolowa Language Dictionary,'' 1st and 2nd Editions, by Loren Bommelyn
*''Tolowa Dee-ni Language,'' by Loren Bommelyn, 1999.
*''Tolowa Dee-ni Language: Vocabulary One,'' by Loren Bommelyn, 2000.
*''Tututni/Sixes/Yuu-ke Dee-ne (Athabaskan) Language- Ida Bensell,'' by Victor Golla (also incorporated works with Ida by Elizabeth Jacobs).
External links
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
official site
Siletz Language Project
University of Oregon
California State University San Marcos
{{authority control
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau
Native American tribes in Oregon