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The Salishan (also Salish) languages are a
family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
of languages of 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 North America (the Canadian province 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, ...
and the American states of
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
and
Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
). They are characterised by agglutinativity and
syllabic consonant A syllabic consonant or vocalic consonant is a consonant that forms a syllable on its own, like the ''m'', ''n'' and ''l'' in some pronunciations of the English words ''rhythm'', ''button'' and ''bottle''. To represent it, the understroke diacrit ...
s. For instance the
Nuxalk The Nuxalk people ( Nuxalk: ''Nuxalkmc''; pronounced )'','' also referred to as the Bella Coola, Bellacoola or Bilchula, are an Indigenous First Nation of the Pacific Northwest Coast, centred in the area in and around Bella Coola, British Co ...
word ''clhp’xwlhtlhplhhskwts’'' (), meaning "he had had
n his possession N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...
a bunchberry plant", has thirteen
obstruent An obstruent () is a speech sound such as , , or that is formed by ''obstructing'' airflow. Obstruents contrast with sonorants, which have no such obstruction and so resonate. All obstruents are consonants, but sonorants include vowels as well as ...
consonants in a row with no phonetic or phonemic vowels. The Salishan languages are a geographically contiguous block, with the exception of the Nuxalk (Bella Coola), in the
Central Coast of British Columbia , settlement_type = Region of British Columbia , image_skyline = , nickname = "The Coast" , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = British ...
, and the extinct
Tillamook language Tillamook is an extinct Salishan language, formerly spoken by the Tillamook people in northwestern Oregon, United States. The last fluent speaker was Minnie Scovell who died in 1972. In an effort to prevent the language from being lost, a group ...
, to the south on the central coast of Oregon. The terms ''Salish'' and ''Salishan'' are used interchangeably by
linguists Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
and
anthropologists An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and v ...
studying Salishan, but this is confusing in regular English usage. The name ''Salish'' or ''Selisch'' is the
endonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...
of the
Flathead Nation Flathead may refer to: Peoples * Flathead people, one of three tribes of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation in Montana. * The Flathead, or Flathead Indian (or Amerindian) tribe more formally known as the Confe ...
. Linguists later applied the name Salish to related languages in the Pacific Northwest. Many of the peoples do not have self-designations ( autonyms) in their languages; they frequently have specific names for local dialects, as the local group was more important culturally than larger tribal relations. All Salishan languages are considered critically
endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...
, some extremely so, with only three or four speakers left. Those languages considered
extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
are often referred to as "sleeping languages", in that no speakers exist currently. In the early 21st century, few Salish languages have more than 2,000 speakers. Fluent, daily speakers of almost all Salishan languages are generally over sixty years of age; many languages have only speakers over eighty. Salishan languages are most commonly written using the
Americanist phonetic notation Americanist phonetic notation, also known as the North American Phonetic Alphabet (NAPA), the Americanist Phonetic Alphabet or the American Phonetic Alphabet (APA), is a system of phonetic notation originally developed by European and American an ...
to account for the various vowels and consonants that do not exist in most modern alphabets. Many groups have evolved their own distinctive uses of the Latin alphabet, however, such as the St'at'imc.


Family division

The Salishan language family consists of twenty-three languages. Below is a list of Salishan languages, dialects, and subdialects. The genetic unity among the Salish languages is evident. Neighboring groups have communicated often, to the point that it is difficult to untangle the influence each dialect and language has upon others. A 1969 study found that "language relationships are highest and closest among the Interior Division, whereas they are most distant among the Coast Division." This list is a linguistic classification that may not correspond to political divisions. In contrast to classifications made by linguistic scholars, many Salishan groups consider their particular variety of speech to be a separate language rather than a
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
. Extinct languages or dialects are marked with (†) at the highest level.


''Bella Coola''

: 1. Bella Coola ( Nuxalk, Salmon River) ::*
Kimsquit Kimsquit is a former village of the Nuxalk at the mouth of the Dean River on the northeast side of Dean Channel in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. Kemsquit Indian Reserve No. 1 is nearby at , which is on Kimsquit Bay; Kimsqui ...
::*
Nuxalk The Nuxalk people ( Nuxalk: ''Nuxalkmc''; pronounced )'','' also referred to as the Bella Coola, Bellacoola or Bilchula, are an Indigenous First Nation of the Pacific Northwest Coast, centred in the area in and around Bella Coola, British Co ...
::*
Kwatna This is a list of Nuxalk villages. By 1953 there were only two bodies of Nuxalk left: The Kimsquit, on Dean Inlet; and the Bella Coola, at the mouth of Bella Coola River. Older writers speak of the Nuhalk (Nuxalk), which was the name of the Bella ...
::*
Tallheo Tallheo is the location of a former village of the Nuxalk known as Talyu, and is a former cannery town near Bella Coola, British Columbia, Canada, on North Bentinck Arm. Tallheo is also the name of the dialect of the Nuxalk language spoken by the ...


''Coast Salish''

: A. Central Coast Salish ( Central Salish) :: 2. Comox :::* K'omoks (Sahtloot) ( Qʼómox̣ʷs) :::*
Tla A'min The Tla'amin First Nation (Comox language: ɬəʔamɛn), formerly Sliammon Indian Band or Sliammon First Nation, is a First Nations self governing nation whose lands and traditional territories are located on the upper Sunshine Coast in southwes ...
(Homalco/Xwemalhkwu–Klahoose–Sliammon/Tla A-min) ( ʔayʔaǰuθəm) :: 3.
Halkomelem Halkomelem (; in the Upriver dialect, in the Island dialect, and in the Downriver dialect) is a language of various First Nations peoples of the British Columbia Coast. It is spoken in what is now British Columbia, ranging from southeastern ...
:::Island ( Hulʼq̱ʼumiʼnumʼ, Həl̕q̓əmín̓əm̓) :::* Cowichan :::*
Snuneymuxw The Snuneymuxw First Nation (pronounced ) is located in and around the city of Nanaimo on east-central Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The nation previously had also occupied territory along the Fraser River, in British Columbia. ...
and Snaw-Na-Was :::* Halalt :::* Stz'uminus (Chemainus) :::*
Lamalcha The Hwlitsum or Lamalchi or Lamalcha are an indigenous people whose traditional territories were in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Canada. Their traditional villages were on Canoe Pass, which is known in their language as Hwlitsum, and on ...
:::* Malahat :::*
Penelakut The Penelakut are a large (about 1000 individuals) Halkomelem language, Hul'qumi'num-speaking First Nations in Canada, First Nation. They live primarily on Penelakut Island (formerly Kuper Island) near the south end of Vancouver Island, and Galiano ...
:::* Lyackson :::*
Lake Cowichan Lake Cowichan ( Nitinaht: ʕaʔk̓ʷaq c̓uubaʕsaʔtx̣) (pop. 2,974) is a town located on the east end of Cowichan Lake and, by highway, is west of Duncan, British Columbia. The town of Lake Cowichan was incorporated in 1944. The Cowichan R ...
:::Downriver ( Hunqʼumʔiʔnumʔ) :::*
Musqueam The Musqueam Indian Band ( ; hur, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm ) is a First Nations band government in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the only First Nations band whose reserve community lies within the boundaries of the City of Vancou ...
:::*
Katzie Katzie First Nation ( hur, q̓ic̓əy̓) is an Indigenous band located in the Lower Fraser Valley in British Columbia, Canada. They are part of the Sto:lo Coast Salish group of peoples, historically referred to by European settlers as Fraser Riv ...
:::* Kwantlen :::*
Snokomish The Snokomish were a Halkomelem-speaking Coast Salish people whose territory was primarily located across the Boundary Bay area. The Snokomish were also known as the Derby people, as their territory included a portion of the Fraser River, near De ...
:::*
Tsawwassen Tsawwassen ( ) is a suburban, mostly residential community on a peninsula in the southwestern corner of the City of Delta in British Columbia, Canada. It provides the only road access to the American territory on the southern tip of the peninsul ...
:::*
Kwikwetlem The Kwikwetlem ( hur, kʷikʷəƛ̓əm), whose name is on the modern map as that of the City of Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, are a Coast Salish Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast, indigenous people whose traditional territories and ...
:::*
Tsleil-waututh The Tsleil-Waututh Nation ( hur, səlilwətaɬ ), formerly known as the Burrard Indian Band or Burrard Inlet Indian Band, is a First Nations band government in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The Tsleil-Waututh Nation ("TWN") are Co ...
:::Upriver ( Upper Sto:lō, Halqʼəméyləm) :::*
Sts'Ailes The Sts'ailes (also known as Chehalis) are an indigenous people from the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Their band government is the Chehalis First Nation, formerly known as the Chehalis Indian Band. The band's name community i ...
:::*Chilliwack area bands :::* Tait :::* Skway :: 4.
Lushootseed Lushootseed (txʷəlšucid, dxʷləšúcid), also Puget Salish, Puget Sound Salish or Skagit-Nisqually, is a language made up of a dialect continuum of several Salish tribes of modern-day Washington state. Lushootseed is one of the Coast Salis ...
( Puget Salish, Skagit-Nisqually, dxʷləšúcid) ''(†)'' :::Northern :::* Skagit ( Skaǰət) :::*
Sauk-Suiattle Sauk-Suiattle ( lut, saʔqʷəbixʷ-suyaƛ̕ʔbixʷ), or ''Sah-Ku-Me-Hu,'' is a federally recognized Native American tribe in western Washington state in the United States. The tribe historically lived along the banks of the Sauk, Suiattle, Cas ...
( ̌sa̓ʔqʷəbixʷ) :::* Snohomish ( Sduhubš) :::Southern :::* Duwamish-Suquamish ( Dxʷduʔabš) :::* Puyallup ( Spuyaləpubš) :::* Nisqually ( Sqʷaliʔabš) :: 5. Nooksack ( Łə́čələsəm, Łə́čælosəm) ''(†)'' :: 6. Pentlatch ( Pənƛ̕áč) ''(†)'' :: 7.
Sechelt Sechelt (, Shishalh language chat'lich) is a district municipality located on the lower Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. Approximately 50 km northwest of Vancouver, it is accessible from mainland British Columbia by a 40-minute ferry tr ...
( Seshelt, Sháshíshálh, Shashishalhem, Šášíšáɬəm) :: 8. Squamish ( Sḵwx̱wú7mesh snichim, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Sqwxwu7mish, Sqʷx̣ʷúʔməš) :: i. Straits Salish group ( Straits) ::: 9.
Klallam Klallam (also Clallam, although the spelling with "K" is preferred in all four modern Klallam communities) refers to four related indigenous Native American/First Nations communities from the Pacific Northwest of North America. The Klallam cult ...
( Clallam, Nəxʷsƛ̕áy̓emúcən) ''(†)'' ::::*Becher Bay ::::*Eastern ::::*Western ::: 10. Northern Straits ( Straits) ::::*
Lummi The Lummi ( ; Lummi: ''Xwlemi'' ; also known as Lhaq'temish (), or ''People of the Sea''), governed by the Lummi Nation, are a Native American tribe of the Coast Salish ethnolinguistic group. They are based in the coastal area of the Pacific N ...
( Xwlemiʼchosen, Xʷləmiʔčósən) ''(†)'' ::::*
Pauquachin The Pauaquachin (formerly Pak-quw-chin) are a Coast Salish indigenous people whose territory is in the Greater Victoria area of southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Their houses stand between Gordon Head and Cowichan Head. They are ...
( ::::* Saanich ( SENĆOŦEN, Sənčáθən, Sénəčqən) ::::*
Samish The Samish are a Native American people who live in the U.S. state of Washington. They are a Central Coast Salish people. Through the years, they were assigned to reservations dominated by other Tribes, for instance, the Swinomish Indians of th ...
( Siʔneməš) ::::* Semiahmoo ( Tah-tu-lo) ''(†)'' ::::*
T'Sou-ke The T'sou-ke Nation of the Coast Salish peoples, is a band government whose reserve community is located on Vancouver Island, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. In February 2013, the T'sou-ke Nation had 251 registered members, with two r ...
( Sooke, C̓awk) ''(†)'' ::::*
Songhees The Lekwungen or Lekungen nation (lək̓ʷəŋən often called the Songhees or Songish by non-Lekwungens) are an Indigenous North American Coast Salish people who reside on southeastern Vancouver Island, British Columbia in the Greater Victoria a ...
( Lək̓ʷəŋín̓əŋ) ''(†)'' :: 11.
Twana Twana is the collective name for a group of nine Coast Salish peoples in the northern-mid Puget Sound region, most of whom are extinct or are now subsumed into other groups and organized tribes. The Skokomish are the main surviving group and se ...
( Skokomish, Sqʷuqʷúʔbəšq, Tuwáduqutšad) ''(†)'' :::* Quilcene :::* Skokomish ( Sqʷuqʷúʔbəšq) : B. ( Olympic) ''(†)'' :: i. Inland ::: 12.
Cowlitz Cowlitz may refer to: People * Cowlitz people, an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest ** Cowlitz language, member of the Tsamosan branch of the Coast Salish family of Salishan languages * Cowlitz Indian Tribe, a federally recognized tribe of ...
( Lower Cowlitz, ƛʼpúlmixq) ''(†)'' ::: 13.
Upper Chehalis Upper Chehalis (''Q̉ʷay̓áyiłq̉'') is a member of the Tsamosan (Olympic) branch of the Coast Salish family of Salishan languages The Salishan (also Salish) languages are a family of languages of the Pacific Northwest in North America ( ...
( Q̉ʷay̓áyiɬq̉) ''(†)'' ::::* Oakville Chehalis ::::*
Satsop Satsop is a census-designated place (CDP) in Grays Harbor County, Washington, United States. The population was 675 at the 2010 census, up from 619 at the 2000 census. Geography Satsop is located in southeastern Grays Harbor County on the Sats ...
::::*
Tenino Chehalis Tenino may refer to * Tenino, Washington, a city in the U.S. state of Washington * Tenino people, a Native American tribe of the Pacific Northwest, also known as the Warm Springs bands * Tenino (sternwheeler), ''The Tenino'', a Columbia River stern ...
:: ii. Maritime ::: 14.
Lower Chehalis Lower Chehalis (''Łəw̓ál̕məš'') is a member of the Tsamosan (or Olympic Peninsula) branch of the Coast Salish family of Salishan languages. In some classifications, Lower Chehalis is placed closer to Quinault than it is to Upper Chehalis ...
( Łəw̓ál̕məš) ''(†)'' ::::*
Humptulips Humptulips is a census-designated place (CDP) in Grays Harbor County, Washington, United States. The population of the CDP was 255 according to the 2010 census. Etymology The name Humptulips was the name of a band of the Chehalis tribe who li ...
::::* Westport-Shoalwater ::::* Wynoochee ::: 15. Quinault ( Kʷínayɬ) ''(†)'' ::::*
Queets Queets is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Grays Harbor and Jefferson counties, Washington, United States. The population was 174 at the 2010 census. The primary residents of the community are Native Americans of ...
::::* Quinault : C. Tillamook ''(†)'' :: 16.
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 ...
( Hutyéyu) ''(†)'' :::Siletz :::*
Siletz The Siletz (pronounced SIGH-lets) were the southernmost of several divisions of the Tillamook people speaking a distinct dialect; the other dialect-divisions were: ''Salmon River'' on the river of that name, ''Nestucca'' on Little and Nestucca ...
:::Tillamook :::* Garibaldi-Nestucca :::* Nehalem


''Interior Salish''

: A. Northern :: 17. Shuswap ( Secwepemctsín, səxwəpməxcín) :::Eastern :::*Kinbasket :::*Shuswap Lake :::Western :::*Canim Lake :::*Chu Chua :::*Deadman's Creek–Kamloops :::*Fraser River :::*Pavilion-Bonaparte :: 18.
Lillooet Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abo ...
( Lilloet, St'át'imcets) :::*Lillooet-Fountain :::*Mount Currie–Douglas :: 19. Thompson River Salish ( Nlakaʼpamux, Ntlakapmuk, nɬeʔkepmxcín, Thompson River, Thompson Salish, Thompson, known in frontier times as the Hakamaugh, Klackarpun, Couteau or Knife Indians) :::*Lytton :::*Nicola Valley :::*
Spuzzum Spuzzum is an unincorporated settlement in British Columbia, Canada. Because it is on the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately north of the community of Hope, it is often referred to as being "beyond Hope". Environment Spuzzum lies in a constrict ...
–Boston Bar :::*Thompson Canyon : B. Southern :: 20. Coeur d’Alene ( Snchitsuʼumshtsn, snčícuʔumšcn) :: 21. Columbia-Moses ( Columbia, Nxaʔamxcín) :::*Chelan :::*Entiat :::* Columbian :::*Wenatchee ( Pesquous) :: 22.
Colville-Okanagan Okanagan, or Colville-Okanagan, or Nsyilxcən (n̓səl̓xcin̓, n̓syilxčn̓), is a Salish language which arose among the indigenous peoples of the southern Interior Plateau region based primarily in the Okanagan River Basin and the Columbia R ...
( Okanagan, Nsilxcín, Nsíylxcən, ta nukunaqínxcən) :::Northern :::*Quilchena & Spaxomin :::* Sinixt sn-selxcin :::*Penticton :::*Similkameen :::*Vernon :::Southern :::*Colville-Inchelium :::*Methow :::*San Poil–Nespelem :::*Southern Okanogan :: 23.
Montana Salish The Salish or Séliš language , also known as Kalispel–Pend d'oreille, Kalispel–Spokane–Flathead, or Montana Salish to distinguish it from other Salishan languages, is a Salishan language spoken (as of 2005) by about 64 elders of the Fla ...
(Kalispel–Pend d'Oreille language, Spokane–Kalispel–Bitterroot Salish–Upper Pend d'Oreille) :::*
Salish Salish () may refer to: * Salish peoples, a group of First Nations/Native Americans ** Coast Salish peoples, several First Nations/Native American groups in the coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest ** Interior Salish peoples, several First Nat ...
( Séliš, Bitterroot Salish, Flathead) :::*
Kalispel The Pend d'Oreille ( ), also known as the Kalispel (), are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington of the United States. The Kalispel peoples referred to their primary tribal range a ...
( Qalispé) ::::*
Chewelah Chewelah ( ) is a city in Stevens County, Washington, United States. It is located approximately northwest of Spokane, Washington, Spokane. The population was 2,607 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, a 19.3% increase from 2000. Hist ...
::::*
Kalispel The Pend d'Oreille ( ), also known as the Kalispel (), are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington of the United States. The Kalispel peoples referred to their primary tribal range a ...
( Qlispé, Lower Pend d'Oreille, Lower Kalispel) ::::*Upper Pend d’Oreille ( Sɫq̓etk͏ʷmsčin̓t, Čłqetkʷmcin, Qlispé, Upper Kalispel) :::*
Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...
( Npoqínišcn) Pentlatch, Nooksack, Twana, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, Cowlitz, Klallam, and Tillamook are now
extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
. Additionally, the Lummi, Semiahmoo, Songhees, and Sooke dialects of Northern Straits are also extinct.


Genetic relations

No relationship to any other language family is well established.
Edward Sapir Edward Sapir (; January 26, 1884 – February 4, 1939) was an American Jewish anthropologist-linguist, who is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the development of the discipline of linguistics in the United States. Sa ...
suggested that the Salishan languages might be related to the
Wakashan Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington (state), Washington state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As is ...
and
Chimakuan languages The Chimakuan languages are a group of extinct languages that were spoken in northwestern Washington state, United States, on the Olympic Peninsula. They were spoken by Chimakum, Quileute and Hoh tribes. They are part of the Mosan sprachbund, ...
in a hypothetical Mosan family. This proposal persists primarily through Sapir's stature: with little evidence for such a family, no progress has been made in reconstructing it. The Salishan languages, principally
Chehalis Chehalis may refer to: People * Chehalis people, a Native American people of Washington state **Lower Chehalis language **Upper Chehalis language * Sts'Ailes people (Chehalis people), a First Nation in British Columbia * Chehalis First Nation, Bri ...
, contributed greatly to the vocabulary of the Chinook Jargon.


Family features

* post-velar
harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...
(more areal) * presence of syllables without vowels * grammatical
reduplication In linguistics, reduplication is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word (or part of it) or even the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change. The classic observation on the semantics of reduplication is Edwa ...
* nonconcatenation ( infixes, metathesis,
glottalization Glottalization is the complete or partial closure of the glottis during the articulation of another sound. Glottalization of vowels and other sonorants is most often realized as creaky voice (partial closure). Glottalization of obstruent consona ...
) * tenselessness * nounlessness (controversial)


Syntax

The syntax of Salish languages is notable for its word order (verb-initial), its valency-marking, and the use of several forms of negation.


Word order

Although there is a wide array of Salish languages, they all share some basic traits. All are verb initial languages, with VSO (verb-subject-object) being the most common word order. Some Salishan languages allow for VOS and SVO as well. There is no case marking, but central noun phrases will often be preceded by determiners while non-central NPs will take prepositions. Some Salishan languages are ergative, or
split-ergative In linguistic typology, split ergativity is a feature of certain languages where some constructions use ergative syntax and morphology, but other constructions show another pattern, usually nominative–accusative. The conditions in which ergati ...
, and many take unique object agreement forms in passive statements. In the St'át'imcets (Lillooet Salish) language, for example, absolutive relative clauses (including a head, like "the beans", and a restricting clause, like "that she re-fried", which references the head) omit person markers, while ergative relative clauses keep person makers on the subject, and sometimes use the topic morpheme ''-tali''. Thus, St'át'imcets is split-ergative, as it is not ergative all the time. Subject and object pronouns usually take the form of affixes that attach to the verb. All Salish languages are head-marking. Possession is marked on the possessed noun phrase as either a prefix or a suffix, while person is marked on predicates. In Central Salish languages like Tillamook and Shuswap, only one plain NP is permitted aside from the subject.


Valency-marking

Salishan languages are known for their polysynthetic nature. A verb stem will often have at least one
affix In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. Affixes may be derivational, like English ''-ness'' and ''pre-'', or inflectional, like English plural ''-s'' and past tense ''-ed''. They ar ...
, which is typically a suffix. These suffixes perform a variety of functions, such as transitive,
causative In linguistics, a causative (abbreviated ) is a valency-increasing operationPayne, Thomas E. (1997). Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 173–186. that indicates that a subject either ...
,
reciprocal Reciprocal may refer to: In mathematics * Multiplicative inverse, in mathematics, the number 1/''x'', which multiplied by ''x'' gives the product 1, also known as a ''reciprocal'' * Reciprocal polynomial, a polynomial obtained from another pol ...
, reflexive, and applicative. Applicative affixes seem to be present on the verb when the direct object is central to the event being discussed, but is not the theme of the sentence. The direct object may be a recipient, for example. It may also refer to a related noun phrase, like the goal a verb intends to achieve, or the instrument used in carrying out the action of the verb. In the sentence ‘The man used the axe to chop the log with.’, the axe is the instrument and is indicated in Salish through an applicative affix on the verb. Applicative affixes increase the number of affixes a verb can take on, that is, its syntactic valence. They are also known as "transitivizers" because they can change a verb from intransitive to transitive. For example, in the sentence 'I got scared.', 'scared' is intransitive. However, with the addition of an applicative affix, which is syntactically transitive, the verb in Salish becomes transitive and the sentence can come to mean ‘I got scared of you.’. In some Salishan languages, such as Sḵwx̲wú7mesh, the transitive forms of verbs are morphologically distinctive and marked with a suffix, while the intransitive forms are not. In others such as Halkomelem, intransitive forms have a suffix as well. In some Salish languages, transitivizers can be either controlled (the subject conducted the action on purpose) or limited-control (the subject did not intend to conduct the action, or only managed to conduct a difficult action). These transitivizers can be followed by object suffixes, which come to modern Salishan languages via Proto-Salish. Proto-Salish had two types of object suffixes, neutral (regular transitive) and causative (when a verb causes the object to do something or be in a certain state), that were then divided into first, second, and third persons, and either singular or plural. Tentative reconstructions of these suffixes include the neutral singular *-c (1st person), *-ci (2nd person), and *-∅ (3rd person), the causative singular *-mx (1st), *-mi (2nd), and *-∅ (3rd), the neutral plural *-al or *-muɬ (1st), *-ulm or *-muɬ (2nd), and the causative plural *-muɬ (1st and 2nd). In Salishan languages spoken since Proto-Salish, the forms of those suffixes have been subject to vowel shifts, borrowing pronoun forms from other languages (such as Kutenai), and merging of neutral and causative forms (as in Secwepemc, Nlaka'pamuctsin, Twana, Straits Salishan languages, and Halkomelem).


Three patterns of negation

There are three general patterns of negation among the Salishan languages. The most common pattern involves a negative predicate in the form of an impersonal and intransitive stative verb, which occurs in sentence initial position. The second pattern involves a sentence initial negative particle that is often attached to the sentence's subject, and the last pattern simply involves a sentence initial negative particle without any change in inflectional morphology or a determiner/complementizer. In addition, there is a fourth restricted pattern that has been noted only in Squamish.


Nounlessness

Salishan languages (along with the
Wakashan Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington (state), Washington state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As is ...
and the extinct
Chimakuan The Chimakuan languages are a group of extinct languages that were spoken in northwestern Washington state, United States, on the Olympic Peninsula. They were spoken by Chimakum, Quileute and Hoh tribes. They are part of the Mosan sprachbund, ...
languages) exhibit predicate/argument flexibility. All content words are able to occur as the head of the
predicate Predicate or predication may refer to: * Predicate (grammar), in linguistics * Predication (philosophy) * several closely related uses in mathematics and formal logic: **Predicate (mathematical logic) **Propositional function **Finitary relation, o ...
(including words with typically 'noun-like' meanings that refer to entities) or in an
argument An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialectic ...
(including those with 'verb-like' meanings that refer to events). Words with noun-like meanings are automatically equivalent to
e + NOUN E, or e, is the fifth Letter (alphabet), letter and the second vowel#Written vowels, vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worl ...
when used predicatively, such as
Lushootseed Lushootseed (txʷəlšucid, dxʷləšúcid), also Puget Salish, Puget Sound Salish or Skagit-Nisqually, is a language made up of a dialect continuum of several Salish tribes of modern-day Washington state. Lushootseed is one of the Coast Salis ...
''sbiaw'' which means '(is a) coyote'. Words with more verb-like meanings, when used as arguments, are equivalent to ne that VERBsor ERB+er For example, Lushootseed ''ʔux̌ʷ'' means '(one that) goes'. The following examples are from
Lushootseed Lushootseed (txʷəlšucid, dxʷləšúcid), also Puget Salish, Puget Sound Salish or Skagit-Nisqually, is a language made up of a dialect continuum of several Salish tribes of modern-day Washington state. Lushootseed is one of the Coast Salis ...
. An almost identical pair of sentences from St’át’imcets demonstrates that this phenomenon is not restricted to Lushootseed. This and similar behaviour in other Salish and Wakashan languages has been used as evidence for a complete lack of a lexical distinction between nouns and verbs in these families. This has become controversial in recent years. David Beck of the University of Alberta contends that there is evidence for distinct lexical categories of 'noun' and 'verb' by arguing that, although any distinction is neutralised in predicative positions, words that can be categorised as 'verbs' are marked when used in syntactic argument positions. He argues that Salishan languages are omnipredicative, but only have 'uni-directional flexibility' (not 'bi-directional flexibility'), which makes Salishan languages no different from other omnipredicative languages such as
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
and
Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
, which have a clear lexical noun-verb distinction. Beck does concede, however, that the Lushootseed argument ''ti ʔux̌ʷ'' ('the one who goes', shown in example sentence (1b) above) does represent an example of an unmarked 'verb' used as an argument and that further research may potentially substantiate M. Dale Kinkade's 1983 position that all Salishan content words are essentially 'verbs' (such as ''ʔux̌ʷ'' 'goes' and ''sbiaw'' 'is a coyote') and that the use of any content word as an argument involves an underlying relative clause. For example, with the determiner ''ti'' translated as 'that which', the arguments ''ti ʔux̌ʷ'' and ''ti sbiaw'' would be most literally translated as 'that which goes' and 'that which is a coyote' respectively.


Historical linguistics

There are twenty-three languages in the Salishan language family. They occupy 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 ...
, with all but two of them being concentrated together in a single large area. It is clear that these languages are related, but it's difficult to track the development of each because their histories are so interwoven. The different speech communities have interacted a great deal, making it nearly impossible to decipher the influences of varying dialects and languages on one another. However, there are several trends and patterns that can be historically traced to generalize the development of the Salishan languages over the years. The variation between the Salishan languages seems to depend on two main factors: the distance between speech communities and the geographic barriers between them. The diversity between the languages corresponds directly to the distance between them. Closer proximity often entails more contact between speakers, and more linguistic similarities are the result. Geographic barriers like mountains impede contact, so two communities that are relatively close together may still vary considerably in their language use if there is a mountain separating them. The rate of change between neighboring Salishan languages often depends on their environments. If for some reason two communities diverge, their adaptation to a new environment can separate them linguistically from each other. The need to create names for tools, animals, and plants creates an array of new vocabulary that divides speech communities. However, these new names may come from borrowing from neighboring languages, in which case two languages or dialects can grow more alike rather than apart. Interactions with outside influences through trade and intermarriage often result in language change as well. Some cultural elements are more resilient to language change, namely, religion and folklore. Salishan language communities that have demonstrated change in technology and environmental vocabulary have often remained more consistent with their religious terminology. Religion and heavily ingrained cultural traditions are often regarded as sacred, and so are less likely to undergo any sort of change. Indeed, cognate lists between various Salishan languages show more similarities in religious terminology than they do in technology and environment vocabulary. Other categories with noticeable similarities include words for body parts, colors, and numbers. There would be little need to change such vocabulary, so it's more likely to remain the same despite other changes between languages. The Coast Salishan languages are less similar to each other than are the Interior Salishan languages, probably because the Coast communities have more access to outside influences. Another example of language change in the Salishan language family is word taboo, which is a cultural expression of the belief in the power of words. Among the Coast languages, a person's name becomes a taboo word immediately following their death. This taboo is lifted when the name of the deceased is given to a new member of their lineage. In the meantime, the deceased person's name and words that are phonetically similar to the name are considered taboo and can only be expressed via descriptive phrases. In some cases these taboo words are permanently replaced by their chosen descriptive phrases, resulting in language change.


Pragmatics

At least one Salish language, Lillooet Salish, differs from Indo-European languages in terms of
pragmatics In linguistics and related fields, pragmatics is the study of how context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship between the interpreter and the int ...
. Lillooet Salish does not allow presuppositions about a hearer's beliefs or knowledge during a conversation. To demonstrate, it's useful to compare Lillooet Salish determiners with English determiners. English determiners take the form of the articles ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’. The indefinite articles ‘a’ and ‘an’ refer to an object that is unfamiliar or that has not been previously referenced in conversation. The definite article ‘the’ refers to a familiar object about which both the speaker and the listener share a common understanding. Lillooet Salish and several other Salish languages use the same determiner to refer to both familiar and unfamiliar objects in conversation. For example, when discussing a woman, Lillooet Salish speakers used əsɬánay(with əserving as the determiner and ɬánaymeaning ‘woman’) to refer to the woman both when initially introducing her and again when referencing her later on in the conversation. Thus, no distinction is made between a unique object and a familiar one. This absence of varying determiners is a manifestation of the lack of presuppositions about a listener in Salish. Using a definite article would presuppose a mental state of the listener: familiarity with the object in question. Similarly, a Salishan language equivalent of the English sentence "It was John who called" would not require the assumption that the listener knows that someone called. In English, such a sentence implies that someone called and serves to clarify who the caller was. In Salish, the sentence would be void of any implication regarding the listener's knowledge. Rather, only the speaker's knowledge about previous events is expressed. The absence of presuppositions extends even to elements that seem to inherently trigger some kind of implication, such as ‘again’, ‘more’, ‘stop’, and ‘also’. For example, in English, beginning a conversation with a sentence like "It also rained yesterday" would probably be met with confusion from the listener. The word ‘also’ signifies an addition to some previously discussed topic about which both the speaker and the listener are aware. However, in Salish, a statement like "It also rained yesterday" is not met with the same kind of bewilderment. The listener's prior knowledge (or lack thereof) is not conventionally regarded by either party in a conversation. Only the speaker's knowledge is relevant. The use of pronouns illustrates the disregard for presuppositions as well. For example, a sentence like "She walked there, and then Brenda left" would be acceptable on its own in Lillooet Salish. The pronoun ‘she’ can refer to Brenda and be used without the introduction that would be necessary in English. It is key to note that presuppositions do exist in Salishan languages; they simply don't have to be shared between the speaker and listener the way they do in English and other Indo-European languages. The above examples demonstrate that presuppositions are present, but the fact that the listener doesn't necessarily have to be aware of them signifies that the presuppositions only matter to the speaker. They are indicative of prior information that the speaker alone may be aware of, and his/her speech reflects merely his/her perspective on a situation without taking into account the listener's knowledge. Although English values a common ground between a listener and speaker and thus requires that some presuppositions about another person's knowledge be made, Salish does not share this pragmatic convention.


In popular culture

Stanley Evans Stanley Norman Evans (1 February 1898 – 25 June 1970) was a British industrialist and Labour Party politician. He served very briefly as an Agriculture Minister in the post-war Attlee government but was forced to resign when he claimed that f ...
has written a series of crime fiction novels that use Salish lore and language. An episode of ''
Stargate SG-1 ''Stargate SG-1'' (often stylized in all caps, or abbreviated ''SG-1'') is a military science fiction Adventure fiction, adventure television series within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate, ''Stargate'' franchise. The show, created by Brad Wrigh ...
'' ("
Spirits Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...
", 2x13) features a culture of extraterrestrial humans loosely inspired by Pacific coastal First Nations culture, and who speak a language referred to as "ancient Salish". In the video game ''
Life Is Strange ''Life Is Strange'' (abbreviated ''LIS'') is a series of primarily episodic graphic adventure games published by Square Enix's European subsidiary. Created by Dontnod Entertainment, the series debuted with the eponymous first installment, ...
'', the Salish lore was used on certain history of Arcadia Bay as totem poles are seen on some areas. Including a segment from the first episode of its
prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...
involving the raven.


References


Bibliography

*Beck, David. (2000)
Grammatical Convergence and the Genesis of Diversity in the Northwest Coast Sprachbund
''Anthropological Linguistics'' 42, 147–213. * Boas, Franz, et al. (1917). ''Folk-Tales of Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes''. Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, 11. Lancaster, Pa: American Folk-Lore Society. * Czaykowska-Higgins, Ewa; & Kinkade, M. Dale (Eds.). (1997). ''Salish Languages and Linguistics: Theoretical and Descriptive Perspectives''. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. . * Davis, Henry. (2005)
On the Syntax and Semantics of Negation in Salish
International Journal of American Linguistics 71.1, January 2005. * Davis, Henry. and Matthewson, Lisa. (2009). Issues in Salish Syntax and Semantics. Language and Linguistics Compass, 3: 1097–1166. Online. * Flathead Culture Committee. (1981). ''Common Names of the Flathead Language''. St. Ignatius, Mont: The Committee. * Jorgensen, Joseph G. (1969). Salish Language and Culture. 3. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Publications. * Kiyosawa, Kaoru; Donna B. Gerdts. (2010). ''Salish Applicatives''. Leiden, Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV. * Kroeber, Paul D. (1999).
The Salish Language Family: Reconstructing Syntax
'. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press in cooperation with the American Indian Studies Research Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington. * Kuipers, Aert H. (2002). ''Salish Etymological Dictionary''. Missoula, MT: Linguistics Laboratory, University of Montana. * Liedtke, Stefan. (1995). ''Wakashan, Salishan and Penutian and Wider Connections Cognate Sets''. Linguistic Data on Diskette Series, no. 09. Munchen: Lincom Europa. * Pilling, James Constantine. (1893). ''Bibliography of the Salishan Languages''. Washington: G.P.O. * Pilling, James Constantine (2007). ''Bibliography of the Salishan Languages''. Reprint by Gardners Books. * Silver, Shirley; Wick R. Miller. (1997). ''American Indian languages: Cultural and Social Contexts''. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. * Salishan language hymns. * Thompson, Laurence C. (1973). The Northwest. In T. A. Sebeok (Ed.), ''Linguistics in North America'' (pp. 979–1045). Current Trends in Linguistics (Vol. 10). The Hague: Mouton. * Thompson, Laurence C. (1979). Salishan and the Northwest. In L. Campbell & M. Mithun (Eds.), ''The Languages of Native America: Historical and Comparative Assessment'' (pp. 692–765). Austin: University of Texas Press.


External links



(YDLI)

(Native languages of the Northwest)







(Linguist List)
Native Peoples, Plants & Animals: Halkomelem

Saanich
(
Timothy Montler Timothy Montler is an American academic and linguist. Montler is a professor of linguistics at the University of North Texas, as of 2013. He has worked to preserve the Klallam language since 1990. Montler collaborated with Adeline Smith, a Lower ...
's site)

Klallam
(Timothy Montler's site)



* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061004020749/http://salishworld.com/ Nkwusm Salish Language Institute
Tulalip Lushootseed Language Web Site


by
Peter Ladefoged Peter Nielsen Ladefoged ( , ; 17 September 1925 – 24 January 2006) was a British linguist and phonetician. He was Professor of Phonetics at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he taught from 1962 to 1991. His book ''A Course ...
{{North American languages Agglutinative languages Language families Mosan languages