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Lushootseed (txʷəlšucid, dxʷləšúcid), also Puget Salish, Puget Sound Salish or Skagit-Nisqually, is a language made up of a
dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
of several
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 ...
tribes of modern-day
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 on ...
state. Lushootseed is one of the Coast Salish languages, one of two main divisions of the Salishan language family. Its pre-contact range extended from modern-day
Olympia The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...
, Washington to
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, British Columbia, spoken by roughly 12 thousand at its peak. The dialects of the language can be split into two categories: northern and southern, which can further be split into dialects spoken by the individual peoples who spoke it. Today, it is mostly used in heritage and symbolic purposes, like on signage or place names. It is seldom spoken today, and is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.


Phonology

Lushootseed has a complex consonantal phonology and 4 vowel phonemes. Along with more common voicing and
labialization Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve ...
contrasts, Lushootseed has a plain-glottalic contrast, which is realized as laryngealized with sonorants, ejective with voiceless stops or fricatives.


Consonants

Lushootseed has no phonemic nasals. However, the nasals , , , and may appear in some speech styles and words as variants of and .


Vowels


Syntax

Lushootseed can be considered a relatively agglutinating language, given its high number of morphemes, including a large number of lexical suffixes. Word order is fairly flexible, although it is generally considered to be verb-subject-object (VSO). Lushootseed is capable of creating grammatically correct sentences that contain only a verb, with no subject or object. All information beyond the action is to be understood by context. This can be demonstrated in ''ʔuʔəy’dub omeonemanaged to find omeone/something. Sentences which contain no verb at all are also common, as Lushootseed has no copula. An example of such a sentence is ''stab əẃə tiʔiɫ'' 'What sthat?'. Despite its general status as VSO, Lushootseed can be rearranged to be subject-verb-object (SVO) and verb-object-subject (VOS). Doing so does not modify the words themselves, but requires the particle ''ʔə'' to mark the change. The exact nature of this particle is the subject of some debate. Prepositions in Lushootseed are almost entirely handled by one word, ''ʔal,'' which can mean ‘on, above, in, beside, around’ among a number of potential other meanings. They come before the object they reference, much like in English. Examples of this can be found in the following sentences: # ''stab əẃə tiʔiɫ ʔal tə stuləkʷ'' ‘What is that in the river?’ # ''ʔuyayus ti dbad ʔal tudiʔ'' ‘My Father is working over there.’ # ''šəqabac ʔal ti piit'' ‘On top of the bed.’ (this example is interesting as ''šəqabac'' actually means ‘on top of a large/bulky object’ on its own, but still contains the ''ʔal'' preposition) Determiners usually come before a noun they belong to, and have two possible genders “masculine” and “feminine”. However, in a sentence reordered to become SVO, such as ''sqwəbayʔ ti ʔučalatəb ʔə tiʔiɬ wiw'su'' ‘The dog is what the children chased’ the determiner for ''sqwəbayʔ ‘''dog’ comes after the noun, instead of before it. Gender primarily manifests in the addition of an -s- within the determiner, generally following immediately after the first letter of the word, i.e. ''tiʔiɫ'' ‘that’ becomes ''tsiʔiɫ'', ''te'' ‘the, a’ becomes ''tse'', ''ti'' ‘this’ becomes ''tsi''. Lushootseed has four subject pronouns: ''čəd'' ‘I’ (first-person singular), ''čəɫ'' ‘we’ (first-person plural), ''čəxʷ'' ‘you’ (second-person singular), and ''čələp'' ‘you’ (second-person plural). It does not generally refer to the third person in any way. The subject pronoun always comes in the second position in the sentence. For example ''dxʷləbiʔ čəxʷ ʔu'' ‘Are you Lummi?’ as compared to ''xʷiʔ čəd lədxʷləbiʔ'' ‘I am not Lummi’. Here, negation takes the first position, the subject pronoun takes the second, and Lummi is pushed to the end of the sentence. Negation in Lushootseed takes the form of an adverb ''xʷiʔ '''no, none, nothing' which always comes at the beginning of the sentence that is to be negated. It is constructed in two possible ways, one for negatives of existence, and one for negatives of identity. If taking the form of a negative of identity, a proclitic ''lə-'' must be added to the sentence on the next adverb. If there are no further adverbs in the sentence, the proclitic attaches to the head word of the predicate, as in the sentence ''xʷiʔ čəxʷ sixʷ ləbakʷ'' '' Don't get hurt again.'


Related languages and current status

Lushootseed, like its neighbour
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 sel ...
, is in the Central Coast Salish subgroup of the Salishan family of languages. The language was spoken by many
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 ...
region peoples, including the
Duwamish Duwamish may refer to: * Duwamish tribe, a Native American tribe in Washington state * Duwamish River, in Washington state * Duwamish (fireboat), ''Duwamish'' (fireboat) See also * Elliott Bay, often called "Duwamish Bay" in the 19th century * Du ...
, Steilacoom, Suquamish,
Squaxin Island Tribe The Squaxin Island Tribe are the descendants of several Lushootseed clans organized under the Squaxin Island Indian Reservation, a Native American tribal government in western Washington state. Historically, the ancestors of the Squaxin Island T ...
, Muckleshoot, Snoqualmie, Nisqually, and
Puyallup Puyallup may refer to: * Puyallup (tribe), a Native American tribe * Puyallup, Washington, a city ** Puyallup High School ** Puyallup School District ** Puyallup station, a Sounder commuter rail station ** Washington State Fair, formerly the Puya ...
in the south and the Snohomish, Stillaguamish, Skagit, and
Swinomish The Swinomish are an historically Lushootseed-speaking Native American people in western Washington state in the United States. The Tribe lives in the southeastern part of Fidalgo Island in northern Puget Sound, near the San Juan Islands, i ...
in the north.
Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...
quotes a source published in 1990 (and therefore presumably reflecting the situation in the late 1980s), according to which there were 60 fluent speakers of Lushootseed, evenly divided between the northern and southern dialects. On the other hand, the Ethnologue list of United States languages also lists, alongside Lushootseed's 60 speakers, 100 speakers for Skagit, 107 for Southern Puget Sound Salish, and 10 for Snohomish (a dialect on the boundary between the northern and southern varieties). Some sources given for these figures, however, go back to the 1970s when the language was less critically endangered. Linguist Marianne Mithun has collected more recent data on the number of speakers of various Native American languages, and could document that by the end of the 1990s there were only a handful of elders left who spoke Lushootseed fluently. The language was extensively documented and studied by linguists with the aid of tribal elder
Vi Hilbert Vi Hilbert (née Anderson, Lushootseed name: ''taqʷšəblu'', July 24, 1918 – December 19, 2008) was a Native American tribal elder of the Upper Skagit, a tribe of the greater Coast Salish in Washington state, whose ancestors occupied the bank ...
, d. 2008, who was the last speaker with a full native command of Lushootseed. There are efforts at reviving the language, and instructional materials have been published.


Language revitalization

, the
Tulalip Tribes The Tulalip Tribes of Washington (, lut, dxʷlilap), formerly known as the Tulalip Tribes of the Tulalip Reservation, is a federally recognized tribe of Duwamish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skagit, Suiattle, Samish, and Stillaguamish people. Th ...
' Lushootseed Language Department teaches classes in Lushootseed, and its website offers a Lushootseed "phrase of the week" with audio. The Tulalip Montessori School also teaches Lushootseed to young children.
Wa He Lut Indian School
teaches Lushootseed to Native elementary school children in their Native Language and Culture program. , an annual Lushootseed conference is held at
Seattle University Seattle University (SeattleU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington. Seattle University is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate prog ...
. A course in Lushootseed language and literature has been offered at Evergreen State College. Lushootseed has also been used as a part of environmental history courses at Pacific Lutheran University. It has been spoken during the annual Tribal Canoe Journey (
Tribal Journeys Tribal Canoe Journeys is a celebrated event for the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Founded in 1989, this event has been held annually to bring together members of Indigenous nations from the coasts of Alaska, British Columbia, ...
) that take place throughout the
Salish Sea , image = PNW-straits.jpg , alt = , caption = The Salish Sea, showing the open Pacific Ocean at lower left, and from there, heading inland: the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the narrow Puget Sound at lower ri ...
. There are also efforts within the Puyallup Tribe. Their website and social media, aimed at anyone interested in learning the language, are updated often. In the summer of 2016, the first ever adult immersion program in Lushootseed was offered at the University of Washington's Tacoma campus. It was sponsored by The Puyallup Tribal Language Program in partnership with University of Washington Tacoma and its School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. A similar program is scheduled to be offered in August 2019, with the instructors Danica Sterud Miller, Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies at the
University of Washington Tacoma The University of Washington Tacoma (UW Tacoma) is a campus of University of Washington in Tacoma, Washington. The UW Tacoma campus opened in leased space in 1990 and opened its permanent campus in 1997. History Following the establishment of T ...
, and Zalmai Zahir, a PhD student of
theoretical linguistics Theoretical linguistics is a term in linguistics which, like the related term general linguistics, can be understood in different ways. Both can be taken as a reference to theory of language, or the branch of linguistics which inquires into the n ...
at the
University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
.


Subdivisions

Lushootseed consists of two dialect groups which can be further divided into subdialects: * Northern Lushootseed or Lushootseed (Northern Puget Sound Salish) ** Snohomish (Sdoh-doh-hohbsh or Sdohobich) (spoke the ''Sduhubš / Snohomish'' dialect, a transitional dialect between Northern and Southern Lushootseed; today as part of the
Tulalip Tribes of Washington The Tulalip Tribes of Washington (, lut, dxʷlilap), formerly known as the Tulalip Tribes of the Tulalip Reservation, is a federally recognized tribe of Duwamish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skagit, Suiattle, Samish, and Stillaguamish people. The ...
they developed the or ''Tulalip Lushootseed'' dialect) ** Stillaguamish (Stoluck-wa-mish River Tribe) (spoke a separate dialect; today many are part of the
Tulalip Tribes of Washington The Tulalip Tribes of Washington (, lut, dxʷlilap), formerly known as the Tulalip Tribes of the Tulalip Reservation, is a federally recognized tribe of Duwamish, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skagit, Suiattle, Samish, and Stillaguamish people. The ...
and developed the or ''Tulalip Lushootseed'' dialect) **''Skagit'', ''Skaǰət-Swinomish'' or ''Lower Skagit-Swinomish dialects'' *** Lower Skagit (Whidbey Island Skagit) (on Skagit River and on Whidbey Island, subdialect of ''Skaǰət-Swinomish'') *** Upper SkagitEijk, Jan Van. ''The Lillooet Language: Phonology, Morphology, Syntax'', UBC Press, 1985, p.xxiv. (along upper Skagit River, subdialect of ''Skaǰət-Swinomish'') ***
Swinomish The Swinomish are an historically Lushootseed-speaking Native American people in western Washington state in the United States. The Tribe lives in the southeastern part of Fidalgo Island in northern Puget Sound, near the San Juan Islands, i ...
(at the mouth of Skagit Rivers and northern part of Whidbey Island, sometimes considered a Lower Skagit band, subdialect of Skaǰət-Swinomish) *** Kikiallus (Ki Ki Allus or Kikyalus) (between Lower Skagit and Swinomish lands, sometimes considered a Lower Skagit band, ''Kikiallus'' subdialect of Skaǰət-Swinomish) ** Sauk-Suiattle (Sah-Ku-Me-Hu) (on Sauk River and
Suiattle River The Suiattle River is a river in the U.S. state of Washington. Course The Suiattle River originates from the Suiattle Glacier on the east slopes of Glacier Peak in the Cascade Range. It flows generally northwest to join the Sauk River north of ...
, or ''Sauk-Suiattle'' dialect) * Southern Lushootseed or Whulshootseed / Twulshootseed (Southern Puget Sound Salish) ** Skykomish (Skai-whamish) (originally considered a subdivision of the Snoqualmies, ** Snoqualmie (S·dukʷalbixʷ / Sduqwalbixw) (along
Tolt River The Tolt River is located in the western foothills of the Cascade Range, Cascade Mountains in north central King County, Washington, King County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The river begins at the confluence of the North F ...
and Snoqualmie River, spoke the or ''Snoqualmie'' subdialect, often grouped as or ''Twulshootseed'' local dialect) ** Steilacoom ** Suquamish **
Duwamish Duwamish may refer to: * Duwamish tribe, a Native American tribe in Washington state * Duwamish River, in Washington state * Duwamish (fireboat), ''Duwamish'' (fireboat) See also * Elliott Bay, often called "Duwamish Bay" in the 19th century * Du ...
** Muckleshoot (bǝqǝlšuɫucid) (on Green and White rivers) ** Puyallup (Spuyaləpabš or S’Puyalupubsh) (lived throughout the river basin of the Puyallup River, at
Gig Harbor Gig Harbor is the name of both a bay on Puget Sound and a city on its shore in Pierce County, Washington,. The population was 12,029 at the 2020 census. Gig Harbor is one of several cities and towns that claim to be "the gateway to the Olympic ...
and
Wollochet Bay Wollochet Bay is the name of a narrow long and shallow bay in southern Puget Sound in the state of Washington. The bay is located on the southern part of the Kitsap Peninsula, and opens onto the southern Hale Passage separating Fox Island from the ...
and on Vashon Island, spoke the or ''Twulshootseed'' local dialect) ** Nisqually ( or ) **
Sahewamish The Sahewamish are a Northwest Native American tribe of Lushootseed-speaking Coast Salish people. They were fisherman and hunter-gatherers, sedentary, and lived in the southwestern inlets of Puget Sound from Shelton, Washington, to the Nisqually ...
** Snohomish (Sdoh-doh-hohbsh) (around the Puget Sound area of Washington, north of Seattle) **
Squaxin Island Tribe The Squaxin Island Tribe are the descendants of several Lushootseed clans organized under the Squaxin Island Indian Reservation, a Native American tribal government in western Washington state. Historically, the ancestors of the Squaxin Island T ...


Alphabet

According to work published by Vi Hilbert and other Lushootseed language specialists, Lushootseed uses a
morphophonemic Morphophonology (also morphophonemics or morphonology) is the branch of linguistics that studies the interaction between morphology (linguistics), morphological and phonology, phonological or phonetic processes. Its chief focus is the sound chan ...
writing system meaning that it is a
phonemic alphabet A phonemic orthography is an orthography (system for writing a language) in which the graphemes (written symbols) correspond to the phonemes (significant spoken sounds) of the language. Natural languages rarely have perfectly phonemic orthographi ...
which does not change to reflect the pronunciation such as when an affix is introduced. The chart below is based on the Lushootseed Dictionary. Typographic variations such as p' and p̓ do not indicate phonemic distinctions. See the
external links An internal link is a type of hyperlink on a web page to another page or resource, such as an image or document, on the same website or domain. Hyperlinks are considered either "external" or "internal" depending on their target or destination ...
below for resources.


Some vocabulary

The Lushootseed language originates from the coastal region of Northwest Washington State and the Southwest coast of Canada. There are words in the Lushootseed language which are related to the environment and the fishing economy that surrounded the Salish tribes. The following tables show different words from different Lushootseed dialects relating to the salmon fishing and coastal economies.


References


Language learning materials

* Bates, D., Hess, T., & Hilbert, V. (1994). ''Lushootseed dictionary''. Seattle: University of Washington Press. * Beck, David. "Transitivity and causation in Lushootseed morphology." Working Papers of the Linguistics Circle 13 (1996): 11–20. * * * Chamberlain, Rebecca, ''Lushootseed Language & Literature: Program reader.'' (Lushootseed language, cultural, and storytelling traditions.) * * Hess, Thom and Vi Hilbert. ''Lushootseed Book 1; The language of the Skagit, Nisqually, and other tribes of Puget Sound. An Introduction''. Lushootseed Press 1995 * Hess, Thom and Vi Hilbert. ''Lushootseed Book 2 (Advanced Lushootseed)''. Lushootseed Press, 1995 * * Hilbert, Vi. ''Haboo: Native American Stories from Puget Sound''. Seattle: University of Washington, 1985 * Hilbert, Vi, Crisca Bierwest, Thom Hess. ''Way of the Lushootseed People; Ceremonies & Traditions of North Puget Sound's First People''. Third Edition, Lushootseed Press, 2001 * ''dxʷlešucid xʷgʷədgʷatəd tul̓ʔal taqʷšəblu; Some Lushootseed Vocabulary from taqʷšəblu''. Lushootseed Press, 1993


External links


Puyallup Tribal Language Program

The Tulalip Lushootseed Department's Website

Keyboards and fonts for typing in Lushootseed

Interactive alphabet app through the Tulalip Lushootseed Department


by Drew Brown for PLU Scene Magazine


Lushootseed Research

Dr. David Beck, Salishan Language specialist

Developing a corpus for Lushootseed
(archived) {{Salishan languages Coast Salish languages * Indigenous languages of the Pacific Northwest Coast Indigenous languages of Washington (state) Native American language revitalization Endangered indigenous languages of the Americas Tulalip Tribes