Salishan Language Family
The Salishan language family consists of a group of twenty-three languages primarily spoken in the Northwest Coast and Plateau cultural areas of North America. This family is divided into three main branches: Coast, Tsamosan, and Interior. The Coast branch includes languages such as Clallam, Halkomelem, and Squamish, while the Tsamosan branch encompasses Lower Chehalis and Quinault. The Interior Salish languages include Northern and Southern subgroups, with notable languages like Thompson and Okanagan.
Salishan languages were first documented in the late 18th century, with records of Bella Coola being among the earliest. Systematic linguistic studies began in the 19th century, yet many of these languages are currently endangered or have already become extinct. Today, there are roughly three thousand speakers of Salishan languages, primarily from the Interior Salish group, which has managed to maintain a larger number of speakers due to less disruption from historical events compared to their coastal counterparts. Efforts to revitalize these languages are ongoing but face significant challenges.
Salishan Language Family
Culture areas: Northwest Coast, Plateau
Tribes affected: Bella Coola, Chehalis, Clallam, Coeur d’Alene, Columbia, Colville, Comox, Cowichan, Cowlitz, Duwamish, Flathead, Lake, Lillooet, Lummi, Methow, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, Nooksack, Okanagan, Puyallup, Quinault, Samish, Sanpoil, Seechelt, Semiahmoo, Shuswap, Siletz, Skagit, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Songish, Spokane, Squamish, Suquamish, Thompson, Tillamook, Twana, Wenatchi
Salishan is a family of languages spoken in the Northwest Coast cultural area and the Plateau cultural area. It comprises twenty-three languages; sixteen were spoken in the coastal area, and seven were spoken in the Plateau area (the Interior Salish languages). Some experts denote three large branches of Salishan: Coast, Tsamosan (formerly Olympic), and Interior. Others consider Coastal and Inland Salish to be the main distinctions and divide Coast Salish into four groups: Bella Coola, Tillamook (including Siletz), Central, and Tsamosan.
The Coast branch contains Clallam, Comox, Halkomelem (including Cowichan), Nooksack, Pentlatch, Seechelt, Squamish, Northern Straits (Lummi, Samish, Semiahmoo, and Songish), Puget Sound Salish (Duwamish, Lushootseed, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, Puyallup, Skagit, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, and Suquamish), and Twana. Tsamosan contains Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, Cowlitz, and Quinault. Interior Salish is subdivided into Northern Interior Salish, including Thompson, Shuswap, and Lillooet, and Southern Interior Salish, including Coeur d’Alene, Columbian (Columbia and Wenatchi), Okanagan (Okanagan, Colville, Lake, Sanpoil), and Kalispel, including Flathead and Spokane.
Salish was first documented in the latter part of the eighteenth century. In 1793, Europeans first recorded a Salishan language—twenty-five words of Bella Coola were recorded by the Alexander Mackenzie and his expedition. Systematic collection of Salishan terms and grammars did not begin until the early to mid-nineteenth century, when missionaries and ethnographers began to visit the area. Serious linguistic collection, under the direction of the Bureau of American Ethnology, began in 1884 and still continues.
Most Salishan languages are threatened with extinction; others are already extinct. There are probably slightly more than three thousand speakers of Salishan languages today, most speaking Interior Salish languages. The Interior groups were less affected by epidemic disease and forced schooling. Most important, they were less subject to forcible relocation to homogeneous reservations, where native languages could continue to exist with less interference from other languages and dialects. Numerous attempts have been made by universities and cultural committees to revitalize Salishan languages, but they have met with limited success.