Lushootseed.html



Lushootseed (also xʷəlšucid, dxʷləšúcid, Puget Salish, Puget Sound Salish, Skagit-Nisqually) is the language or dialect continuum of several Salish Native American groups of modern-day Washington state. Lushootseed is a member of Coast Salish, one of the two main divisions of the Salishan language group.

Lushootseed, like its neighbour Twana, is in the Southern Coast Salish subgroup of the Salishan family of languages. The language was spoken by many Puget Sound region peoples, including the Duwamish, Steilacoom, Suquamish, Squaxin Island Tribe, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, and Puyallup in the south and the Snohomish, Stillaguamish, Skagit, and Swinomish in the north.

The language is noteworthy for its lack of nasal consonants, especially as it, like other Northwest Coast languages, contains a very large number of consonants.

Ethnologue reports that there are only 60 fluent speakers of Lushootseed, evenly divided between the northern and southern dialects.[1] On the other hand, the Ethnologue's 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).[2]

Subdivisions

Lushootseed consists of two dialect groups which can be further divided into subdialects:

• Northern Lushootseed
  • Snohomish (at Tulalip)
  • Lower Skagit-Swinomish (on Skagit River and on Whidbey Island)
  • Upper Skagit¹
  • Sauk-Suiattle (on Sauk River and Suiattle River)
• Southern Lushootseed
  • Skykomish
  • Snoqualmie
  • Steilacoom
  • Suquamish
  • Duwamish
  • Whulshootseed (Muckleshoot people) (on Green and White rivers)
  • Puyallup
  • Nisqually
  • Sahewamish

The division into Northern and Southern groups is based on vocabulary and stress patterns. More accurately, the dialects form a cline.

Some Vocabulary

Southern Lushootseed Salmonid Vocabulary

ačədádxʷ 

a word that covers all Pacific salmon and some species of trout.

sác̓əb 

Chinook or King

x̌ʔəwádxʷ 

sockeye salmon

sq̓ə́čqs 

coho salmon

ƛ̕xʷáy 

chum salmon

hədúʔ 

the pink salmon

qíw̓x̌ 

steelhead

pədkʷəxʷic 

coho season

sc̓áy’t 

gills

ɬičáʔa 

nets

ɬičaʔalikʷ 

net fishing

ʔálil tiʔíɬ ƛ̕usq̓íl 

spawning season

skʷəlúb 

body fat

sč̕ət̓šáds 

tailfin

t̓áltəd 

fillet knife

sq̓wəlús 

fish dried for storage

səlúsqid 

fish heads

qəlx̌ 

dried salmon eggs

ƛ̕ə́bƛ̕əbqʷ 

fresh eggs

sɬúʔb 

dried chum

sxʷúd^zəʔdaliɬəd 

fish with a large amount of body fat

xʷšábús 

lightly smoked

References

1. ^ Van Eijk, Jan. The Lillooet Language: Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, UBC Press, 1985, p.xxiv.

External links

• The Tulalip Lushootseed Department's Website
• History professor helps keep local Native American language alive by Drew Brown for PLU Scene Magazine
• Lushootseed Peoples of Puget Sound Country
• Ethnologue report
• Rosetta Project: Basic Phonology and Morphology

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