North Straits Salish language

Northern Straits Salish (also referred to as North Straits Salish) is a language composed of several mutually-intelligible dialects within the Coast Salish language family spoken in western Washington and British Columbia. The various dialects of Northern Straits Salish are often referred to as separate languages, both in historic and modern times, and although their similarities are recognized by its speakers, there is no word for the language as a whole.

Dialects

The dialects of Northern Straits are as follows: (†) marks a dialect that has no native speakers.

• Lummi
• Saanich (Saanich: SENĆOŦEN, W̱SÁNEĆḴEN)
• Samish (Samish: Xws7ámeshqen)
• Semiahmoo (†)
• Songhees (Songhees: lək̓ʷəŋiʔnəŋ; also known as Lekwungen or Songish)
• T'sou-ke (also known as Sooke) (†)

Classification

Northern Straits is a Salishan language within the Coast Salish branch. Among the Coast Salish languages, Northern Straits is one of the two languages in the Straits Salish branch, the other being Klallam. Klallam and Northern Straits are very closely related, but have lost mutual intelligibility.

Historians have historically classified the various dialects of Northern Straits and Klallam together in many ways. Linguist George Gibbs, in 1863, classified Klallam, Sooke, and Songhees as being one language, Lummi, Saanich, and Semiahmoo being another language, and Samish being a dialect of another Coast Salish language, Lushootseed. One missionary, Myron Eells, believed that Lummi was a dialect of Klallam. German anthropologist Franz Boas believed that Klallam was part of the same language as Northern Straits. Furthermore, Charles Hill-Tout, a Canadian anthropologist, classified Sooke, Saanich, Songhees, Lummi, and Klallam as one language called "Lekonenen," and Songhees as another called "Lekunen." What Hill-Tout believed to be the names of the languages were actually derived from the words lək̓ʷəŋiʔnəŋ (the Songhees name for Songhees dialect) and lək̓ʷəŋən (the Songhees name for the Songhees people). Despite this, Klallam and the dialects of Northern Straits Salish are not mutually intelligible.

See also

• Thompson, Laurence C.; Thompson, M. Terry; Efrat, Barbara S. (1974). "Some Phonological Developments in Straits Salish". International Journal of American Linguistics. 40 (3): 182–196. doi:10.1086/465311. S2CID 144820134.

Notes

References

External links

• An Outline of the Morphology and Phonology of Saanich, North Straits Salish
• SENĆOŦEN Classified Word List