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North Straits Salish
SENĆOŦEN / Malchosen / Siʔneməš / Lekwungen / Semiahmoo / T’Sou-ke
Native to	Canada, United States
Region	Vancouver Island, British Columbia; Washington,
Native speakers	105 (2016 census)
Language family	Salishan Coast Central Straits Salish North Straits Salish
Dialects	Lummi Saanich Samish Semiahmoo (†) Songhees T'sou-ke (†)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	str
Glottolog	stra1244
ELP	Northern Straits Salish
Northern Straits Salish is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

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 (Lummi: Xwlemi Chosen)
• 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.

Notes

1. NAPA: sənčáθən
2. NAPA: xʷsénəčqən

References

1. Canada, Government of Canada, Statistics (28 March 2018). "Aboriginal Mother Tongue (90)". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2018-05-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
2. ^ Montler, Timothy (1999). "Language and Dialect Variation in Straits Salishan". Anthropological Linguistics. 41 (4): 462–502. ISSN 0003-5483. JSTOR 30028724.
3. Montler 1999, p. 462-463.
4. "Human relations". SENĆOŦEN Word List. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
5. "Language". Samish Indian Nation. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
6. Patterson, Travis (2011-06-01). "Traditional language comes alive on breakwater". Victoria News. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2013-06-02.
7. "lək̓ʷəŋən Language Reawaken". Songhees Nation. Retrieved 2024-03-16.

Bibliography

• 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.

External links

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

• North Straits Salish languages
• Coast Salish languages
• Indigenous languages of the Pacific Northwest Coast
• First Nations languages in Canada
• Indigenous languages of Washington (state)