Chemakum language

For the community named Chimacum, see Chimacum, Washington.
Chemakum
ʔaχʷókʷolo
Spoken in Olympic Peninsula, Washington
Native speakers extinct  (date missing)
Language family
Chimakuan
  • Chemakum
Language codes
ISO 639-3 xch
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The Chemakum language ( /ˈtʃɛməkʌm/; also written as Chimakum or Chimacum) was spoken by the Chemakum, a Native American group that once lived on western Washington state's Olympic Peninsula. The Chemakum language was very similar to the Quileute language (the only surviving Chimakuan language). In the 1860s, Chief Seattle and the Suquamish people wiped out the Chimakum people, killing the language off with them.

Phonology

Chemakum had three vowels, long and short, and lexical stress. It had the following consonants. (Note the unusual lack of plain velar consonants.)

Bilabial Alveolar Post-
alveolar		 Labio-
velar		 Uvular Glottal
central lateral plain labial
Nasal m n
Plosive plain p t kʷ q qʷ ʔ
ejective pʼ tʼ kʷʼ qʼ qʷʼ
Affricate plain t͡s t͡ʃ
ejective t͡sʼ t͡ɬʼ t͡ʃʼ
Fricative s ɬ ʃ xʷ χ χʷ h
Approximant l j w

See also