| Lushootseed | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spoken in | Canada, United States | |||
| Region | Southern British Columbia into northern Washington | |||
| Native speakers | 200 (date missing) | |||
| Language family |
Salishan
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| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-3 | lut | |||
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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.
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]
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Lushootseed consists of two dialect groups which can be further divided into subdialects:
The division into Northern and Southern groups is based on vocabulary and stress patterns. The dialects form a cline.
According to work published by Vi Hilbert and other Lushootseed language specialists, Lushootseed uses a morphophonemic writing system meaning that it is a phonemic alphabet with slight changes occurring periodically, such as when an affix is introduced. The chart below is based on the Lushootseed Dictionary. Typographic variations such as p' and p̓ do not indicate phonemic distinctions.
| Letter | Letter Name | IPA | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ? | Glottal stop | /ʁˀ/ | |
| a | /ɑ/ | ||
| b | /b/ | ||
| b' | Glottalized b | /ɓ/ | Rare sound, does not begin words |
| c | /t͡s/ | ||
| c' | Glottalized c | /tsˀ/ | |
| č | c-wedge | /c͡ç/ | |
| č' | Glottalized c-wedge | /t͡sʼ/ | |
| d | /d/ | ||
| dᶻ | d-raised-z | /dz/ | |
| ə | Schwa | /ə~əʲ/ | |
| g | /g/ | ||
| gʷ | g-raised-w | /gʷ/ | |
| h | /hʼ/ | ||
| i | /ɪ~i/ | ||
| ǰ | j-wedge | /ɟ͡ʝ/ | |
| k | /k/ | ||
| k' | Glottalized k | /kʼ/ | |
| kʷ | k-raised-w | /kʷ/ | |
| k'ʷ | Glottalized k-raised-w | /kʼʷ/ | |
| l | /l/ | ||
| l' | Strictured l | /ɫ/ | |
| ɬ | Barred-l | /ɬ/ | |
| ƛ' | Glottalized barred-lambda | /ƛʼ/ | Voiceless ejective lateral alveolar affricate |
| m | /m/ | ||
| m' | Strictured m | /m̥ ̰ / | Laryngealized bilabial nasal |
| n | /n/ | ||
| n' | Strictured n | /n̥ ̰/ | Laryngealized alveolar nasal |
| p | /p/ | ||
| p' | Glottalized p | /pʼ/ | |
| q | /q/ | ||
| q' | Glottalized q | /qʼ/ | |
| qʷ | q-raised-w | /qʷ/ | |
| q'ʷ | Glottalized q-raised-w | /q'ʷ/ | |
| s | /s/ | ||
| š | s-wedge | /ç~ɕ/ | |
| t | /t/ | ||
| t' | Glottalized t | /tʼ/ | |
| u | /ʉ/ | ||
| w | /w~ʋ/ | ||
| w' | Strictured w | /w ̰/ | Laryngealized high back rounded glide |
| xʷ | x-w | /xʷ/ | |
| x̌ | x-wedge | /χ/ | |
| x̌ʷ | Rounded x-wedge | /χʷ/ | |
| y | /j/ | ||
| y' | Strictured y | /j ̰/ |
Bates, D., Hess, T., & Hilbert, V. (1994). Lushootseed dictionary. Seattle: University of Washington Press.