Twana language

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Twana
Native to United States
Region East of Puget Sound, Washington state
Extinct 1980[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 twa

The Twana or Skokomish language belongs to the Salishan family of Native American languages. It is believed by some elders within the Skokomish community (such as Bruce Subiyay Miller) that the language branched off from Lushootseed (xwəlšucid) because of the region-wide tradition of not speaking the name of someone who died for a year after their death. Substitute words were found in their place and often became normalizing in the community, generating differences from one community to the next. Subiyay speculated that this process increased the drift rate between languages and separated Twana firmly from xwəlšucid (Lushootseed).

The last fluent speaker died in 1980.[1]

The name "Skokomish" comes from the Twana sqʷuqʷóʔbəš, also spelled sqWuqWu'b3sH, and meaning "river people" or "people of the river".[2][3][4]

See also

  • Lushootseed

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Twana reference at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  2. ↑ Bright, William (2004). Native American Placenames of the United States. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 452. ISBN 978-0-8061-3598-4. Retrieved 3 November 2010. 
  3. ↑ Wray, Jacilee (2003). "Skokomish: Twana Descendants". Native Peoples of the Olympic Peninsula: Who We Are. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-8061-3552-6. Retrieved 3 November 2010. 
  4. ↑ The Skokomish Tribal Nation

External links


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