Lushootseed

Lushootseed (txʷəlšucid, dxʷləšucid), also Puget Salish, Puget Sound Salish or Skagit-Nisqually, is a language made up of a dialect continuum of several Salish tribes of modern-day Washington state. Lushootseed is one of the Coast Salish languages, one of two main divisions of the Salishan language family.

Lushootseed
dxʷləšucid or txʷəlšucid
Native to	United States
Region	North Western Washington, around the Puget Sound
Ethnicity	Skagit, Sauk-Suiattle,Swinomish, Stillaguamish, Snohomish, Suquamish, Sammamish, Snoqualmie, Duwamish, Puyallup, Nisqually, Sahewamish, Squaxin
Extinct	no fully fluent native speakers as of 2008,^[1] some second-language speakers. Revitalization efforts underway
Language family	Salishan Coast Salish Central Lushootseed
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: lut – Lushootseed slh – Southern Puget Sound Salish ska – Skagit (covered by [lut]) sno – Snohomish (covered by [lut])
Glottolog	lush1251
ELP	Lushootseed
Lushootseed is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Its pre-contact range extended from around modern-day Olympia, Washington to Bellingham, Washington, spoken by roughly 12000 at its peak.^[2][3] The dialects of the language can be split into two categories: northern and southern, which can further be split into dialects spoken by the individual peoples who spoke it. Today, it is mostly used in heritage and symbolic purposes, like on signage or place names. It is seldom spoken today, and is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.

Phonology

Lushootseed has a complex consonantal phonology and 4 vowel phonemes. Along with more common voicing and labialization contrasts, Lushootseed has a plain-glottalic contrast, which is realized as laryngealized with sonorants, ejective with voiceless stops or fricatives.

Consonants

Lushootseed consonants^[4][5]

		Labial	Alveolar		(Alveolo-) palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
			plain	sibilant		plain	lab.	plain	labio.
Stop	voiced	b	d	dz	dʒ	ɡ	ɡʷ
	voiceless	p	t	ts	tʃ	k	kʷ	q	qʷ
	glottalized	pʼ	tʼ	tsʼ	tʃʼ	kʼ	kʷʼ	qʼ	qʷʼ	ʔ
	lateral		tɬʼ
Fricative			ɬ	s	ʃ		xʷ	χ	χʷ	h
Approximant	plain		l		j		w
	laryngealized		l̰		j̰		w̰

Lushootseed has no phonemic nasals. However, the nasals [m], [m̰], [n], and [n̰] may appear in some speech styles and words as variants of /b/ and /d/.^[4]

Vowels

Lushootseed vowels^[5][6]

	Front	Central	Back
High	i ~ e		u ~ o
Mid		ə
Low	æ ~ ɑ

Syntax

Lushootseed can be considered a relatively agglutinating language, given its high number of morphemes, including a large number of lexical suffixes. Word order is fairly flexible, although it is generally considered to be verb-subject-object (VSO).^[7]

Lushootseed is capable of creating grammatically correct sentences that contain only a verb, with no subject or object. All information beyond the action is to be understood by context. This can be demonstrated in ʔuʔəy’dub '[someone] managed to find [someone/something]'.^[8] Sentences which contain no verb at all are also common, as Lushootseed has no copula. An example of such a sentence is stab əẃə tiʔiɫ 'What [is] that?'.^[9]

Despite its general status as VSO, Lushootseed can be rearranged to be subject-verb-object (SVO) and verb-object-subject (VOS). Doing so does not modify the words themselves, but requires the particle ʔə to mark the change. The exact nature of this particle is the subject of some debate.

Prepositions in Lushootseed are almost entirely handled by one word, ʔal, which can mean ‘on, above, in, beside, around’ among a number of potential other meanings. They come before the object they reference, much like in English. Examples of this can be found in the following sentences:

1. stab əẃə tiʔiɫ ʔal tə stuləkʷ ‘What is that in the river?’
2. ʔuyayus ti dbad ʔal tudiʔ ‘My Father is working over there.’
3. šəqabac ʔal ti piit ‘On top of the bed.’ (this example is interesting as šəqabac actually means ‘on top of a large/bulky object’ on its own, but still contains the ʔal preposition)

Determiners usually come before a noun they belong to, and have two possible genders “masculine” and “feminine”. However, in a sentence reordered to become SVO, such as sq^wəbayʔ ti ʔučalatəb ʔə tiʔiɬ wiw'su ‘The dog is what the children chased’ the determiner for sq^wəbayʔ ‘dog’ comes after the noun, instead of before it. Gender primarily manifests in the addition of an -s- within the determiner, generally following immediately after the first letter of the word, i.e. tiʔiɫ ‘that’ becomes tsiʔiɫ, te ‘the, a’ becomes tse, ti ‘this’ becomes tsi.

Lushootseed has four subject pronouns: čəd ‘I’ (first-person singular), čəɫ ‘we’ (first-person plural), čəxʷ ‘you’ (second-person singular), and čələp ‘you’ (second-person plural). It does not generally refer to the third person in any way. The subject pronoun always comes in the second position in the sentence. For example dxʷləbiʔ čəxʷ ʔu ‘Are you Lummi?’ as compared to xʷiʔ čəd lədxʷləbiʔ ‘I am not Lummi’. Here, negation takes the first position, the subject pronoun takes the second, and Lummi is pushed to the end of the sentence.^[8]

Negation in Lushootseed takes the form of an adverb xʷiʔ 'no, none, nothing' which always comes at the beginning of the sentence that is to be negated. It is constructed in two possible ways, one for negatives of existence, and one for negatives of identity. If taking the form of a negative of identity, a proclitic lə- must be added to the sentence on the next adverb. If there are no further adverbs in the sentence, the proclitic attaches to the head word of the predicate, as in the sentence xʷiʔ čəxʷ sixʷ ləbakʷɬ ' Don't get hurt again.'^[8]

Related languages and current status

Lushootseed, like its neighbour Twana, is in the Central Coast Salish subgroup of the Salishan family of languages.^[10] The language was spoken by many Puget Sound region peoples, including the Duwamish, Steilacoom, Suquamish, Squaxin Island Tribe, Muckleshoot, Snoqualmie, Nisqually, and Puyallup in the south and the Snohomish, Stillaguamish, Skagit, and Swinomish in the north.

 

Bust of Chief Seattle with accompanying text in Lushootseed: ti šišəgʷł gʷəl al tiʔəʔəxʷ sgʷaʔčəł səxʷəsłałlilčəł siʔał dəgʷi gʷəl liiiiləxʷ dʔiišəd cəłul̕ul̕ cəł ʔəslax̌ədxʷ ti gʷaalapu

Ethnologue quotes a source published in 1990 (and therefore presumably reflecting the situation in the late 1980s), according to which there were 60 fluent speakers of Lushootseed, evenly divided between the northern and southern dialects.^[11] On the other hand, the Ethnologue 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).^[11] Some sources given for these figures, however, go back to the 1970s when the language was less critically endangered. Linguist Marianne Mithun has collected more recent data on the number of speakers of various Native American languages, and could document that by the end of the 1990s there were only a handful of elders left who spoke Lushootseed fluently. The language was extensively documented and studied by linguists with the aid of tribal elder Vi Hilbert, d. 2008, who was the last speaker with a full native command of Lushootseed.^[1] There are efforts at reviving the language, and instructional materials have been published.

Language revitalization

As of 2013^[update], the Tulalip Tribes' Lushootseed Language Department teaches classes in Lushootseed,^[12][13] and its website offers a Lushootseed "phrase of the week" with audio.^[14] The Tulalip Montessori School also teaches Lushootseed to young children.^[15]

Wa He Lut Indian School teaches Lushootseed to Native elementary school children in their Native Language and Culture program.^{[citation needed]}

As of 2013^[update], an annual Lushootseed conference is held at Seattle University.^[16] A course in Lushootseed language and literature has been offered at Evergreen State College.^[17] Lushootseed has also been used as a part of environmental history courses at Pacific Lutheran University.^[1] It has been spoken during the annual Tribal Canoe Journey (Tribal Journeys) that take place throughout the Salish Sea.

There are also efforts within the Puyallup Tribe. Their website and social media, aimed at anyone interested in learning the language, are updated often.^[18]

To facilitate the use of Lushootseed in electronic files, in 2008 the tribe contracted type designer Juliet Shen to create Unicode-compliant typefaces that met the needs of the language. Drawing upon traditional Lushootseed carvings and artwork, she developed two typefaces: Lushootseed School and Lushootseed Sulad.^[19][20]

In the summer of 2016, the first ever adult immersion program in Lushootseed was offered at the University of Washington's Tacoma campus. It was sponsored by The Puyallup Tribal Language Program in partnership with University of Washington Tacoma and its School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences.^[21] A similar program is scheduled to be offered in August 2019, with the instructors Danica Sterud Miller, Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington Tacoma, and Zalmai Zahir, a PhD student of theoretical linguistics at the University of Oregon.^[22]

Subdivisions

Lushootseed consists of two dialect groups which can be further divided into subdialects:

• Northern Lushootseed or Lushootseed (Northern Puget Sound Salish)
  • Snohomish (Sdoh-doh-hohbsh or Sdohobich) (spoke the Sduhubš / Snohomish dialect, a transitional dialect between Northern and Southern Lushootseed; today as part of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington they developed the dxʷləšucid or Tulalip Lushootseed dialect)
  • Stillaguamish (Stoluck-wa-mish River Tribe) (spoke a separate dialect; today many are part of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington and developed the dxʷləšucid or Tulalip Lushootseed dialect)
  • Skagit, Skaǰət-Swinomish or Lower Skagit-Swinomish dialects
    • Lower Skagit (Whidbey Island Skagit) (on Skagit River and on Whidbey Island, subdialect of Skaǰət-Swinomish)
    • Upper Skagit^[23] (along upper Skagit River, subdialect of Skaǰət-Swinomish)
    • Swinomish (at the mouth of Skagit Rivers and northern part of Whidbey Island, sometimes considered a Lower Skagit band, subdialect of Skaǰət-Swinomish)
    • Kikiallus (Ki Ki Allus or Kikyalus) (between Lower Skagit and Swinomish lands, sometimes considered a Lower Skagit band, Kikiallus subdialect of Skaǰət-Swinomish)
  • Sauk-Suiattle (Sah-Ku-Me-Hu) (on Sauk River and Suiattle River, Suiʼaẋbixʷ or Sauk-Suiattle dialect)
• Southern Lushootseed or Whulshootseed / Twulshootseed (Southern Puget Sound Salish)
  • Skykomish (Skai-whamish) (originally considered a subdivision of the Snoqualmies,
  • Snoqualmie (S·dukʷalbixʷ / Sduqwalbixw) (along Tolt River and Snoqualmie River, spoke the Sduqʷalbixʷ or Snoqualmie subdialect, often grouped as Txʷǝlšucid or Twulshootseed local dialect)
  • Steilacoom
  • Suquamish
  • Duwamish
  • Muckleshoot (bǝqǝlšuɫucid) (on Green and White rivers)
  • Puyallup (Spuyaləpabš or S’Puyalupubsh) (lived throughout the river basin of the Puyallup River, at Gig Harbor and Wollochet Bay and on Vashon Island, spoke the Txʷǝlšucid or Twulshootseed local dialect)
  • Nisqually ('Susqually'absh or sq̓ʷaliʼabš)
  • Sahewamish
  • Snohomish (Sdoh-doh-hohbsh) (around the Puget Sound area of Washington, north of Seattle)
  • Squaxin Island Tribe

Alphabet

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 which does not change to reflect the pronunciation 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. Capital letters are not used in Lushootseed.^[24]

Letter	Letter Name	IPA	Notes
ʔ	Glottal stop	/ʔ/	Question mark (?) used alternatively
a		/ɑ/
b		/b/
bʼ	Glottalized b	/ɓ/	Rare, non-initial
c		/t͡s/
cʼ	Glottalized c	/t͡sʼ/
č	c-wedge	/t͡ʃ/
čʼ	Glottalized c-wedge	/t͡ʃʼ/
d		/d/
dᶻ	d-raised-z	/d͡z/
ə	Schwa	/ə/
g		/ɡ/
gʷ	g-raised-w	/ɡʷ/	Labialized counterpart of /ɡ/
h		/h/
i		/i~e/ ^[6]	Pronounced either as in the English "bee" or "bay" ^[25]
ǰ	j-wedge	/d͡ʒ/
k		/k/
kʼ	Glottalized k	/kʼ/
kʷ	k-raised-w	/kʷ/	Labialized counterpart of /k/
kʼʷ	Glottalized k-raised-w	/kʼʷ/	Labialized counterpart of /kʼ/
l		/l/
lʼ	Glottalized/Strictured l	/lʼ/
ɫ/ɬ	Barred l or Belted l	/ɬ/	Both letters refer to the same sound, but either letter can be used.^[25]^[26]
ƛʼ	Glottalized barred-lambda	/t͜ɬʼ/
m		/m/	Rare due to phonetic evolution.^[27]
mʼ	Glottalized/Strictured m	/m̰/	Rare due to phonetic evolution.^[27] Laryngealized bilabial nasal
n		/n/	Rare due to phonetic evolution ^[27]
nʼ	Glottalized/Strictured n	/n̰/	Rare due to phonetic evolution.^[27] Laryngealized alveolar nasal
p		/p/
pʼ	Glottalized p	/pʼ/
q		/q/
qʼ	Glottalized q	/qʼ/
qʷ	q-raised-w	/qʷ/	Labialized counterpart of /q/
qʼʷ	Glottalized q-raised-w	/qʼʷ/	Labialized counterpart of /qʼ/
s		/s/
š	s-wedge	/ʃ/
t		/t/
tʼ	Glottalized t	/tʼ/
u		/u~o/ ^[6]	Pronounced either as in the English "boot" or "boat" ^[25]
w		/w~ʋ/
wʼ	Glottalized/Strictured w	/w̰/	Laryngealized high back rounded glide
xʷ	x-w/x-raised-w	/xʷ/	Labialized counterpart of /x/
x̌	x-wedge	/χ/
x̌ʷ	Rounded x-wedge	/χʷ/	Labialized counterpart of /χ/
y		/j/
yʼ	Glottalized/Strictured y	/j̰/	Laryngealized high front unrounded glide

See the external links below for resources.

Some vocabulary

The Lushootseed language originates from the coastal region of Northwest Washington State and the Southwest coast of Canada. There are words in the Lushootseed language which are related to the environment and the fishing economy that surrounded the Salish tribes. The following tables show different words from different Lushootseed dialects relating to the salmon fishing and coastal economies.

Southern Lushootseed Salmonoid Vocabulary
sčədadx	a word that covers all Pacific salmon and some species of trout.
sac̓əb	Chinook or King
cʼuwad	Sockeye salmon
skʷǝxʷic	coho salmon
ƛ̕xʷayʼ	chum salmon
hədu	the pink salmon
skʷawǝľ	Steelhead
pədkʷəxʷic	coho season
sc̓ayʼayʼ	gills
ɫičaʔa	nets
ɫičaʔalikʷ	net fishing
ʔalil tiʔiɫ ƛ̕usq̓íl	spawning season
skʷǝɫt	tailfin
t̓altəd	fillet knife
sqʼʷəlus	kippered dried salmon
səlusqid	fish heads
qəlx̌	dried salmon eggs
ƛ̕ǝbƛ̕əbqʷ	fresh eggs
sɫuʔb	dried chum
sxʷudᶻəʔdaliɫəd	fish with a large amount of body fat
xʷšabus	Lightly smoked

Northern Lushootseed/Snohomish Salmonoid Vocabulary^[28]
sʔuladxʷ	a word that covers all Pacific salmon and some species of trout.
yubəč	Chinook or King
scəqiʔ	sockeye salmon
ƛ̕xʷayʔ	chum salmon
skʷəxʷic	silver salmon

Northern Lushootseed/Snohomish Aquatic Vocabulary^[28]
qalʼqaləx̌ič	orca/killer whale
č(ə)xʷəluʔ	grey whale
sq̓aƛ̕	otter
sup̓qs	harbor seal
sťəqxʷ	beaver
sqibk̕ʷ	octopus
ʔaləšək	turtle
waq̓waq̓	frog
sk̕ʷic̕i	sea urchin
təǰabac	sea cucumber
q̓ʷəlačiʔ	star fish
bəsqʷ	crab
ťaɫiɡʷs	rock cod
p̓uay̓	flounder
kəlapx̌ʷəlč	jelly fish
sʔax̌ʷuʔ	clam
tulqʷ	mussel
ƛ̕ux̌ʷƛ̕ux̌ʷ	native oyster
c̕ubc̕ub	barnacle
sx̌aʔaʔ	little neck steam clams
xʷč́iɫqs	large native oyster
ɡʷidəq	geoduck
stxʷub	butter clam
sx̌əp̓ab	cockle clam
haʔəc	horse clam
č́ič́əlpyaqid / puʔps	periwinkle
sč́awəyʔ	any seashell
ʔuk̕ʷs	large chiton
x̌ald	small chiton

References

1. Brown, Drew (2003). "History professor helps keep local Native American language alive". Scene - Life of the Mind, Pacific Lutheran University. Retrieved 2013-04-04.
2. "About dxʷləšucid Lushootseed". Lushootseed. 2014-12-05. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
3. "What is Lushootseed?". The Lushootseed Language. 2016-06-07. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
4. Bates, Dawn; Hess, Thom; Vi, Hilbert (1994). Lushootseed Dictionary. University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295973234. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
5. Beck, David. "Words and prosodic phrasing in Lushootseed narrative*" (PDF). University of Toronto. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
6. Zahir, Zalmai (December 2018). Elements of Lushootseed Grammar in Discourse Perspective (Thesis). Retrieved 15 December 2022.
7. Bates, Dawn E; Hess, Thom; Hilbert, Vi (1994). Lushootseed dictionary. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0295973234. OCLC 29877333.
8. Hess, Thom, 1936-2009. (1995). Lushootseed reader with introductory grammar. [Place of publication not identified]: Tulalip Tribes. ISBN 1879763117. OCLC 79169469.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
9. Hess, Thom; Hilbert, Vi (1995). Lushootseed Grammar Book 1. Lushootseed Press. pp. 2–4.
10. Kroeber, P. D. (1999). The Salish Language Familhy Reconstructing Syntax. University of Nebraska Press. p. 3.
11. "Lushootseed". Ethnologue.
12. "Tulalip Lushootseed". Tualip Tribes. Retrieved 2013-04-04.
13. Fiege, Gale (2013-03-31). "For students, Tulalip Tribes' native language a connection to the past". HeraldNet.com. Everett, WA. Archived from the original on 2013-06-30. Retrieved 2013-04-04.
14. "Lushootseed". Tulalip Tribes. Retrieved 2013-04-04.
15. Gauld, Ben (June 24, 2015). "Voices of Youth Keep Lushootseed Language Alive". 94.9 FM - Seattle News & Information. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
16. "dxʷləšucid, Lushootseed Research". Retrieved 2013-04-04.
17. Lushootseed_Syllabus_06.pdf (PDF), retrieved 2013-04-04
18. "haʔł sləx̌il txʷəl gʷəlapu. ʔəsx̌id čəxʷ siʔiʔab. - Puyallup Tribal Language".
19. Anderson, Hans (2020-06-20). "Lushootseed, the endangered oral language of the coast Salish peoples, gets its own font". KNKX Public Radio. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
20. Shen, Juliet (Autumn 2010). "Aesthetic Innovation in Indigenous Typefaces: Designing a Lushootseed Font". Glimpse | the Art + Science of Seeing (7).
21. UWT to offer Lushootseed immersion program this summer 2016-04-17 at the Wayback Machine, Puyallup Tribal News, April 7, 2016 (retrieved April 25, 2016)
22. "LUSHOOTSEED LANGUAGE INSTITUTE". University of Washington Tacoma.
23. Eijk, Jan Van. The Lillooet Language: Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, UBC Press, 1985, p.xxiv.
24. Hayward, Amber (2021-05-19). Twulshootseed Advisory Notice (PDF) (Report). Tacoma, Washington: Puyallup Tribal Language Program. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
25. "sƛ̕əladiʔ – Alphabet/Sounds". Tulalip Lushootseed. 27 December 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
26. "The Alphabet". Puyallup Tribal Language. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
27. Kroeber, P. D. (1999). The Salish Language Familhy Reconstructing Syntax. University of Nebraska Press. p. 8.
28. "tiʔiʔiɬ kʷi ʔišil aquatic". Lushootseed. Tulalip Tribes. 2017-03-19. Retrieved 2023-03-09.

Language learning materials

• Bates, D., Hess, T., & Hilbert, V. (1994). Lushootseed dictionary. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295973234
• Beck, David. "Transitivity and causation in Lushootseed morphology." Working Papers of the Linguistics Circle 13 (1996): 11–20.
• Browner, Tara (2009). Music of the First Nations: Tradition and Innovation in Native North America. University of Illinois Press. pp. 35–36.
• Indiana University, Bloomington (1996). Lushootseed texts: an introduction to Puget Salish narrative aesthetics. Studies in the anthropology of North American Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press in cooperation with the American Indian Studies Research Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington. ISBN 0803212623.
• Chamberlain, Rebecca, Lushootseed Language & Literature: Program reader. (Lushootseed language, cultural, and storytelling traditions.)
• Hess, Thom (1995). Lushootseed reader. University of Montana occasional papers in linguistics. S.l.: Tulalip Tribes. ISBN 1879763141.
• Hess, Thom and Vi Hilbert. Lushootseed Book 1; The language of the Skagit, Nisqually, and other tribes of Puget Sound. An Introduction. Lushootseed Press 1995
• Hess, Thom and Vi Hilbert. Lushootseed Book 2 (Advanced Lushootseed). Lushootseed Press, 1995
• Hess, Thom (1995). Lushootseed Reader with Introductory Grammar. Missoula: University of Montana. ISBN 1879763117.
• Hilbert, Vi. Haboo: Native American Stories from Puget Sound. Seattle: University of Washington, 1985
• Hilbert, Vi, Crisca Bierwest, Thom Hess. Way of the Lushootseed People; Ceremonies & Traditions of North Puget Sound's First People. Third Edition, Lushootseed Press, 2001
• dxʷlešucid xʷgʷədgʷatəd tul̓ʔal taqʷšəblu; Some Lushootseed Vocabulary from taqʷšəblu. Lushootseed Press, 1993

External links

 

For a list of words relating to Lushootseed, see the Lushootseed category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

 

Lushootseed test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

• Puyallup Tribal Language Program
• The Tulalip Lushootseed Department's Website
• Keyboards and fonts for typing in Lushootseed
• Interactive alphabet app through the Tulalip Lushootseed Department
• by Drew Brown for PLU Scene Magazine
• The Lushootseed Peoples of Puget Sound Country
• Lushootseed Research
• Dr. David Beck, Salishan Language specialist
• (archived)