Lushootseed
Salishan language or dialect continuum of North America / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Lushootseed,[lower-alpha 1] formerly known as Puget Salish, Puget Sound Salish, or Skagit-Nisqually, is a Central Coast Salish language of the Salishan language family. Lushootseed is the general name for the dialect continuum composed of two main dialects, Northern Lushootseed and Southern Lushootseed, which are further separated into smaller sub-dialects.
Lushootseed | |
---|---|
dxʷləšucid, txʷəlšucid, xʷəlšucid | |
Native to | United States |
Region | North Western Washington, around the Puget Sound |
Ethnicity | Lushootseed-speaking peoples |
Extinct | 2008[1] |
Revival | 472 L2 speakers (2022) |
Salishan
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Variously:lut – Lushootseedslh – Southern Puget Sound Salishska – 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. |
Lushootseed was historically spoken across southern and western Puget Sound roughly between modern-day Bellingham and Olympia by a large number of Indigenous peoples, numbering 12,000 at its peak.[2][3] Today, however, it is primarily a ceremonial language, spoken for heritage or symbolic purposes, and there are about 472 second-language speakers.[4] It is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. Despite this, many Lushootseed-speaking tribes are attempting to revitalize their language in daily use, with several language programs and classes offered across the region.[5][6][7][8][9]
The name comes from ləš, an archaic name for Puget Sound, and dxʷ-...=ucid, meaning 'language,' roughly translating to "Puget Sound language". The affix dxʷ- also means 'filled with' or 'throughout', and is common in Lushootseed names.[citation needed] The southern pronunciation txʷəlsucid is derived from the original by de-voicing d into t and switching the position of l and ə.[3][10]