are a subgroup of the Salishan Language family. These languages are spoken by First Nations or Native American peoples inhabiting the territory that is now the southwest coast of British Columbia around the Georgia Strait and the state of Washington around Puget Sound . The term " Coast Salish " also refers to the cultures in British Columbia and Washington who speak one of these many languages or dialects.
The Coast Salish languages are spoken around most of the Georgia and Puget Sound Basins, an area that encompasses the sites of the modern-day cities of Vancouver, British Columbia , Seattle, Washington , and others. Archeological evidence indicates that Coast Salish peoples may have inhabited the area as far back as 9000 B.C.E. What is now Seattle, for example, has been inhabited since the end of the last Glacial Period (c. 8,000 B.C.E.—10,000 years ago). 1
In the past, the Nuxálk (or Bella Coola) of British Columbia's Central Coast have also been considered Coast Salish. This language shares at least one phonological change with Coast Salish (the merger of the Proto-Salish pharyngeal approximants with the uvular fricatives), but it also displays certain similarities to the Interior Salish languages. If it is indeed a member of the Coast Salish branch, it was the first to split off from the rest.
Listings are from north to south. Peoples generally inhabited the mentioned watershed and the shores if a body of water is mentioned, as well as further environs. Adjacent tribes or nations often shared adjacent resources and other
practices, so boundaries were seldom distinct.
Vancouver Island
- Island Comox ( Courtenay area, east coast, central Vancouver Island)— K'omox
- Mainland Comox (Sliammon and Homalco), Powell River-Toba Inlet, BC South Coast
- T'souke , Sooke. (southern Vancouver Island) — North Straits Salish
- Snuneymuxw ( Nanaimo , southeast Vancouver Island, north of the Saanich)— Hunquminum
- Saanich (Victoria area and north, southeastern Vancouver Island; also north coast of the Olympic Peninsula , Washington)—North Straits Salish
- Somena ( Cowichan Valley, west and interior southern Vancouver Island, west of the Snuneymuxw)— Hunquminum
Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast
- Comox (northern Georgia Strait and Toba Inlet, northern Sunshine Coast) — K'omox
- --- Sliammon
- --- Homalco
- Shishalh , Sechelt (Sechelt Peninsula, Jervis Inlet , Skwakwa River, Pender Harbour)— Shishalh
- Sḵwxwú7mesh Squamish ( Burrard Inlet , Howe Sound , English Bay , Squamish , Elaho Valley )— Skwxwú7mesh Snichim
- Upriver (Upper Fraser Valley )—Halkeymelem, see Halqemeylem
- Downriver (Lower Fraser Valley -Vancouver)—Hulquminum, see Halqemeylem
- Tsawwassen ( Delta , south lower mainland)—North Straits Salish.Following source (Bates, Hess, & Hilbert) does not cover.
Puget Sound , the Strait Of Juan De Fuca , excluding Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands , are categorized north to south but otherwise are alphabetical. Northern Lushootseed is spoken around northern Puget Sound, Southern Lushootseed around central and south Sound.Dassow of Bates, Hess, & Hilbert (1994), pp. vii–iix Before treaties of 1854–1855, more than fifty named tribes existed, each with one or more winter villages and several summer camps as well as traditionally-allocated resource sites.Suttles & Lane (1990), pp. 486–7
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- Nooksack , ''Noxws'a7aq'' ( Nooksack River , Deming, Washington , Northern Straits, Washington, {southeast Strait of Georgia})
- Lummi , ''Lhaq'temish'' ( Bellingham , Lummi Island, northern Puget Sound)—North Straits Salish
- Samish , ''Sʔabš'' (Samish Bay and Lake Samish , northern Puget Sound, east)—Lushootseed
- Skagit (tribe) , ''Sqaĵət'' ( Skagit River , northern Puget Sound, east)—Lushootseed
- Sauk-Suiattle , ''Suiʔaẋbixw'' ( Suiattle and Sauk rivers, northern Puget Sound, east hills)—Lushootseed
- Snohomish (tribe) , ''Sduhubš'' (northern Puget Sound, east) —Lushootseed
- Swinomish (tribe) (northern Puget Sound, islands and east) —Lushootseed
- Duwamish , ''Dkhw'Duw'Absh'' and ''Xacuabš'' (metropolitan Seattle, central Puget Sound east to blend with the Sammamish) —Lushootseed
- Sammamish , eastern Duwamish (central Puget Sound, east) —Lushootseed
- Snoqualmie , ''Sduqwalbixw'' ( Snoqualmie River , central Puget Sound, east hills)—Lushootseed
- Stkehlmish ''sacakałəbš'', treaty ''SK-tahl-mish'' (north central Puget Sound, east) —Lushootseed
- Suquamish , ''Suqwabš'' (Agate Pass, central Puget Sound, northwest) —Lushootseed
- Nisqually , ''sqwaliʔabš'' ( Deschutes and Nisqually rivers, southern Puget Sound)—Lushootseed
- Muckleshoot , ''bəpubšł'', Inland Duwamish ( Black , Green , and White rivers, southeast Puget Sound)—Lushootseed
- Puyallup , ''Spuyaləqəlpubšut'' ( Puyallup River , south southeast Puget Sound)—Lushootseed
- Sehewamish , ''Sʔəhiwʔabš'' (southwest Puget Sound, west) —Lushootseed
- Squaxin Island Tribe (Case Inlet, southern Puget Sound) —Lushootseed(1) Dassow in Bates, Hess & Hilbert (1994), p. iix
(1.1) Clallam is used for Klallam.
(1.2) This is linguistic, so Duwamish and Sammamish blend between them as well as their being closely related.
(2) Suttles & Lane (1990), pp. 486–7
- 2
Completely reformatted, greatly revised and expanded update of Hess, Thom, ''Dictionary of Puget Salish'' (University of Washington Press, 1976).
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- Czaykowska-Higgins, Ewa and M. Dale Kinkade (1998) "Salish languages and linguistics" in ibid. (eds.) ''Salish Languages and Linguistics: Theoretical and Descriptive Perspectives''. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 1-71.
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Page links to Village Descriptions Duwamish-Seattle section [http://coastsalishmap.org/Village_Descriptions_Duwamish-Seattle.htm].
Dailey referenced "Puget Sound Geography" by T. T. Waterman. Washington DC: National Anthropological Archives, mss. [n.d.] 2 ;
''Duwamish et al vs. United States of America, F-275''. Washington DC: US Court of Claims, 1927. 5 ;
"Indian Lake Washington" by David Buerge in the ''Seattle Weekly'', 1-7 August 1984 8 ;
"Seattle Before Seattle" by David Buerge in the ''Seattle Weekly'', 17-23 December 1980. 9 ;
''The Puyallup-Nisqually'' by Marian W. Smith. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940. 10 .
Recommended start is "Coast Salish Villages of Puget Sound" [http://coastsalishmap.org/start_page.htm].
- Kroeber, Paul D. (1999) ''The Salish Language Family: Reconstructing Syntax.'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- 6
Lange referenced a very extensive list.
Summary article
- --- 7
Lange referenced Lange, "Smallpox Epidemic of 1862 among Northwest Coast and Puget Sound Indians" {Link without Title} , HistoryLink.org ''Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History''. Accessed 8 December 2000.
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Wayne Suttles (ed.)
- Sarah C. Fletcher, ( 17 April 2000). "The First Nations of the North West Coast-Coast Salish; Connections to the environment, involvement in conservation." First Nations of the Northwest Coast: Coast Salish
- Tom Dailey. "Coast Salish Villages of Puget Sound" , start page.
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge (PDF). "Traditional Ecological Knowledge of the Coast Salish informs modern research and resource management."
- "Coast Salish. Collections: Archeology and Ethnology of the Gulf of Georgia" collection, Province of British Columbia
- "Language Family Trees: Salishan" , Ethnologue classification for Salishan.
- ---From Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), (2005). ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'', Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/.
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