Cowlitz Salish
ƛʼpúlmixq
Native toUnited States
RegionSouthwestern Washington
Salishan
  • Coast
    • Tsamosan
      • Inland
        • Cowlitz Salish
Language codes
ISO 639-3cow
Glottologcowl1242

Cowlitz (Cowlitz: ƛʼpúlmixq),[1] also known as Cowlitz Salish,[2] is a Tsamosan language of the Coast Salish family of Salishan languages. It was spoken by the Lower Cowlitz people of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and is spoken today by both Lower and Upper Cowlitz people. Although it went dormant in the 1960s, it is being revitalized by the Cowlitz Tribe.

Cowlitz people

The Cowlitz people were originally two distinct tribes: the Lower Cowlitz and the Upper Cowlitz, sometimes called the Taidnapam. Only the Lower Cowlitz originally spoke Cowlitz Salish. The Upper Cowlitz spoke a Sahaptin language.[3]

Phonology

Consonants[4]
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
centralsibilantlateral plainlab. plainlab.
Plosive/
Affricate		 plain p t ts tʃ k kʷ q qʷ ʔ
ejective pʼ tʼ tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ kʼ kʷʼ qʼ qʷʼ
Fricative s ɬ ʃ x xʷ χ χʷ h
Sonorant plain m n l j w
glottalized mˀ nˀ lˀ jˀ wˀ
Vowels[4]
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e eː ə oː
Open a aː

Vocabulary

Cowlitz is most similar to Lower Chehalis, another Tsamosan language, although it contains some oddities, such as the word for one, utsus (in contrast to the Lower Chehalis paw).

English Cowlitz
Lower Cowlitz tribeSł'púlmš
one (number)utsus
twosalli
threekałi
fourmus
fivetsilats
to singilani
moon/sunŁuqał
dogkaxa
waterkal'l
mansiłimx
womankuwił

References

  1. ↑ "Cowlitz Coast Salish Dictionary". Cowlitz Salish Dictionary. Cowlitz Indian Tribe. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  2. ↑ "Cowlitz Salish Language Learning". Cowlitz Salish. The Language Conservancy. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  3. ↑ "Our Story". The Cowlitz Indian Tribe. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  4. 1 2 Kinkade, Marvin Dale (2004). Cowlitz dictionary and grammatical sketch. Missoula, MT: Linguistics Laboratory, University of Montana. pp. 219–224.

Further reading

See also

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