North Straits Salish language

{{Short description|Salishan dialect continuum}} {{Infobox language | name = North Straits Salish | region = Vancouver Island, British Columbia; Washington | speakers = 105 | date = 2016 census | ref = <ref>{{Cite web |last=Canada |first=Government of Canada, Statistics |title=Aboriginal Mother Tongue (90) |url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=112132&PRID=10&PTYPE=109445&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2017&THEME=122&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF= |access-date=2018-05-21 |website=www12.statcan.gc.ca |date=28 March 2018 |language=en}}</ref> | familycolor = salishan | fam1 = Salishan | fam2 = Coast | fam3 = Central | fam4 = Straits Salish | iso3 = str | glotto = stra1244 | glottorefname = Northern Straits Salish | dia1 = Lummi | dia2 = Saanich | dia3 = Samish | dia4 = Semiahmoo {{extinct}} | dia5 = Songhees {{extinct}} | dia6 = T'sou-ke {{extinct}} | nativename = {{lang|str|SENĆOŦEN / Malchosen / Siʔneməš / Lekwungen / Semiahmoo / T’Sou-ke}} | map = Northern Straits Salish Map with Endonyms.svg | mapcaption = | map2 = Lang Status 20-CR.svg | mapcaption2 = {{center|Northern Straits Salish is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger''.}} | states = Canada, United States }}

'''Northern Straits Salish''' (also referred to as '''North Straits Salish''')<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Montler |first=Timothy |date=1999 |title=Language and Dialect Variation in Straits Salishan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30028724 |journal=Anthropological Linguistics |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=462–502 |jstor=30028724 |issn=0003-5483}}</ref> is a language composed of several mutually-intelligible dialects within the Coast Salish language family spoken in western Washington and British Columbia. The various dialects of Northern Straits Salish are often referred to as separate languages, both in historic and modern times, and although their similarities are recognized by its speakers, there is no word for the language as a whole.

Northern Straits Salish is notable for the frequent appearance of the dorsal nasal consonant /ŋ~ɴ/, a rare segment in other Pacific Northwestern languages.

== Dialects == The dialects of Northern Straits are as follows:{{Sfn|Montler|1999|p=462-463}} ('''†''') marks a dialect that has no native speakers. *Lummi ({{lang|str|Xwlemi Chosen}}) *Saanich ({{Lang|str|SENĆOŦEN}},{{Efn|NAPA: {{lang|str|sənčáθən}}}} {{Lang|str|W̱SÁNEĆḴEN}}{{Efn|NAPA: {{lang|str|xʷsénəčqən}}}})<ref>{{Cite web |title=Human relations |url=https://itservices.cas.unt.edu/~montler/saanich/wordlist/humanrelations#686.2. |access-date=2024-03-16 |website=SENĆOŦEN Word List}}</ref> *Samish ({{Lang|str|Xws7ámeshqen}})<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Language |url=https://www.samishtribe.nsn.us/departments/language |access-date=2023-06-24 |website=Samish Indian Nation}}</ref> *('''†'''{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}) Semiahmoo *('''†''') Lekwungen ({{Lang|str|lək̓ʷəŋiʔnəŋ}}; also known as Songhees or Songish)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Patterson |first=Travis |date=2011-06-01 |title=Traditional language comes alive on breakwater |url=http://www.vicnews.com/entertainment/122903678.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402130452/https://www.vicnews.com/entertainment/122903678.html |archive-date=2015-04-02 |access-date=2013-06-02 |work=Victoria News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=lək̓ʷəŋən Language Reawaken |url=https://songheesnation.ca/community/l-k-ng-n-language-reawaken |access-date=2024-03-16 |website=Songhees Nation |language=en}}</ref> *('''†''') T'Sou-ke (also known as Sooke)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014 |title=Language Needs Assessment: T'Sou-ke First Nation |url=http://maps.fphlcc.ca/node/2975 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150425144645/http://maps.fphlcc.ca/node/2975 |archive-date=2015-04-25 |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=First Peoples' Language Map of British Columbia}}</ref>

== Classification == Northern Straits is a Salishan language within the Coast Salish branch. Among the Coast Salish languages, Northern Straits is one of the two languages in the Straits Salish branch, the other being Klallam. Klallam and Northern Straits are very closely related, but have lost mutual intelligibility.<ref name=":1" />

Historians have historically classified the various dialects of Northern Straits and Klallam together in many ways. Linguist George Gibbs, in 1863, classified Klallam, Sooke, and Songhees as being one language, Lummi, Saanich, and Semiahmoo being another language, and Samish being a dialect of another Coast Salish language, Lushootseed. One missionary, Myron Eells, believed that Lummi was a dialect of Klallam. German anthropologist Franz Boas believed that Klallam was part of the same language as Northern Straits. Furthermore, Charles Hill-Tout, a Canadian anthropologist, classified Sooke, Saanich, Songhees, Lummi, and Klallam as one language called "Lekonenen," and Songhees as another called "Lekunen."{{Clarify|reason=Songhees is listed twice.|date=August 2024}} What Hill-Tout believed to be the names of the languages were actually derived from the words {{lang|str|lək̓ʷəŋiʔnəŋ}} (the Songhees name for Songhees dialect) and {{lang|str|lək̓ʷəŋən}} (the Songhees name for the Songhees people). Klallam and the dialects of Northern Straits Salish are not mutually intelligible.<ref name=":1" />

== Notes == {{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== *{{Cite journal |last1=Thompson |first1=Laurence C. |last2=Thompson |first2=M. Terry |last3=Efrat |first3=Barbara S. |year=1974 |title=Some Phonological Developments in Straits Salish |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=182–196 |doi=10.1086/465311 |s2cid=144820134}}

==External links== {{incubator|code = str}} *[https://sites.itservices.cas.unt.edu/~montler/Saanich/Outline/index.htm An Outline of the Morphology and Phonology of Saanich, North Straits Salish] *[https://sites.itservices.cas.unt.edu/~montler/Saanich/WordList/index.htm SENĆOŦEN Classified Word List]

Category:North Straits Salish languages Category:Coast Salish languages Category:Indigenous languages of the Pacific Northwest Coast Category:First Nations languages in Canada Category:Indigenous languages of Washington (state)