Lushootseed (also x^wəlšucid, dx^wləšúcid, Puget Salish, Puget Sound Salish, Skagit-Nisqually) is the language or dialect continuum of several Salish Native American groups of modern-day Washington state. Lushootseed is a member of two main divisions of the Salishan language group, Coast Salish and Interior Salish.

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

Subdivisions

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

• Northern Lushootseed
  • Snohomish (at Tulalip)
  • Skagit-Swinomish (on Skagit River and on Whidbey Island)
  • Sauk-Suiattle (on Sauk and Suiattle rivers)
• Southern Lushootseed
  • Skykomish
  • Snoqualmie
  • Suquamish
  • Duwamish
  • Muckleshoot (on Green and White rivers)
  • Puyallup
  • Nisqually
  • Sahewamish

The division into Northern and Southern groups is based on vocabulary and stress patterns. More accurately, the dialects form a cline.

Some Vocabulary

Southern Lushootseed Salmonid Vocabulary

: a word that covers all Pacific salmon and some species of trout.

: Chinook or King

: Sockeye Salmon

: Coho Salmon

: Chum Salmon

: the Pink Salmon

: Steelhead

: the Coho season

: gills

: nets

: net fishing

: spawning season

: body fat

: tailfin

: fillet knife

: fish dried for storage

: fish heads

: dried salmon eggs

: fresh eggs

: dried Chum

: fish with a large amount of body fat

: lightly smoked

External links

• Lushootseed Peoples of Puget Sound Country
• Ethnologue report for language code: LUT

Native American tribes | Languages of the United States | Coast Salishan languages | Lushootseed language | Endangered languages | Indigenous languages of the North American Northwest Coast

Lushootseed