Straits Salish

Straits Salish, also known as Lhaq’temish or simply Salish, is a Salishan language spoken in the Strait of Georgia–Puget Sound region of British Columbia and Washington state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The name "Straits Salish" is used to distinguish it from the related but distinct Salish languages spoken in the Interior Salish Mountains and Columbia Plateau to the east. The Straits Salish people are the Indigenous people who live in the Salish Sea region, which spans from southeastern Alaska to northwestern Washington state. The Straits Salish language is one of the Coast Salish languages, which are a group of closely related languages spoken in the Pacific Northwest. The Coast Salish languages are part of the Salishan language family, which includes languages spoken in the interior of British Columbia, Washington state, and Oregon. The Straits Salish language is endangered, with only a few hundred speakers remaining. Most Straits Salish speakers are older adults, and the language is not being passed down to younger generations. Efforts are being made to revitalize the language, including teaching it in schools and creating dictionaries and other resources. The Straits Salish language has a complex grammar and a large vocabulary. It is a polysynthetic language, meaning that words can be very long and can include many different parts. For example, the word for "I am eating" is s-xw-qʷəl-əm-əš, which includes the root s-xw-qʷəl (to eat), the suffix -əm (I), and the suffix -əš (present tense). The Straits Salish language is written using the Latin alphabet, with some additional characters to represent certain sounds. There is no standard spelling system, so different writers may spell words differently.