Cowlitz language

The Cowlitz language is a member of the Tsamosan branch of the Coast Salish family of Salishan languages.

Cowlitz
Native toUnited States
RegionSouthwestern Washington
Ethnicity200 Cowlitz people (1990)[1] As of 2019 over 2,000 and growing
Extinctmaybe 2 speakers in 1990.[1] 1 currently lives in Puyallup, Washington
Revivalthe 110 listed in 2010 census[2] are not native speakers
Salishan
  • Coast
    • Tsamosan
      • Inland
        • Cowlitz
Language codes
ISO 639-3cow
Glottologcowl1242

The Cowlitz people

The Cowlitz people were originally two distinct tribes: the Lower Cowlitz and the Upper Cowlitz. Only the Lower Cowlitz spoke Cowlitz; the Upper Cowlitz, a Sahaptin tribe, spoke a dialect of Yakama.

Phonology

Consonants[3]
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Lateral Velar Uvular Glottal
plain lab. plain lab.
Plosive plain p t k q ʔ
ejective kʷʼ qʷʼ
Affricate plain ts
ejective tsʼ tʃʼ tɬʼ
Fricative s ʃ ɬ x χ χʷ h
Sonorant voiced m n j l w
glottalized
Vowels[3]
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e eː ə
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 at Ethnologue (14th ed., 2000).
  2. Cowlitz at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  3. Kinkade, Marvin Dale (2004). Cowlitz dictionary and grammatical sketch. Missoula, MT: Linguistics Laboratory, University of Montana. pp. 219–224.

See also


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