Lower Chehalis language

Lower Chehalis
Łəw̓ál̕məš
ɬəw̓ál̓məš
Native toUnited States
Regionsouth of Olympic Peninsula, Washington
EthnicityChehalis people
Extinct1990s[1]
Salishan
  • Coast
    • Tsamosan
      • Maritime
        • Lower Chehalis
Language codes
ISO 639-3cea
Glottologlowe1427
Lower Chehalis is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
[2]

Lower Chehalis (Łəw̓ál̕məš) is a member of the Tsamosan (or Olympic Peninsula) branch of the Coast Salish family of Salishan languages. In some classifications, Lower Chehalis is placed closer to Quinault than it is to Upper Chehalis. It went extinct in the 1990s.

Phonology

[edit]
Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
central sibilant lateral plain lab. plain lab.
Plosive/
Affricate
plain p t ts k q ʔ
ejective tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ kʷʼ qʷʼ
Fricative s ɬ ʃ χ χʷ h
Sonorant plain m n l j w
glottalized ˀm ˀn ˀl ˀj ˀw

Vowels are represented as /i ə u a/ and /iː aː/.[3] Allophones are also noted.

Sound Allophone
/i/ [i], [e], [ɛ]
/a/ [aˤ], [a], [ɐ]
/ə/ [ɨ], [ə], [ʌ], [ɪ], [ʊ]
/u/ [u], [o], [ɔ]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Lower Chehalis at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (Report) (3rd ed.). UNESCO. 2010. p. 11.
  3. ^ Snow, Charles T. (June 1969). A Lower Chehalis Phonology (Master of Arts thesis). University of Kansas. hdl:1808/26715. Retrieved 2022-05-29.