| Cowlitz | |
|---|---|
| ƛʼpúlmixq | |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | SouthwesternWashington |
| Ethnicity | LowerCowlitz people |
| Extinct | October 23, 1992, with the death of Emma Northover Mesplie; dormant by 1960s |
| Revival | revival efforts underway |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cow |
| Glottolog | cowl1242 |
Cowlitz (Cowlitz:ƛʼpúlmixq),[2] also known asCowlitz Salish,[3] is aTsamosan language of theCoast Salish family ofSalishan languages. It was spoken by theLower Cowlitz people of theCowlitz Indian Tribe and is spoken today by both Lower and Upper Cowlitz people. It went dormant in the 1960s. As of 2022, it is being revitalized by the Cowlitz Tribe in collaboration withthe Language Conservancy.[4][3]
Cowlitz had two dialects, with a dialectal opposition between[k] and[x] and[t͡ʃ] and[ʃ]. However, these dialects were poorly documented, due to the extinction of the language.[5]
TheCowlitz people were originally two distinct tribes: the Lower Cowlitz and the Upper Cowlitz, sometimes called the Taidnapam. Only the Lower Cowlitz originally spoke Cowlitz Salish. The Upper Cowlitz spoke aSahaptin language.[6]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | eeː | ə | oː |
| Open | aaː |
| ʔ | a | b | c | cʼ | č | čʼ | d | e | ə | f | g | h | i | j | k | kʷ | kʼ | kʷʼ | l | lʼ | ɬ | ƛʼ | m | mʼ | n |
| nʼ | o | o | p | pʼ | q | qʷ | qʼ | qʷʼ | r | s | š | t | tʼ | u | v | w | wʼ | x | xʷ | x̣ | x̣ʷ | y | yʼ | z |
Cowlitz is most similar toLower Chehalis, another Tsamosan language, although it contains some oddities, such as the word for one,utsus (in contrast to the Lower Chehalispaw).
| English | Cowlitz |
|---|---|
| Lower Cowlitz people | sƛʼpúlmx |
| one (number) | ʔúcʼs |
| two | sáliʔ |
| three | káʔɬiʔ |
| four | mús |
| five | čílačš |
| to sing | sʔílnʼ |
| moon/sun | ɬukʷáɬ |
| dog | qáx̣aʔ |
| water | qálʔ |
| man | síɬmx |
| woman | kə́wɬ |
