Chinookan languages

Chinook
Tsinúk
Geographic distribution:	Columbia River Valley
Linguistic classification:	Penutian ? Chinook
Subdivisions:	Kiksht Kathlamet Chinook proper
Ethnologue code:	17-3849
Pre-contact distribution of Chinookan languages

Chinookan is a small family of languages spoken in Oregon and Washington along the Columbia River by Chinook peoples.

Family division

Chinookan languages consist of three languages with multiple varieties. There is some dispute over classification, and there are two ISO 639-3 codes assigned: chh (Chinook, Lower Chinook) and wac (Wasco-Wishram, Upper Chinook). For example, Ethnologue 15e classifies Kiksht as Lower Chinook, while others consider it instead Upper Chinook (discussion), and others a separate language.

• Lower Chinook (also known as Chinook-proper or Coastal Chinook), now extinct (†).^{[citation needed]}
• Kathlamet (also known as Katlamat, Cathlamet), now extinct (†).
• Upper Chinook (also known as Kiksht, Columbia Chinook)

See also

Chinook Jargon – a pidgin based on Chinookan and with many words loaned from other languages, which was used in trade along the Pacific Northwest coast and adjoining areas inland.

Bibliography

• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.

Further reading

• George Gibbs, Alphabetical Vocabulary of the Chinook Language, New York : Cramoisy Press, 1863.

External links

• Aaron Clark, "Tribes strive to save native tongues (Wasco tribe’s Kiksht language)", Christian Science Monitor, 23 May 2008