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Wakashan languages
 
 
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Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia
British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
 around and on Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada, one of several North American regions named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Ocean coast of North America between 1791 and 1794....
, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula
Olympic Peninsula

The Olympic Peninsula is the large arm of land in western Washington state that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, Washington. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the east by Puget Sound and the Hood Canal....
 of Washington
Washington

Washington is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute....
 state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca
Strait of Juan de Fuca

The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a large body of water about long forming the principal outlet for the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound, connecting both to the Pacific Ocean....
.

As typical of the Northwest Coast, Wakashan languages have large consonant inventories—the consonants often occurring in complex clusters.

1.






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Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia
British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
 around and on Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada, one of several North American regions named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Ocean coast of North America between 1791 and 1794....
, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula
Olympic Peninsula

The Olympic Peninsula is the large arm of land in western Washington state that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, Washington. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the east by Puget Sound and the Hood Canal....
 of Washington
Washington

Washington is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute....
 state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca
Strait of Juan de Fuca

The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a large body of water about long forming the principal outlet for the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound, connecting both to the Pacific Ocean....
.

As typical of the Northwest Coast, Wakashan languages have large consonant inventories—the consonants often occurring in complex clusters.

Family division


Wakashan consists of 7 languages:

I. Northern Wakashan
1. Haisla
Haisla language

The Haisla language is a First Nations language spoken by the Haisla people of the North Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, who are based in the village of Kitaamat 10 km from the town of Kitimat, British Columbia at the head of the Douglas Channel, a 120km fjord that serves as a waterway for the Haisla as well as for...
 (a.k.a. Xa?islak’ala)
2. Kwak'wala (a.k.a. Kwakiutl, spoken by Southern Kwakiutl
Laich-kwil-tach

Laich-kwil-tach is the proper spelling in the Kwak'wala language of the name used for themselves by the "Southern Kwakiutl" people of Quadra Island and Campbell River, British Columbia in British Columbia, Canada....
, Kwakwaka'wakw
Kwakwaka'wakw

The Kwakwaka'wakw are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast nation, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the mainland....
 peoples)
A. Heiltsuk-Oowekyala (a.k.a. Bella Bella)
3. Heiltsuk
Heiltsuk language

The Heiltsuk language , also known as Bella Bella, is a dialect of the North Wakashan language Heiltsuk-Oowekyala language that is spoken by the Haihai ...
 4. Oowekyala
Oowekyala language

Oowekyala is a dialect of Heiltsuk-Oowekyala, a Wakashan languages language spoken around Rivers Inlet and Owikeno Lake in the British Columbia Coast of the Canadian province of British Columbia, spoken by the Wuikinuxv people, whose government is the Wuikinuxv Nation....


II. Southern Wakashan
5. Makah
Makah language

The Makah language is the Indigenous languages of the Americas language spoken by the Makah people. Makah has been extinct as a first language since 2002, when its last fluent native speaker died....
6. Nitinaht
Nitinaht language

Nitinaht is a South Wakashan language spoken on the southern part of Vancouver Island. Nitinaht is related to the other South Wakashan languages, Makah language and the neighboring Nuu-chah-nulth language....
 (a.k.a. Nitinat, Ditidaht, Southern Nootkan)
7. Nuu-chah-nulth
Nuu-chah-nulth language

Nuu-chah-nulth is a Wakashan languages spoken in the Pacific Northwest of North America, on the west coast of Vancouver Island from Barkley Sound to Quatsino Sound in British Columbia, by the Nuu-chah-nulth people....
 (a.k.a. Nootka, Nutka, Aht, West Coast, T’aat’aaqsapa)


Further reading