The four Southern Interior Salish Languages are critically endangered. We’re working to revitalize them and the culture they represent.
There are 29 Salish languages in the region that is now made up of the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana in the United States and the province of British Columbia in Canada. There are 22 Coast Salish languages, and 7 Interior Salish languages. The Interior Salish languages can be further grouped into 3 Northern Interior Salish languages and 4 Southern Interior Salish Languages. The City of Spokane sits in the middle of traditional Southern Interior Salish territory. Our four Southern Interior Salish languages are:
n̓səl̓xčin̓ (Colville-Okanagan Salish)
n̓xaʔm̓xčín̓ (Wenatchi-Columbian Salish)
n̓sélišcn̓ (Spokane-Kalispel-Bitterroot Salish)
sn̓čic̓úʔum̓šc̓n̓ (Coeur d’Alene Salish)
These four Southern Interior Salish languages are closely related, and share common phonemic, grammatical and lexical features. They might be compared to Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese as distinct but related Romance languages.
All four Southern Interior Salish languages are very critically endangered. The most spoken of the four languages is n̓səl̓xčin̓, Colville-Okanagan Salish. There are still approximately 30 living first-language fluent Elder speakers of n̓səl̓xčin̓, mostly in the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys of British Columbia. First-language speakers are those who grew up with the language as their first or primary language. The n̓sélišcn̓ (Spokane-Kalispel-Bitterroot Salish) language also still has approximately 15 living first language fluent Elders, with a majority living in Montana on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Two of our our Southern Interior Salish languages, n̓xaʔm̓xčín̓ and sn̓čic̓úʔum̓šc̓n̓, no longer have any living first-language speakers.
Revitalization
The mission of Salish School of Spokane is dynamic Salish language revitalization powering cultural renewal and building a stronger, healthier community. We focus on the revitalization of Southern Interior Salish languages, with an immediate focus on n̓səl̓xčin̓.
Because n̓səl̓xčin̓ and its sister languages are very critically endangered, our primary language revitalization strategy must be the training of new highly fluent adult speakers. For n̓səl̓xčin̓, we are fortunate to have put in place a comprehensive fluency transfer system and curriculum that facilitates the timely and sequential training of new fluent speakers.
Our system and curriculum allows us to predictably teach n̓səl̓xčin̓ to new learners and take them to a very advanced level of fluency. Our fluency transfer system consists of digital audio recordings of a first-language fluent Elder, transcriptions of recordings, well developed immersion teaching strategies, methods and activities, and ancillary materials to facilitate instruction and language acquisition.
The audio recording and textbooks used in the n̓səl̓xčin̓ fluency transfer system are available on our curriculum and resources web site.