Interior Salish peoples

Interior Salish peoples

Two Interior Salish coiled baskets with lids at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC.
Regions with significant populations
British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, and Montana
Languages
Interior Salish languages, English
Religion
Indigenous religion, Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Coast Salish peoples

Map of Salishan languages. Interior Salish territories are in olive green and yellow.

Interior Salish peoples are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau, who are centered in south British Columbia in Canada and northwestern Washington, northern Idaho, and western Montana in the United States. ^[1] They speak Interior Salish languages, a branch of the Salishan language phylum. ^[2] Salish language–speaking peoples to the West are the Coast Salish peoples. To the south are Sahaptian language–speaking tribes, especially the Nez Perce. ^[1]

Historically, Interior Salish peoples had seasonal settlements to fish, hunt, and gather abundant wild plants. ^[3] In the winter, they lived in round, semi-subterranean pit houses with thatched roofs. ^[3] In summer, they built conical homes from tule reed ( Schoenoplectus acutus ) mats. ^[3] Villages were politically autonomous. ^[3]

Interior Salish peoples did not encounter Europeans until 1793, when Scottish-Canadian explorer Alexander Mackenzie entered Secwepemc territory. ^[3] Canadian explorer and fur trader Simon Fraser met several Interior Salish peoples when traveling down the Fraser River in 1808. ^[3] After contact, Interior Salish peoples adopted some cultural traits from Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin and Northern Plains to their south and west, but not linguistic traits. ^[1]

In the 1870s, Canada established several Indian reserves for Interior Salish peoples that were a fraction of their historical homelands in British Columbia. The Interior Salish First Nations have fought to reclaim their lands ever since. ^[3]

Northern

Members of a Nlaka’pamux community, 1914

There are three Northern Interior Salish languages: Shuswap, Lillooet, and Thompson. ^[4] Indigenous peoples speaking Northern Interior Salishan languages are located in southwestern BC:

• Secwepemc (secwépemc), ^{[5] [6]} also known as Shuswap ^{[2] [7]}
  • Fraser River Division
  • Canyon Division
  • Lake Division (styétemc) ^{[8] [9]}
  • North Thompson (simpcwemc) ^{[9] [10]}
  • Kamloops Division (stk̓emlúpsemc) ^[11]
  • Bonaparte Division
• Stʼatʼimc (St̓át̓imc), also known as Lillooet ^[12]
  • Upper Lillooet (St̓át̓imc) ^[13]
    • Lakes Lillooet
    • Fraser River Lillooet
  • Lower Lillooet (Lil̓wat) ^[13]
    • Mount Currie Lillooet
    • Lilloet River Lillooet

• Nlaka'pamux (nɬeʔképmx), ^[14] also known as the Thompson or Thompson (River) Salish
  • Upper Thompson
    • Nicola (cw̓éxmx) ^[15]
    • Spences Bridge (nk̓əmcínmx) ^[16]
    • Upper Fraser (sƛ̕exéyxʷ) ^[17]
    • Lytton (nɬeʔképmx) ^[14]
  • Lower Thompson

Southern

Sign welcoming visitors to the Colville Indian Reservation, Washington

Nespelem woman, Washington, 1911

There are four languages belonging to the Southern branch of Interior Salish: Okanagan, Columbian, Kalispel, and Cour d'Alene. ^[4]

Peoples speaking the Okanagan language (a.k.a. Colville-Okanagan or Nsyilxcən):

• Sinixt (snʕay̓ckstx), ^[18] also known as the Arrow Lakes Band or the Lakes Band, ^[19] southwestern BC and northeastern WA ^[3]
• Colville (sx̌ʷy̓iɬpx), ^[20] northeastern WA and southwestern BC ^{[3] [19]}
• Syilx (suknaqínx), ^[20] also known as the Okanagan, southwestern BC, northeastern WA ^[3]
  • Northern Okanagan ^[19]
  • Southern Okanagan ^[21]
• Methow, eastern WA ^{[21] [a]}
• Nespelem (nspilm), ^[20] eastern WA ^[21]
• Sanpoil (snpʕʷil̕xx), ^[20] eastern WA ^[21]

Peoples speaking the Columbian language (a.k.a. Columbia-Moses, Moses-Columbia, Columbia-Wenatchi) are all located in northeastern WA: ^[21]

• Sinkayuse (škwáxčənəxʷ), ^[22] also known as the Moses-Columbia
• Chelan (ščəl̕ámxəxʷ) ^[22]
• Entiat (šnt̓iyátkʷəxʷ) ^[22]
• Wenatchi (šnp̍əšqʷáw̓šəxʷ) ^[22]

Peoples speaking the Kalispel language (a.k.a. Salish, Montana Salish, Salish-Spokane-Kalispel):

• Spokane, northeastern WA ^[23]
  • Lower Spokane (scqesciɬni) ^[24]
  • Middle Spokane (snxʷmeneʔ) ^[24]
  • Upper Spokane (sntuʔtʔulixʷ) ^[24]
• Pend d'Oreille (qlispé), ^[25] also known as the Kalispel, ^[b] northeastern WA, northern ID, western MT
  • Kalispel (qlispé), ^[25] also known as the Lower Pend d'Oreille or Lower Kalispel, on the Pend Oreille and Clark Fork rivers to the confluence with the Flathead River, northeastern WA, northern ID, and northwestern MT ^[26]
    • Lower Kalispel, on the Pend Oreille River to Lake Pend Oreille, northeastern WA and northern ID
    • Upper Kalispel, on the Clark Fork River to the confluence with the Flathead River, northern ID and northwestern MT,
  • Pend d'Oreille (sčɬq̓etkʷmcin), ^[27] also known as the Upper Pend d'Oreille or Upper Kalispel, around Flathead Lake, the Flathead and Clark Fork rivers above the confluence, and the Bitterroot Valley, ^[c] western MT ^[28]
• Bitterroot Salish (séliš), ^[29] also called the Flathead or the Salish, Bitterroot Valley ^[d] and across the Continental Divide along the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers to Billings, southern MT ^[28]

Just one people speaks the Cour d'Alene language:

• Coeur d'Alene people (schi̱tsu'umsh) ^[30] , also known as the Schitsu'umsh or Skitswish, eastern WA and northern ID ^[31]
  • Spokane River-Coeur d'Alene Lake division
  • Coeur d'Alene River division
  • Saint Joe River division

Notes

1. Some classifications describe the Methow as speaking Columbian, rather than Okanagan
2. The terms "Pend d'Oreille" (various spellings) and "Kalispel" have historically been used in overlapping ways to refer to the same subgroups, distinct subgroups, or the whole nation (Lahren 1998, p. 296)
3. Pre 19th-century (Malouf 1998, pp. 297-298)
4. Post-19th century (Malouf 1998, pp. 297-298)

References

1. Kinkade et al. 1998 , p. 49
2. Kinkade et al. 1998 , p. 51
3. "Interior Salish". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16 October 2025.
4. Kinkade et al. 1998 , p. 52
5. Elder's Language Committee and Language Advisory Committee 2001 , p. 80
6. Lacho, David Dennison; Leon, Aaron (2017-07-31). ""Please mom? Can you please download it at home?": Video Games as a Symbol of Linguistic Survivance". Transmotion. 3 (1): 70. doi:10.22024/UniKent/03/tm.248. ISSN   2059-0911.
7. Ignace 1998 , p. 203
8. Elder's Language Committee and Language Advisory Committee 2001 , p. 100
9. Ignace 1998 , p. 204
10. Elder's Language Committee and Language Advisory Committee 2001 , p. 85
11. Ignace 1998 , p. 205
12. Kennedy & Bouchard 1998a , pp. 174–175
13. Kennedy & Bouchard 1998a , p. 189
14. Thompson & Thompson 1996 , p. 147
15. Thompson & Thompson 1996 , p. 45
16. Thompson & Thompson 1996 , p. 104
17. Thompson & Thompson 1996 , p. 171
18. Okanogan Language Program 2022 , p. 71
19. Kennedy & Bouchard 1998b , p. 238
20. Mattina, Anthony. "Colville-Okanagan". Colville-Okanagan Language Pages (Online dictionary).
21. Miller 1998 , pp. 253, 269
22. "Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation: A Brief History". Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation .
23. Ross 1998 , p. 271
24. "Names of Tribes". snxʷmeneʔ nqʷlqʷeltn: Spokane Tribe Language and Culture.
25. Pete 2006 , p. 242
26. Lahren 1998 , p. 283
27. Pete 2006 , p. 313
28. Malouf 1998 , pp. 297–298
29. Pete 2006 , p. 365
30. "schi̱tsu'umsh". Plateau Peoples' Web Portal.
31. Palmer 1998 , p. 313

Bibliography

• Elder's Language Committee and Language Advisory Committee (2001). Secwepemc-English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Secwepemc Cultural Education Society.
• Ignace, Marianne Boelscher (1998). "Shuswap". In Walker, Deward E., Jr. (ed.). Plateau. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 12. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 203–219. ISBN   978-0874741926.
• Kinkade, M. Dale; Elmendorf, William W.; Rigsby, Bruce; Aoki, Hauro (1998). "Languages". In Walker, Deward E., Jr. (ed.). Plateau. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 12. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 49–72. ISBN   978-0874741926.
• Kennedy, Dorothy; Bouchard, Randall T. (1998a). "Lillooet". In Walker, Deward E., Jr. (ed.). Plateau. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 12. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 174–190. ISBN   978-0874741926.
• Kennedy, Dorothy; Bouchard, Randall T. (1998b). "Northern Okanagan, Lakes, and Colville". In Walker, Deward E., Jr. (ed.). Plateau. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 12. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 238–252. ISBN   978-0874741926.
• Lahren, Sylvester L., Jr. (1998). "Kalispel". In Walker, Deward E., Jr. (ed.). Plateau. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 12. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 283–296. ISBN   978-0874741926.
• Malouf, Carling I. (1998). "Flathead and Pend d'Oreille". In Walker, Deward E., Jr. (ed.). Plateau. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 12. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 297–312. ISBN   978-0874741926.
• Miller, Jay (1998). "Middle Columbia River Salishans". In Walker, Deward E., Jr. (ed.). Plateau. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 12. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 253–270. ISBN   978-0874741926.
• Palmer, Gary (1998). "Coeur d'Alene". In Walker, Deward E., Jr. (ed.). Plateau. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 12. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 313–326. ISBN   978-0874741926.
• Pete, Tachini (2006). Seliš Translation: English to Salish Dictionary.
• Ross, John Alan (1998). "Spokane". In Walker, Deward E., Jr. (ed.). Plateau. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 12. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 271–282. ISBN   978-0874741926.
• Thompson, Laurence C.; Thompson, M. Terry (1996). Thompson River Salish Dictionary: nɬeʔkepmxcín. University of Montana Occasional Papers in Linguistics. doi:10.14288/1.0423560.
• nsəlxcin Dictionary (PDF). Okanogan Language Program. 2022.
• Wyatt, David (1998). "Thompson". In Walker, Deward E., Jr. (ed.). Plateau. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 12. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 191–202. ISBN   978-0874741926.

External links

• Salish School of Spokane