Chinook Tsinúk
Geographic distribution:	Columbia River Valley
Genetic classification:	Chinook
Subdivisions:	—
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 consists 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), as used in this article.

1. Kathlamet (also known as Katlamat, Cathlamet), now extinct (†).

   Kathlamet was spoken in northwestern Oregon along the south bank of the lower Columbia River.

   Kathlamet has been classified as a dialect of Upper Chinook (or Middle Chinook), but they are not mutually intelligible.

2. Lower Chinook (also known as Coastal Chinook) (chh), now extinct (†).
   • Clatsop was spoken in northwestern Oregon around the mouth of the Columbia River and the Clatsop Plains (†).
   • Shoalwater (also known as Chinook proper), now extinct (†). Shoalwater was spoken in southwestern Washington around southern Willapa Bay.
3. Upper Chinook (also known as Kiksht, Columbia Chinook) (wac)
   • Cascades, now extinct (†).
   • Clackamas, now extinct (†); was spoken in northwestern Oregon along the Clackamas and Sandy rivers.
   • Hood River, now extinct (†).
   • Multnomah (†) Multnomah spoken on Sauvie Island and in the Portland area in northwestern Oregon.
   • Wasco-Wishram language (wac), still spoken by the Wasco-Wishram people, but highly endangered.
     • Wasco has five speakers left.^[1]
     • Wishram has two speakers.
   • White Salmon, now extinct (†).

Watlala was spoken in north-central Oregon along the Columbia River Gorge.

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

• Gibbs, George (1863). Alphabetical vocabulary of the Chinook language. Cramoisy Press. http://www.secstate.wa.gov/history/publications%5Fdetail.aspx?p=65.  

References

, which was once an area of inhabitance by Chinookan peoples]] Chinookan refers to several groups of Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. In the early 19th century, the Chinookan peoples lived along the lower and middle Columbia River in present-day Oregon and Washington. The Chinookan tribes were those encountered by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805 on the lower Columbia.

Lifestyle

The Chinookan were not nomadic. At birth Chinookans would flatten some children's heads by applying pressure with a board, enabling, in turn, a social hierarchy that placed flat-headed community members above those with round heads. This ranking was inherited. Living near the coast of the Pacific Ocean, they were skilled whale hunters and fishermen. Owing partly to their non-migratory living patterns, the Chinookan and other coastal tribes had relatively little conflict over land with one another. They also lived in long houses with more than fifty people in one long house.

Today

Some are currently engaged in a continuing effort to secure formal recognition of tribal status by the U.S. Federal government. The U.S. Department of Interior initially recognized the Chinookan as a tribe in 2001. Subsequently, the department first reconsidered and then, in 2002, revoked this status.^[1]

Chinookan groups

Chinookan groups include:

• Cathlamet
• Cathlahmahs
• Chilluckittequaw
• Clatsop
• Chahcowah
• Clackamas
• Clowwewalla
• Cushook
• Echelut (Wishram-Wasco),
• Kilooklaniuck
• Multnomah
• Skillot
• Wahkikum (Wac-ki-cum)
• Wappato
• Wascopa
• Watlata (Cascade or Wishram).

Most surviving Chinookan natives live in the towns of Bay Center, Chinook, and Ilwaco in southwest Washington. Many books have been written about the Chinook, including, Boston Jane: an Adventure.

Famous Chinookans

• Chief Comcomly
• Charles Cultee, the principal informant employed by Franz Boas for his work published as Chinook Texts
• Ranald MacDonald, a half-Chinookan, born in Fort Astoria, Oregon, to Archibald McDonald, a Scottish Hudson's Bay Company fur trader, and Raven, chief Concomly's daughter, was the first American to teach English in Japan, in 1847-1848, including educating Einosuke Moriyama, one of the chief interpreters that would later handle the negotiations between Commodore Perry and the Tokugawa Shogunate
• Catherine Troeh, historian, artist, activist and advocate for Native American rights and culture. She was a member and elder of the Chinook tribe and a direct descendant of chief Comcomly
• Chief Tumulth, signed the treaty that created the Grand Ronde Reservation and was later killed by Gen. Philip Sheridan

See also

• Chinookan languages

References

1. ^ For the 2001 recognition, see 66 Federal Register 1690 (2001) at [1]; for the subsequent reversal, see 67 Federal Register 46204 (2002) at [2]

• Judson, Katharine Berry (1912) (DJVU). Myths and legends of the Pacific Northwest, especially of Washington and Oregon. Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection (2nd ed.). McClurg. OCLC 10363767. http://www.secstate.wa.gov/history/publications%5Fdetail.aspx?p=66.  Oral traditions from the Chinook, Nez Perce, Klickitat and other tribes of the Pacific Northwest.

External links

• Chinook Indian website
• Chinook Nation Official Website