Twana language

Twana
Twana
Native to	United States
Region	East of Puget Sound, Washington state
Ethnicity	350 Twana (1977)
Extinct	1980
Language family	Salishan Coast Salish Central Twana; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	twa
Glottolog	twan1247

The Twana (təw'ánəxʷ) language, also known as Skokomish from one of the tribes that spoke it, belongs to the Salishan family of Native American languages. It is believed by some elders within the Skokomish community (such as ) that the language branched off from Lushootseed (dx^wəlšucid) because of the region-wide tradition of not speaking the name of someone who died for a year after their death. Substitute words were found in their place and often became normalizing in the community, generating differences from one community to the next. Subiyay speculated that this process increased the drift rate between languages and separated Twana firmly from x^wəlšucid (Lushootseed).

The last fluent speaker died in 1980.^[1]

The name "Skokomish" comes from the Twana sqʷuqʷóʔbəš, also spelled sqWuqWu'b3sH, and meaning "river people" or "people of the river".^[2]^[3]^[4]

'tuwaduqutSid' Directly translated mean 'Twana Language' as where English would be 'past3dutSid' which means English language.

Phonology[]

Consonants^[5]
		Bilabial	Alveolar			Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
		Bilabial	central	sibilant	lateral	Palatal	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	plain	p	t	ts		tʃ	k	kʷ	q	qʷ	ʔ
	ejective	pʼ	tʼ	tsʼ	tɬʼ	tʃʼ	kʼ	kʷʼ	qʼ	qʷʼ
	voiced	b	d	d͡z^[a]		d͡ʒ^[a]	ɡ^[a]	ɡʷ^[a]
Fricative				s	ɬ	ʃ	x^[b]	xʷ	χ	χʷ	h
Sonorant	plain	m	n		l	j		w
Sonorant	glottalized	ˀm			ˀl	ˀj		ˀw

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Found in loan words.
^ The sound [x] is disputed to be a main sound.

Vowel sounds present are [e ɛ ə o a].

References[]

^ ^a ^b ^c Twana at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Bright, William (2004). Native American Placenames of the United States. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 452. ISBN 978-0-8061-3598-4. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
^ Wray, Jacilee (2003). "Skokomish: Twana Descendants". Native Peoples of the Olympic Peninsula: Who We Are. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-8061-3552-6. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
^ The Skokomish Tribal Nation
^ Drachman, Gaberell (1969). Twana Phonology. Department of Linguistics, Ohio State University.

External links[]

OLAC resources in and about the Twana language

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[loans-6] Found in loan words.

[7] The sound [x] is disputed to be a main sound.

[e18-1] Twana at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] Bright, William (2004). Native American Placenames of the United States. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 452. ISBN 978-0-8061-3598-4. Retrieved 3 November 2010.

[3] Wray, Jacilee (2003). "Skokomish: Twana Descendants". Native Peoples of the Olympic Peninsula: Who We Are. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-8061-3552-6. Retrieved 3 November 2010.

[4] The Skokomish Tribal Nation

[5] Drachman, Gaberell (1969). Twana Phonology. Department of Linguistics, Ohio State University.

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[2]

[3]

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[5]

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Twana language

Contents

Phonology[]

See also[]

References[]

External links[]