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
Bruce Subiyay Miller
The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been a ...
) 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.
[
The name "Skokomish" comes from the Twana ', also spelled ', and meaning "river people" or "people of the river".The Skokomish Tribal Nation]
/ref>
' directly translated mean 'Twana Language' as where English would be ' which means 'English language'.
Phonology
Vowel sounds present are .
See also
* Lushootseed
References
External links
OLAC resources in and about the Twana language
Languages of the United States
Coast Salish languages
Indigenous languages of the Pacific Northwest Coast
Indigenous languages of Washington (state)
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