North Straits Salish is a Salish language which includes the dialects of
- Lummi (AKA Xwlemiʼchosen, xʷləmiʔčósən) (†)
- Saanich (AKA SENĆOŦEN, sənčáθən, sénəčqən)
- Samish (AKA Siʔneməš)
- Semiahmoo (AKA Tah-tu-lo) (†)
- Sooke (AKA Tʼsou-ke, c̓awk) (†)
- Songhees (AKA Lək̓ʷəŋín̓əŋ) (†)
Although they are mutually intelligible, each dialect is traditionally referred to as if it were a separate language, and there is no native term to encompass them all.
North Straits, along with Klallam, forms the Straits Salish branch of the Central Coast Salish languages. Klallam and North Straits are very closely related, but not mutually intelligible.
See Saanich dialect for the phonology.
Famous quotes containing the words north, straits and/or language:
“Refinement’s origin:
the remote north country’s
rice-planting song.”
—Matsuo Basho (1644–1694)
“Men would never be superstitious, if they could govern all their circumstances by set rules, or if they were always favoured by fortune: but being frequently driven into straits where rules are useless, and being often kept fluctuating pitiably between hope and fear by the uncertainty of fortune’s greedily coveted favours, they are consequently for the most part, very prone to credulity.”
—Baruch (Benedict)
“Upon my tongues continual slanders ride,
The which in every language I pronounce,
Stuffing the ears of men with false reports.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)