Nooksack language
| Nooksack | |
|---|---|
| Lhéchalosem | |
| Region | Whatcom County |
| Ethnicity | 1,600 Nooksack people (1997) |
| Extinct | 1988, with the death of Sindick Jimmy |
| Revival | 1 fluent L2 speaker in 2010 |
|
Salish
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | nook1247 |
The Nooksack language (Lhéchalosem) is a Coast Salish language spoken by the Nooksack people of northwestern Washington State in the United States, centered in Whatcom County.
The Nooksack language belongs to the Coast Salishan family of languages, and has one fluent speaker as of 2010.
Nooksack is most closely related to Squamish, Sháshíshálhem (Sechelt) and Halkomelem, which are all spoken in nearby parts of British Columbia, Canada.
In the 1970s, the Salishan linguist Brent Galloway worked closely with the last remaining native speaker, Sindick Jimmy, who died in 1988. He was compiling a dictionary of the language, and his book, Nooksack place names: geography, culture, and language, appeared in 2011. The Nooksack tribe has offered classes in the language. As of 2010, one fluent speaker remained, a Nooksack tribal member who is part of the Lhéchalosem Teacher Training Language Immersion Project.
Students will spend mornings in language immersion, and afternoons working on special projects, focusing on the language use in one aspect of local native culture such as fishing or crafts. After two years, the students will obtain a certificate similar to an Associate Degree, and after four years they will be fully qualified language teachers, with the equivalent of a Bachelor of Arts. The aim is to revive the use of the Lhéchalosem language in all aspects of daily life. The program has an annual budget of $110,000, with 60 percent funded by the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) and 40 percent funded by the Nooksack Tribe.
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