Siletz (tribe)
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Fewer than 4,804 (2011) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 United States ( Oregon) |
|
| Languages | |
| English, formerly Dee Ni and Tillamook | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Tolowa and Salish peoples |
The Siletz are a Native American tribe from Oregon and an Indigenous people of the Northwest Plateau. In 1856 following the Rogue River Wars in southern Oregon, their people were among more than 20 Native American groups, speaking 10 distinct languages, who were forced by the United States to the Coast Indian Reservation, later known as the Siletz Reservation.
Over generations the Siletz people have intermarried with others at the reservation. Today their descendants are enrolled in the federally recognized Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon.
Although most descendants have Coastal Salish ancestry, the only native language still spoken on the reservation is Siletz Dee-ni, which linguists have found to be an Athabaskan language, related to the Tolowa language spoken by another of the original tribes. In cooperation with the National Geographic Society and the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, the tribe produced a "talking dictionary" of Siletz Dee-ni in 2007 to aid in preservation and teaching.
Traditionally, the Siletz were believed to be a Salishan-speaking group; they inhabited an area along the central coast of Oregon near the Siletz River until the middle of the 19th century. The tribe was considered the southernmost group of the larger Coast Salish culture, which was centered near the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound in what are now British Columbia, Canada, and Washington, United States.
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