This description does not apply to some human languages, such as the Salishan languages, in which stops sometimes occur without vowels ( see Nuxálk ), and the modern conception of consonant does not require cooccurrence with vowels.

Some characteristics of Chechen include its wealth of consonants and sounds similar to Arabic and the Salishan languages of Northern America and a large vowel system resembling those of Swedish and German.

The Salishan ( also Salish ) languages are a group of languages of the Pacific Northwest ( the Canadian province of British Columbia and the American states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana ).

All Salishan languages are extinct or endangered — some extremely so, with only three or four speakers left.

Practically all Salishan languages have only speakers who are over sixty years of age, and many have only speakers over eighty.

The Salishan language family consists of twenty-three languages.

Below is a list of Salishan languages, dialects, and sub-dialects.

Edward Sapir suggested that the Salishan languages might be related to the Wakashan and Chimakuan languages in a hypothetical Mosan family.

The Salishan languages, principally Chehalis, contributed greatly to the vocabulary of the Chinook Jargon.

Salishan languages are known for their polysynthetic nature.

Some Salishan languages allow for VOS and SVO as well.

Some Salishan languages are ergative, and many take unique object agreement forms in passive statements.

There are three general patterns of negation among the Salishan languages.

There are twenty-three languages in the Salishan language family.

However, there are several trends and patterns that can be historically traced to generalize the development of the Salishan languages over the years.

The variation between the Salishan languages seems to depend on two main factors: the distance between speech communities and the geographic barriers between them.

The rate of change between neighboring Salishan languages often depends on their environments.

Indeed, cognate lists between various Salishan languages show more similarities in religious terminology than they do in technology and environment vocabulary.

The Coast Salishan languages are less similar to each other than are the Interior Salishan languages, probably because the Coast communities have more access to outside influences.

The terms Salish and Salishan are used interchangeably by Salishan linguists and anthropologists.

Contemporary Tulalip are descended from several older indigenous peoples: the Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skagit, Sauk-Suiattle, Samish, Stillaguamish, Duwamish, Sammamish and Skykomish ; all these groups ( with the exception of the Samish, who spoke Straits Salish ) spoke a Salishan language called Lushootseed ( dx < sup > w </ sup > ləšúcid ); the Lushootseed spelling of " Tulalip " is " dx < sup > w </ sup > lilap ".

The Suquamish are a southern Coast Salish people ; they spoke a dialect of Lushootseed, which belongs to the Salishan language family.

In Southwestern British Columbia, several types of burial mounds are known from the Salishan region ( Hill-Tout 1895 ).

Coast Salish languages are a subgroup of the Salishan language family.

All except Algic, Salishan and Wakashan are taken from Bengtson ( 2008 ).

Salishan language communities that have demonstrated change in technology and environmental vocabulary have often remained more consistent with their religious terminology.

Some Salishan languages exhibit long words with no vowels at all, such as the Nuxálk word: he had in his possession a bunchberry plant.

In the 1970s the Salishan linguist Brent Galloway worked closely with the last remaining fluent speaker and is currently completing a dictionary of the language.

Language families which distinguish ejective consonants include all three Caucasian families ( Northwest Caucasian languages, Northeast Caucasian languages and Kartvelian Georgian language ); the Athabaskan, Siouan and Salishan families of North America, along with the many diverse families of the Pacific Northwest from central California to British Columbia ; the Mayan family and Aymara ; the southern varieties of Quechua ( Qusqu-Qullaw ); the Afro-Asiatic family ( notably most of the Cushitic and Omotic languages, Hausa and South Semitic languages like Amharic and Tigrinya ) and a few Nilo-Saharan languages ; Sandawe, Hadza, and the Khoisan families of southern Africa.

Other tribes speak other Salishan languages, with the exception of the Nez Perce and Palus, who speak Sahaptian languages.

Nuxálk ( also Bella Coola ) is a Salishan language spoken in the vicinity of the Canadian town Bella Coola, British Columbia by approximately 20-30 elders.

The most common of the indigenous languages spoken on the reservation is Colville-Okanagan, a Salishan language.

Klallam or Clallam ( native name: ) is a nearly extinct Straits Salishan language that was traditionally spoken by the Klallam peoples at Beecher Bay on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and across the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the north coast of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.

Cities on the route include Depoe Bay, Otter Rock ( accessible via a side road ), and the Gleneden Beach / Salishan area, famed for its resorts.

The Interior of British Columbia was home to the Salishan language groups such as the Shuswap ( Secwepemc ) and Okanagan and southern Athabaskan language groups, primarily the Dakelh ( Carrier ) and the Tsilhqot ' in.

The archaeological record of what is now considered Ktunaxa territory in British Columbia boasts some of the oldest man-made artifacts in Canada, although it has not been proven that these artifacts were left by ancestors of the Ktanaxa or by another, possibly Salishan, group.

The Thompson language, properly known as Nlaka ' pamuctsin the Nlaka ' pamux (' Nthlakampx ') language, is an Interior Salishan language spoken in the Fraser Canyon, Thompson Canyon, Nicola Country of the Canadian province of British Columbia, and also ( historically ) in the North Cascades region of Whatcom and Chelan counties of the state of Washington in the United States.

Lillooet or Lilloet, also known as St ’ át ’ imcets (), is the Interior Salishan language of the St ’ át ’ imc, spoken in southern British Columbia, Canada around the middle Fraser and Lillooet rivers.

The city is named for the Tillamook people, a Native American tribe speaking a Salishan language who lived in this area until the early nineteenth century.

# Tillamook ( a Salishan language ): ( 1970 )

The Siletz or Tillamook language was a Salishan language that has been declared extinct.