Central Kalapuyan was a Kalapuyan language indigenous to the central and southern Willamette Valley

Willamette Valley

The Willamette Valley is the most populated region in the state of Oregon of the United States. Located in the state's northwest, the region is surrounded by tall mountain ranges to the east, west and south and the valley's floor is broad, flat and fertile because of Ice Age conditions...

 in Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It was spoken by various bands of the Kalapuya peoples who inhabited the valley up through the middle of the 19th century. The language is closely related to Northern Kalapuya

Northern Kalapuya language

Northern Kalapuyan is a Kalapuyan language indigenous to northwestern Oregon in the United States. It was spoken by Kalapuya groups in the northern Willamette Valley southwest of present-day Portland....

, spoken in the Tualatin

Tualatin River

The Tualatin River is a tributary of the Willamette River located in Oregon in the United States. The river is approximately long, and it drains a fertile farming region called the Tualatin Valley southwest and west of Portland at the northwest corner of the Willamette Valley...

 and Yamhill

Yamhill River

The Yamhill River is an tributary of the Willamette River, in the U.S. state of Oregon. Formed by the confluence of the South Yamhill River and the North Yamhill River about east of McMinnville, it drains part of the Northern Oregon Coast Range...

 valleys. Dialects of Central Kalapuya that have been identified include:

• Ahantchuyuk dialect, spoken in the northeastern Willamette Valley along the Pudding
  Pudding River
  The Pudding River is a tributary of the Molalla River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Its drainage basin covers . Among its tributaries is the Little Pudding River...
  
   and Molalla
  Molalla River
  The Molalla River is a tributary of the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon.-Geography:Its headwaters are in Clackamas County, in the Table Rock Wilderness, near Table Rock, in the Cascade Range...
  
   rivers
• Santiam dialect, spoken in the central Willamette Valley along the lower Santiam River
  Santiam River
  The Santiam River is a tributary of the Willamette River, about long, in western Oregon in the United States. Through its two principal tributaries, the North Santiam and the South Santiam rivers, it drains a large area of the Cascade Range at the eastern side of the Willamette Valley east of...
  
  
• Luckiamute dialect, spoken in the central Willamette Valley along the Luckiamute River
  Luckiamute River
  The Luckiamute River is a tributary of the Willamette River, about long, in western Oregon in the United States. It drains an area of Central Oregon Coast Range and the western Willamette Valley northwest of Corvallis....
  
  
• Chepenafa dialect, spoken in the central Willamette Valley along Mary's River
• Chemapho dialect, spoken in central Willamette Valley along Muddy Creek.
• Chelamela dialect, spoken in the southwestern Willamette Valley along the Long Tom River
  Long Tom River
  The Long Tom River is a tributary of the Willamette River in western Oregon in the United States. It drains an area at the south end of the Willamette Valley between Eugene and Corvallis....
  
  
• Tsankupi dialect, spoken in the southeastern Willamette Valley along the Calapooia River
  Calapooia River
  The Calapooia River is a tributary of the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon.The Calapooia runs through Crawfordsville and Brownsville in the Willamette Valley. The river converges with the Willamette near Albany. It was named for the Kalapuya , a tribe of Native Americans.-References:...
  
  
• Winefelly-Mohawk dialects, spoken in the southeastern Willamette Valley along the McKenzie
  McKenzie River
  The McKenzie River is a tributary of the Willamette River in western Oregon in the United States. It drains part of the Cascade Range east of Eugene and flows into the southernmost end of the Willamette Valley. It is named for Donald MacKenzie, a Scottish Canadian fur trader...
  
  , Mohawk
  Mohawk River (Oregon)
  The Mohawk River is the largest tributary of the McKenzie River, approximately long, in west central Oregon in the United States. It drains part of the foothills of the Cascade Range on the southeast end of the Willamette Valley northeast of Springfield....
  
  , and Coast Fork Willamette
  Coast Fork Willamette River
  The Coast Fork Willamette River is one of several forks that unite to form the Willamette River in western Oregon in the United States. It is about long, draining an area of the mountains at the south end of the Willamette Valley south of Eugene.-Course:...
  
  rivers

External links

• The Verbal Morphology of Santiam Kalapuya (Northwest Journal of Linguistics)