Chinookan is a small family of languages spoken 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...

 and Washington along the Columbia River

Columbia River

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...

 by Chinook peoples.

Family division

Chinookan languages consists of three languages with multiple varieties

Variety (linguistics)

In sociolinguistics a variety, also called a lect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, accents, registers, styles or other sociolinguistic variation, as well as the standard variety itself...

. There is some dispute over classification, and there are two ISO 639-3

ISO 639-3

ISO 639-3:2007, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages, is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages. It extends the ISO 639-2...

 codes assigned: chh (Chinook, Lower Chinook) and wac (Wasco-Wishram, Upper Chinook). For example, Ethnologue 15e classifies Kiksht as Lower Chinook, while others consider it instead Upper Chinook (discussion), and others a separate language.

• Lower Chinook
  Lower Chinook
  Lower Chinook, also simple Chinook or Chinook proper, is a highly endangered language of the US Pacific Northwest.-Dialects:* Clatsop was spoken in northwestern Oregon around the mouth of the Columbia River and the Clatsop Plains .* Shoalwater , now extinct ...
  
  (also known as Chinook-proper or Coastal Chinook), now extinct
  Extinct language
  An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
  
   (†).
• Kathlamet
  Kathlamet language
  Kathlamet was a Chinookan language that was spoken around the border of Washington and Oregon. The most extensive records of the language were made by Franz Boas, and a grammar was documented in the dissertation of Dell Hymes. It became extinct in the 1930s and there is little text left of...
  
  (also known as Katlamat, Cathlamet), now extinct
  Extinct language
  An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
  
   (†).
• Upper Chinook (also known as Kiksht, Columbia Chinook)

See also

Chinook Jargon

Chinook Jargon

Chinook Jargon originated as a pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest, and spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then British Columbia and as far as Alaska, sometimes taking on characteristics of a creole language...

 – a pidgin

Pidgin

A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common. It is most commonly employed in situations such as trade, or where both groups speak languages different from the language of the...

 based on Chinookan and with many words loaned from other languages, which was used in trade along the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

coast and adjoining areas inland.

External links

• Aaron Clark, "Tribes strive to save native tongues(Wasco tribe’s Kiksht language)", Christian Science Monitor, 23 May 2008