Twana language


The Twana language, also known as Skokomish from one of the tribes that spoke it, belongs to the Salishan family of Native American languages. It is believed by some elders within the Skokomish community that the language branched off from Lushootseed because of the region-wide tradition of not speaking the name of someone who died for a year after their death. Substitute words were found in their place and often became normalizing in the community, generating differences from one community to the next. Subiyay speculated that this process increased the drift rate between languages and separated Twana firmly from xwəlšucid.
The last fluent speaker died in 1980.
The name "Skokomish" comes from the Twana sqʷuqʷóʔbəš, also spelled sqWuqWu'b3sH, and meaning "river people" or "people of the river".
'tuwaduqutSid' Directly translated mean 'Twana Language' as where English would be 'past3dutSid' which means English language.

Phonology

Vowel sounds present are.
Sounds in parentheses are found in loan words. The sound is disputed to be a main sound.