Southern Interior of British Columbia, Central-northern State of Washington
Ethnicity
Okanagan, Colville, Lakes, Methow
Native speakers
50 (2007–2014)[1] 75 L2 speakers (2007)
Language family
Salishan
Interior Salish
Southern
Colville-Okanagan
Dialects
Northern Okanagan
Colville (n̓x̌ʷʔiłpcən)
Lakes/Sinixt dialect (snslxcin)
San-poil (Nespelem)
Southern Okanagan
Methow
Language codes
ISO 639-3
oka
Glottolog
okan1243
ELP
Nsyilxcən
Okanagan is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
Okanagan, or Colville-Okanagan, or Nsyilxcən (n̓səl̓xcin̓, n̓syilxčn̓), is a Salish language which arose among the Indigenous peoples of the southern Interior Plateau region based primarily in the Okanagan River Basin and the Columbia River Basin in precolonial times in Canada and the United States. Following British, American, and Canadian colonization during the 1800s and the subsequent assimilation of all Salishan tribes, the use of Colville-Okanagan declined drastically.
Colville-Okanagan is highly endangered, is rarely learned as a first but is being learned as a second language by more than 40 adults and 35 children in the City of Spokane, Washington, and by several dozen adults on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington State and among Okanagan people in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. About 50 deeply fluent first-language speakers of Colville-Okanagan Salish remain, the majority of whom live in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia.[2] The language is currently moribund and has no first-language speakers younger than 50 years of age. Colville-Okanagan is the second-most spoken Salish language after Shuswap.
^Colville-Okanagan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^Gordon, Raymond G. Ed. (2005). Salishan: Ethnologue Archived 2012-11-04 at the Wayback Machine. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 15th ed. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
Okanagan, or Colville-Okanagan, or Nsyilxcən (n̓səl̓xcin̓, n̓syilxčn̓), is a Salish language which arose among the Indigenous peoples of the southern Interior...
Okanagan Lake (Okanagan: kɬúsx̌nítkw) is a lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. The lake is 135 km (84 mi) long, between 4 and 5 km...
The Okanagan (/ˌoʊkəˈnɑːɡən/ OH-kə-NAH-gən), also called the Okanagan Valley and sometimes the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province...
The Syilx (Salishan pronunciation: [sjilx]) people, also known as the Okanagan, Suknaqinx, or Okinagan people, are a First Nations and Native American...
The University of British Columbia Okanagan (also known as UBC Okanagan or UBCO) is a satellite campus of the University of British Columbia in Kelowna...
The Okanagan Indian Band (Okanagan: N̓k̓maplqs) is a First Nations government in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located in the city of Vernon...
the Okanaganlanguage. It is conventionally translated as "a place to stay forever" but is actually a reference to the year-round flow of Okanagan Lake...
(pronounced "soo-yoos") meaning "narrowing of the waters" in the local Okanaganlanguage (Syilx'tsn). The "O-" prefix is not indigenous in origin and was attached...
Kelowna (/kəˈloʊnə/ kə-LOH-nə) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the...
The Okanagan Nation Alliance is a First Nations Tribal Council in the Canadian province of British Columbia, spanning the Nicola, Okanagan and Similkameen...
Okanagan College is a public, post-secondary institution with over 120 certificates, diplomas, degrees and programs including apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship...
The Westbank First Nation (Okanagan: tqłəníw̓t/tqaʔtkʷɬniwt)is a self-governing First Nations band in the Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada...
Shuswap language. Sikanni Chief River Siska – from sisqa, Thompson language (Nlaka'pamux) for "uncle" Skaha Lake: from the Okanaganlanguage word for...
as the Syilx in their own languageOkanaganlanguageOkanagan (also Okanagan Valley), a region of British Columbia Okanagan Basin, watershed in British...
Canada. The name originated from the Similkameen dialect of the Okanaganlanguage word "Keremeyeus" meaning "creek which cuts its way through the flats"...
The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (Okanagan: sx̌ʷy̓ʔiłpx sqlxʷúlaʔxʷ) is the federally recognized tribe that controls the Colville Indian...
Indian reserve in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, and fluently speaks both the Syilx and English languages. Armstrong has lived on the Penticton...
means "red fish" in the Sinixt Interior Salish language, and "silver trout" in the Okanaganlanguage. Kokanee are native to many lakes in the western...
Columbia-Moses †, also known as Columbia and Nxaʔamxcín. Colville-Okanagan, also known as Okanagan, Nxsəlxcin, Nsilxcín, Nsíylxcən, and ta nukunaqínxcən. Montana...
which is red-fish name in the Sinixt Interior Salish language and silver trout in the Okanaganlanguage. They are much smaller than the anadromous variety...
Quilchena (Thompson: q̓əłmíx, Okanagan: N̓łəqiłmlx̌) is an unincorporated community located on the south shore of Nicola Lake near the city of Merritt...
from the word sẁiẁs meaning "narrowing of the waters" in the local Okanaganlanguage (Syilx'tsn). Located on the lakeshore are the town of Osoyoos, British...
extraction, and speak their own dialect (snsəlxcín) of the Colville-Okanaganlanguage. Today they live primarily on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington...
The Osoyoos Indian Band (Okanagan: Swiw̓s) is a First Nations government in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located in the town of Oliver and...
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