Cowlitz language facts for kids

The Cowlitz language was a special language spoken by some of the Cowlitz people in what is now southwestern Washington State, USA. It belonged to a group of languages called Salishan, specifically a smaller branch known as Tsamosan. Sadly, the Cowlitz language is no longer spoken today, as the last known speakers passed away in the 1960s.

The Cowlitz People

The Cowlitz people were originally made up of two main groups: the Lower Cowlitz and the Upper Cowlitz. It's interesting because only the Lower Cowlitz group spoke the Cowlitz language. The Upper Cowlitz people spoke a different language called Yakama, which is part of a completely different language family. This shows how diverse Native American cultures and languages were, even among groups living close to each other.

Cowlitz Words

The Cowlitz language shared some similarities with Lower Chehalis, another Tsamosan language. However, it also had its own unique words. For example, the word for the number one in Cowlitz was utsus, which was different from the Lower Chehalis word paw.

Here are some words from the Cowlitz language:

See Also

• Cowlitz people
• Salishan languages
• Native American Languages