Kwalhioqua-Clatskanie language facts for kids

The Kwalhioqua-Clatskanie (also called Kwalhioqua–Tlatskanai) was a language spoken by Native American people. It is now an extinct language, meaning no one speaks it anymore. It was last spoken before the year 1930.

This language belonged to the Athabaskan language family. People spoke it in the northwest part of Oregon and the southwest part of Washington state. They lived along the lower Columbia River.

Different Ways of Speaking

Just like people in different parts of a country might speak with different accents or use different words, languages often have dialects. A dialect is a special way a language is spoken in a certain area.

The Kwalhioqua-Clatskanie language had two main dialects:

• Kwalhioqua (also known as Willapa or Willoopah)
  • This dialect was spoken by people living north of the lower Columbia River.
  • It had two smaller ways of speaking: the Willapa (or Wela'pakote'li) subdialect and the Suwal subdialect.
• Clatskanie (also known as Tlatskanai)
  • This dialect was spoken by people living south of the lower Columbia River.