The Salishan (also Salish) languages are a group of languages of western Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the United States. They are characterised by agglutinativity and astonishing consonant clusters—for instance the Nuxálk word 'he had had a bunchberry plant' is [xɬp’χʷɬtɬpɬːskʷʦ’].

Salish is a term that refers to a number of languages of the Salishan family. It usually refers to a Salish language which does not have a true self-designation, such as Thompson River Salish and Interior Salish . Other Salish languages, such as Klallam, Saanich, Nuxálk, Nooksack, Squamish and Lushootseed, are referred to by name.

External link

• Ethnologue classification for Salishan