The English side of the dictionary is intended to give you a brief overview of a word. To learn more about a Cowlitz Coast Salish word that results from an English search, click the blue Cowlitz Coast Salish word and follow the search bar to the Cowlitz-side entry for that word. We’ve worked to ensure that the Cowlitz- and English-side entries contain roughly the same information, but the English-side entry for a word is sometimes less thorough; if something about an English-side entry is ambiguous or unclear, we recommend looking at the Cowlitz Coast Salish side. Clicking on any blue, bolded headword listed in an English-side entry will take you directly to the Cowlitz-side entry for that word.

, or name of the entry. That means that everything under the entry is in some way related to this word either in form or in meaning.

Many blue, bolded words in this dictionary have next to them. Clicking the speaker icon allows you to hear the adjacent word or phrase.

Below the headword and , in square brackets, is the . This includes all of the parts (morphemes) that make up the word. Some words will only have one part, such as x̣áx house, which has a breakdown of [ x̣áx 'house'], while cílksɬqʷ five days is a bit more complicated, with a breakdown of [ cílks- 'five' -ɬ- 'linking letter' -aqʷ 'day' ]. You can click any part of the breakdown to see other entries that use the same parts.

. While we try to include as many translations as possible in each entry, you may find that some words have different translations in other officially printed materials. This typically happens when a Cowlitz Coast Salish word has multiple senses, or nuanced senses, that can’t be captured in a single dictionary entry. Even if a Cowlitz Coast Salish word is translated in this dictionary as a specific English word, phrase, or set of words, that Cowlitz Coast Salish word may have more nuanced senses that are hard to pin down in a single written definition.

A root is the core of a word. It cannot be broken down or analyzed any further. Some roots are also full words, but most roots need additional parts (called morphemes) added on to be used as full words.

Ex:	x̣áx	house	root = √x̣áx
	ʔís	he came	root = √ʔís-
	ʔísn	he's coming	root = √ʔís-
	cʼə́kɬ	it ran out	root = √cʼə́k-

Note: The √ symbol is used to indicate a root.

You may also see the word stem in some entries. A stem consists of a root plus any morphemes and form changes (see next section) that allow it to take on new meanings and additional grammatical information. Stems, like roots, often need more morphemes added to them to be used as full words. In shorter, simpler Cowlitz Coast Salish words, the stem and root are the same, so the stem will not be explicitly named as shown above.

Ex:

cʼakálnutšn

she gave up on it

root = √cʼə́k- stem = √cʼak-ál=inwat-

A form is a shape that a word has - the number and arrangement of consonants and vowels, and where the stress (the acute accent) is placed. Sometimes, changing a root or stem’s form changes its meaning (see spun → spinning, below); other times, adding an affix triggers a form change (see bag → his/her bag, below). Sometimes, both processes occur.

The forms of headwords in this dictionary are rather arbitrary, since there is no “base form” of a word. The headwords’ forms were chosen for the sake of consistency, not for holding any one form as being more “basic” than the others. For nouns, the default headword form is the singular unpossessed form, and for verbs the default form is usually either a perfective intransitive form or perfective transitive form, depending on its meaning. The following list includes example forms for the noun ‘bag’ and the verb ‘spin.’ Note that none of the verb forms listed translate as just ‘spin.’

Ex:	cʼalə́pɬ	it spun (perfective intransitive form)	√cʼalə́p-ɬ
	cʼalə́pɬ kn	I spun	√cʼalə́p-ɬ+kn
	cʼə́lpawn	it's spinning (imperfective intransitive form)	√cʼə́lp[a]-w-n
	cʼə́lpawanx	I'm spinning	√cʼə́lp[a]-w-anx
	tálʼičn	bag (singular unpossessed form)	√tálʼ=ičn
	ntálʼičn	my bag (1st-person-singular possessed singular form)	n+√tálʼ=ičn
	tálʼkni	his/her bag (3rd-person-singular possessed singular form)	√tálʼ=kn-i

Each list of Usable Forms includes many different forms that only differ in one way from each other. Most commonly, forms in these lists differ by “person,” that is, I, you, he, she, we, etc., for any given combination of grammatical qualities. For example, a noun can be singular or plural, and can additionally be possessed or unpossessed, so an entry for a noun that has both a singular and a plural form will typically have one Usable Forms list for possession of the singular form and a second list for possession of the plural form. See examples at the end of this section for a list of possessed singular nouns and a list of possessed plural nouns.

Core forms are simply the usable forms that are unpredictable or that can only be predicted with a deep level of understanding of Cowlitz Coast Salish. We've put them all in one place so that new learners can see them right away to start learning the important forms, and so that advanced learners don't need to look through longer lists to find what they’re looking for. For nouns, the core forms are usually the unpossessed singular form, 3rd-person-singular possessed singular form, unpossessed plural form, and 3rd-person-singular possessed plural form. With only those 4 forms, you can make any form in the usable form list if you know a little bit about the grammar already!

Notice that for this entire list there are actually only 4 stems being used to create every form. Those 4 stems are: cə́np, canúp-, cə́napumx, and cə́napumiš-.

These are the 4 words included in the core forms list: cə́np, canúpi, cə́napumx, and cə́napumiši.

Ex:	ncə́np	my bed
	ʔacə́np	your bed
	canúpi	his bed
	cəńpkɬ	our bed
	canúpilp	you all's bed
	canúpɬ	their bed
	ncə́napumx	my beds
	ʔacə́napumx	your beds
	cə́napumiši	its beds
	cə́napumxkɬ	our beds
	cə́napumišilp	you all's beds
	cə́napumišɬ	their beds

Some entries include lists titled “Words Derived from ____.” These lists contain words that are related in some way to the headword’s root. For example, the word x̣áx house is used to derive the word ʔáɬx̣x home. Other derived forms include words made with a lexical suffix. For example, a couple of lexical suffixes mean ‘house’ but don't look anything like the word x̣áx. Each lexical suffix gets its own Words Derived from ___ list so that, for instance, if you were looking for "build a house" and you went to the entry x̣áx house, you'd see kakáltxʷ build a house in a list of words derived from =txʷ house. This should help reduce the burden on new learners to be familiar with the quirks of Cowlitz Coast Salish.

A reconstruction is a word or form that we don't have direct evidence for - as in, that wasn’t recorded by məsímx, scayídut, or historical sources (see next section) - but that we believe does exist in the language. We use all the internal workings of Cowlitz Coast Salish to put a reconstruction back together. Occasionally we look at words in closely related languages to fill in the gaps. You can think of reconstructions as testable, very educated and informed guesses. The most common circumstance for reconstruction is when a verb is only attested in one aspect. Verbs can be either perfective (completed) or imperfective (ongoing). When a verb is only recorded in one aspect, we reconstruct the complementary aspect to create a fuller view of the language.

Sometimes, you’ll also see the word “reconstruction” next to a word whose spelling has been updated from historical source spellings to match the current writing system. This is a different kind of reconstruction from the one discussed above, but is equally researched and informed by our knowledge of Cowlitz Coast Salish and its related or highly influential languages. You’ll also find the label “uncertain reconstruction” next to some entry headwords, which means there isn’t enough evidence to be one hundred percent certain about the spelling given.

A historical form is any spelling taken from other sources. They're called "historical" because many of them were created at a time when there was no standard for writing Salishan or Indigenous languages, so the writer just wrote down the word how it sounded to them. For the word x̣áx, we are certain that our spelling adequately captures the meaningful sounds of the word, but there are other ways to spell it that would look similar enough to how it sounds to seem satisfactory. Compare all the spellings:

x̣ax̯ (Franz Boas)
xax (Horatio Hale)
khakh (Gallatin)
ḣass͡h (Edward Curtis)
hagh (FR)
hách, hágh (George Gibbs)

First sound written as: x̣, x, kh, ḣ, h
Last sound written as: x̯, x, kh, ss͡h, gh, ch

In this word, Gallatin and Hale could not distinguish x̣ (a rough, throat clearing sound) from x (a wispy sound, sounds slightly more harder than an h).

It's clear that these people all heard the same word, and it’s equally clear that without a standardized spelling system it’s very difficult to see and communicate the important sounds of Cowlitz Coast Salish. We've included historical spellings in this dictionary to keep a thorough record of our language. We also use these historical spellings to make educated guesses for words that were not attested (recorded) by scayídut or məsímx.

Lexical Suffix Definition
Lexical suffixes are a set of morphemes that are frequently used to derive new words from existing roots. Like most roots, lexical suffixes can never be used as a full word on their own. Many English words and phrases translate into Cowlitz Coast Salish as a root or stem with a lexical suffix attached. Below is a list of example words composed of a root and a lexical suffix. In these examples, the lexical suffixes are marked with an equals sign ( = ) in front. In this dictionary, you’ll typically see them without equals signs, but that formatting may be subject to change.

Ex:	ʔáwtičn	a person’s back, behind	[ √ʔáwat- ‘behind’ + =ikn ‘back’ ]
	táwʼkʷu	high water, flowing water	[ √táwʼ- ‘big’ + =kʷu ‘water’ ]
	qʼáxʷakaʔ	frostbitten hands	[ √qʼáxʷa- ‘freeze’ + =akaʔ ‘hand’ ]
	x̣wíʔičn	backbone	[ √x̣wiʔ- ‘bone’ + =ikn ‘back’ ]

Did you notice that the lexical suffix for ‘back,’ =ikn, has a different form in the morpheme breakdowns than in the actual words? Sometimes, a lexical suffix will take a different form depending on the word it’s in.

Adding a lexical suffix to a root often creates a word with a different part of speech from the root by itself. In the examples above, √qʼáxʷa- is a verbal root meaning ‘freeze,’ and adding the lexical suffix =akaʔ to it creates a noun that means ‘frostbitten hands.’ √táwʼ- is an adjectival root meaning ‘big,’ and combining it with the lexical suffix =kʷu ‘water’ creates a noun meaning ‘high water.’

A key feature of lexical suffixes is that most of them have corresponding standalone words, which are discussed in the next section.

Standalone Counterpart Words
The phrase “standalone counterpart” refers to words that have the same meaning as a lexical suffix, but can be used on their own. You may find that many root + lexical suffix words can often also be written out as phrases containing their standalone counterpart words, and vice versa. This is especially true of lexical suffixes used with number roots. The following table contains a list of root + lexical suffix words and their respective full phrases. In this table, the lexical suffixes are written as they appear in the word rather than in their base form.

Root + Lexical Suffix	Full Phrase
cámʼxawʼɬ ‘two rows’ [ √cám- ‘two’ + =xawʼɬ ‘row’ ]	sáliʔ t xə́wɬ ‘two rows’ [ sáliʔ ‘two’ + t ‘a/an/the’ + xə́wɬ ‘row’ ]
cámuslʼs ‘eight dollars’ [ √cámus ‘eight’ + =l’s ‘dollar’ ]	cámus t tála ‘eight dollars’ [ cámus ‘eight’ + t ‘a/an/the’ + tála ‘money’ ]
ʔaksqʷúx̣ʷlʼwltxʷ ‘white house’ [ ʔaks- ‘color/kind’ + √qʷúx̣ʷ- ‘white’ + =lwltxʷ ‘house’ ]	ʔaksqʷúx̣ʷ t x̣áx ‘white house’ [ ʔaksqʷúx̣ʷ ‘white’ + t ‘a/an/the’ + x̣áx ‘house’ ]

Some lexical suffixes bear a resemblance to their standalone counterparts:

English	Cowlitz Coast Salish standalone word	Cowlitz Coast Salish lexical suffix
nose	mə́qsn	=qs
fire, firewood	mə́kʷp	=kʷup-
prairie	máqʷm	=aqʷ-, =aqʷm-
face	cmús	=us-
earth	tə́mx	=tmax-

Many of them do not resemble their full word counterparts:

English	Cowlitz Coast Salish standalone word	Cowlitz Coast Salish lexical suffix
basket	ʔə́mx̣kʷu	=ikn-
back	yax̣álʔ	=ikn-
water	qálʔ	=kʷu-
fire	mə́kʷp	=staq
wood	kʷúmɬ	=kʷup
together	x̣ʷúqʷɬ	=álʼwas-
hand	kálx	=akaʔ-
arm	kálx	=áx̣an-
foot	cúɬ	=xan-
leg	cúɬ	=ayaq-
child, offspring	mánʔ	=iʔɬ
face	cmús	=alis-, =lʼs
mouth	qə́nx	=ɬanal-
hair	kʼə́skʼs	=aqan-
heart, mind	sqʷə́lm	=ínwat-
stomach, belly	kʼʷásn	=ínwas-
neck	kʼə́spn	=apsam-
people	sxamʼálaxʷ	=mix-
animal	pə́saʔ	=ayuʔ-
ten	pánačš	=tumx
year	sƛʼíx	=panxʷ

To make finding related words easier, we've put lists of words derived from a lexical suffix in the entry for that suffix’s corresponding standalone word.

Lexical Suffix Linking Letters
Youʼll often see a linking letter or two used between a root and a lexical suffix. The function of some of these is still unclear, but we think many of them are used to make pronunciation a little easier. The usual shape of the linking letters are: -al-, -ɬ-, -ay-, and -l-.

Ex:	cʼəwə́kʼ- 'cut' + -ay- 'linking letter' + =kʷup- 'fire, firewood' → cʼukʼáykʷp 'chop wood'

Lexical Suffixes and Numbers
Numbers are unique in that some of them use a different root shape when combining with a lexical suffix:

English	Cowlitz Coast Salish standalone word	Cowlitz Coast Salish compounding form
one	ʔúcʼs	nákʼ-
two	sáliʔ	cám-
three	káʔɬiʔ	kán-
four	mús	mús-
five	čílačš	cílks-, cílkst-
six	tʼax̣ə́m	tʼə́x̣m-
seven	cʼóps	cʼúps-, cʼóps-
eight	cámus	cámus-
nine	tə́wxʷ	tə́wxʷ-, tawíxʷ-
ten	pánačš	pánks-, pánkst-

Some numbers also have unique linking letters:

Ex:	nákʼ- 'one' + -aw- 'linking letter' + =xan 'time' → nákʼušn 'once, one time'
	kán- 'three' + -x- 'linking letter' + =panxʷ 'year' → kánxpanxʷ 'three years'

Lexical Suffix Use vs. True Compounds
Compounds typically combine two full words to make a third word with its own unique meaning. Often, this new compounded meaning is slightly different from or more specific than the pure sum of its parts. The word ‘blackboard,’ for example, doesn’t actually refer to ‘a board that is black.’ It more specifically refers to ‘a flat thing that you can write on with chalk.’

So far, we’ve seen many instances where English would use a compound and Cowlitz Coast Salish uses a root plus a lexical suffix. For example, the word ‘backbone’ in English is a compound of the full word ‘back’ and the full word ‘bone.’ In Cowlitz Coast Salish, as we saw in the first list of examples, the word ‘backbone’ is created from a root plus a lexical suffix.

The main difference between a root + a lexical suffix and a true compound is that lexical suffixes can never stand on their own, whereas one or more elements of a true compound can stand on their own as a fully fledged word.

While the point of this section is to illustrate the unique ways in which Cowlitz Coast Salish forms words using lexical suffixes, we want to be clear that Cowlitz Coast Salish does also have compound words. For example, the verb sáʔəmx̣kʷu ‘make a cedar-root basket’ is a compound of sáʔ- ‘make’ (as in sáʔn ‘he made it’) and ʔə́mx̣kʷu ‘cedar-root basket.’

Similar to true compounds, sometimes combining a root and a lexical suffix gives us a different or more specific meaning than what the two parts mean on their own. For example, the word taxʷálʼšn means ‘buy shoes,’ but its individual parts are: tə́xʷ- ‘buy’ + -ál- ‘linking letter’ + =xan ‘foot.’

The Cowlitz Coast Salish language is very different from English. An entire English sentence can translate to a single Cowlitz word, made up of many different pieces. To express a specific idea, you will have to arrange these parts in a particular way.

In the dictionary, only one form can be listed as the main headword. Verb entries generally take the same form as one another, and noun entries generally take the same form as one another. Below are examples of typical dictionary entry forms and how you would use the entry to express various ideas.

Finally, not all entries in this dictionary are equally reliable. Consider all options carefully when choosing a translation, and when in doubt look over the example phrases and entry notes.

This glossary defines some of the grammar terms you may see within entries as you navigate the dictionary. Any bolded word within a definition is defined elsewhere in this list. Terms are listed in alphabetical order.

ƛʼpúlmixq - Cowlitz Coast Salish

Adjective - A state of being that isn’t marked for aspect. An adjective can form the basis of sentence: qʷamáalʼm k (you are slow).

Affix - A morpheme that attaches to the beginning of the word, as a prefix, or the end of a word, as a suffix.

Article - In English, a/an, the, this, etc. When combined with a word or phrase, they don’t change its original meaning - for example, a car and the car still refer to the idea ‘car.’ In ƛʼpúlmixq, the most common articles are t, tit, c, cic, and ʔit. You’ll find these articles in some headwords, Inflected Forms, and Example Phrases. An article at the very beginning of a phrase can be removed or exchanged for another article without changing the phrase’s overall meaning.

Aspect - The framing of a verb with respect to duration. See Imperfective and Perfective for the two basic ƛʼpúlmixq aspects.

Causative - A type of verb that indicates the subject causes the object to do something. Some dictionary entries labeled as causative may not have an obvious causative meaning, but nonetheless take causative objects. (Abbreviation: CAUS)

Example Phrases - Combinations of two or more full words with distinct meanings, with or without additional articles, particles, etc. For example, wá t ʔaskʷácɬ (what is your name) is listed as an Example Phrase under the entry skʷácɬ (name).

First-person - See person.

Imperfective - An aspect that tells you the verb is continuing, ongoing, progressing, or unending. In most cases, imperfective verbs in this dictionary are translated as verbs with -ing - for example, syə́pawn is translated as “he is walking.” (Abbreviation: IMPV)

Inflected Forms - Usable forms of the headword that may or may not include extra word parts. Many of the Inflected Forms in this dictionary are defined, but these definitions are a work in progress and are subject to change. See the sections on affixes, articles, morphemes, and particles for the kinds of extra word parts that you may find in the Inflected Forms section.

Intransitive - A verb that is not directed towards anything; in other words, a verb without an object. (Abbreviation: INTR)

Morpheme - The basic building block of a word. For example, walk, -ed, and -ing are all morphemes in English. A hyphen on a morpheme indicates that the morpheme “isn’t ready yet,” and may need additional pieces in order to stand as a full word. For example, the ƛʼpúlmixq imperfective intransitive stem námaw- is not a usable form and requires a subject, but námawn is a usable verb since the hyphens of námaw- and -n close each other. Morpheme, word part, and word piece are interchangeable in this glossary.

Noun - A person, place, or thing. In ƛʼpúlmixq verbs and adjectives can become nouns. A noun can also be the basis of a sentence: síɬmx tit stiqíw (gelding horse, lit. “the horse is a male”).

Number - The grammatical category for how many things or people are being mentioned. For the two grammatical numbers used in ƛʼpúlmixq, see singular and plural.

Object - The person or thing that is acted upon by the subject of a verb. (Abbreviation: O) 

In English, objects are words that change according to their person and number:

In ƛʼpúlmixq, objects are endings that change according to their person, number, and aspect.

Plain transitive objects:

*see plural

Causative objects: 

* Irregular form used by some verbs.

** see plural

Note that, while these suffixes are called causative object suffixes, they are also used for some verbs that don’t necessarily have an obvious causative meaning.

Perfective - An aspect that tells you a verb is finished, complete, or over. In most cases, perfective verbs in this dictionary are translated as verbs with -ed - for example, yə́pɬ is translated as “he walked.” (Abbreviation: PFV)

Person - The distinction made between participants in a speech event. 

First-person - What speakers call themselves [I and we].

Second-person - What speakers call the people they’re addressing [you and you all].

Third-person - What speakers call people or things that aren’t in the conversation [she, he, it, they].

Plural - The grammatical feature of being two or more of something. Because words that are grammatically singular in ƛʼpúlmixq can refer to one or multiple things, plural marking is used to unambiguously refer to multiple things.(Abbreviation: pl) 

Note for verbs: The morpheme -i-umx indicates third-person plural (they, them). Unlike the other person pieces it does not strictly refer to a subject or object; instead it ambiguously means both, depending on the context. Thus, námiɬumx means “They finished” because there’s no third-person singular object to be made plural. The form náminumx, on the other hand, can mean “They finished it” or “She finished them” as the plural meaning can work as a subject or object depending on the context. Additionally this piece is written as -i-umx because the -i- goes before the final letter of the original form, thus ʔit námɬ > ʔit námiɬumx; ʔit námn >ʔit náminumx.

Reconstruction - This word was respelled by Kinkade from an older source for consistency, since consistent spelling within a resource helps learners understand how a word was pronounced when it was last recorded. If the reconstruction is from TLC, it has been respelled by linguists working for The Language Conservancy alongside informed membership and employees of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe. If the reconstruction is uncertain, it is still informed by research but some of the letters could be incorrect.

Second-person - See person.

Singular - One single item. In ƛʼpúlmixq, nouns that are grammatically singular can have a plural meaning. (Abbreviation: sg)

Subject - The person or thing that causes or experiences an event, which could be a verb, noun, or adjective. (Abbreviation: S)

In English, subjects are words that change according to their person and number.

In ƛʼpúlmixq, subjects are smaller pieces that attach to the end of the verb. They change according to their person, number, and aspect.

*see plural

Note: The forms without a hyphen are separated from the verb by a space in actual writing (i.e. ʔit ɬə́x̣n kn, not ʔit ɬə́x̣nkn). As you’ve seen previously, perfective verbs can be used without any subject ending, since there's no ending to represent the perfective third-person singular subject. Also, the perfective subjects kn, k, kɬ, and kp can be used with adjectives and nouns (as in čtƛʼpúlmx kn 'I am a Lower Cowlitz person'), so they're more independent of the verb than other endings. This is why we write them with a space, as separate little words.

Third-person - See person.

Transitive - A verb that is directed towards someone or something; in other words, a verb with an object. (Abbreviation: TR) - See object for more details.

Verb - An action or state that can be perfective or imperfective. A verb can stand on its own as a full sentence: syə́pawn (“she is walking”).