Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 20, 2026

Lower Chehalis language

Lower Chehalis (Łəw̓ál̕məš) is a member of the Tsamosan branch of the Coast Salish family of Salishan languages. In some classifications, Lower Chehalis is placed closer to Quinault than it is to Upper Chehalis. It went extinct in the 1990s.

Last revised
Jun 20, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
206 w
Citations
3
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Lower Chehalis
Łəw̓ál̕məš
ɬəw̓ál̓məš
Native toUnited States
Regionsouth of Olympic Peninsula, Washington
EthnicityChehalis people
Extinct1990s1
Salishan
  • Coast
    • Tsamosan
      • Maritime
        • Lower Chehalis
Language codes
ISO 639-3cea
Glottologlowe1427
Lower Chehalis is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.2

Lower Chehalis (Łəw̓ál̕məš) is a member of the Tsamosan (or Olympic Peninsula) branch of the Coast Salish family of Salishan languages. In some classifications, Lower Chehalis is placed closer to Quinault than it is to Upper Chehalis. It went extinct in the 1990s.

Phonology

Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
median sibilant lateral plain lab. plain lab.
Plosive/
Affricate 		plain p t ts tʃ k kʷ q qʷ ʔ
ejective pʼ tʼ tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ kʼ kʷʼ qʼ qʷʼ
Fricative s ɬ ʃ xʷ χ χʷ h
Sonorant plain m n l j w
glottalized ˀm ˀn ˀl ˀj ˀw

Vowels are represented as /i ə u a/ and /iː uː aː/.3 Allophones are also noted.

Sound Allophone
/i/ [i], [e], [ɛ]
/a/ [aˤ], [a], [ɐ]
/ə/ [ɨ], [ə], [ʌ], [ɪ], [ʊ]
/u/ [u], [o], [ɔ]
References

References

  1. Lower Chehalis at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (Report) (3rd ed.). UNESCO. 2010. p. 11.
  3. Snow, Charles T. (June 1969). A Lower Chehalis Phonology (Master of Arts thesis). University of Kansas. hdl:1808/26715. Retrieved 2022-05-29.