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Revitalizing Indigenous Languages: The Collaborative Success of the Online Salish Dictionary in Preserving Cultural Heritage

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Tachini Pete
Revitalizing Indigenous Languages: The Collaborative Success of the Online Salish Dictionary in Preserving Cultural Heritage

In today's globalized world, languages ​​are often on the verge of extinction due to the influence of dominant cultures and languages. One such language is Salish, spoken by indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest of North America. However, despite the challenges, efforts have been made to revitalize the language and preserve its cultural heritage. 


Languages ​​are like rivers, they evolve and change over time like river mud. By comparing today's languages ​​and determining what features ancestral languages ​​must have had in later stages of improvement, we can reconstruct the pasts of those languages. A group of languages ​​derived from a common source and people is called a "language family". These fascinating languages ​​he classifies into five. Bella Coola, Central Salish, Tsamosan, Interior Salish, and Tillamook are two outlier languages. Bella Coola, spoken in British Columbia, is the northernmost, and Tillamook, spoken in Oregon, is the southernmost.


The Central Salish Language, along with the Salish Sea, constitute a chain of ten languages. In other languages, it is called linguistic separation, a language set to have no living or non-living contact. A language without a fixed relationship is a mess, and that is Salish. Human language can only rely on convocation, and social learning is of a mobile nature. As early humans gradually changed human communication systems, language evolved and acquired the ability to approximate other thoughts and life experiences. I feel the urge to develop an online Salish dictionary because I respect the heritage of Salish. 


The name Salish or Serish is known to be associated with the Flathead Nation. The terms Salish and Salishan are confusing in normal English usage, but are used interchangeably by linguists and anthropologists who study Salish. The name Salish was later applied by linguists to related languages ​​of the Pacific Northwest. Because local groups are more culturally important than their larger tribal relatives, many people often have names specific to their local dialect rather than self-designated in their own language.


As concepts, language and meaning refer to the cognitive ability to learn and use complex communication systems, the rules that build those systems, or the set of utterances generated from those rules. The Salish language dictionary represents a rich cultural heritage, and efforts to regenerate and preserve it reflect a deep respect for the diversity and richness of human language. 

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Tachini Pete
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