The Salishan languages
Language family · North America
WALS includes 26 Salishan languages in 5 branches; all of them are in North America.
Basic word order: VSO in 6 of the 8 members coded, then no dominant order in 2.
The most solid shared trait: all 18 members coded for Reduplication have productive full and partial reduplication.
Of these, 2 have a full page on this site.
Shared and split traits
| Feature | Most frequent value | Members |
|---|---|---|
| Reduplication | Productive full and partial reduplication | 18 of 18 |
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject follows verb (VS) | 10 of 10 |
| Order of Object and Verb | Object follows verb (VO) | 10 of 10 |
| Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase | Prepositions | 9 of 9 |
| Order of Genitive and Noun | Noun-genitive (NGen) | 7 of 8 |
| Finger and Hand | Different | 8 of 10 |
| Order of Subject, Object and Verb | Verb-subject-object (VSO) | 6 of 8 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 5 of 8 |
| Feature | Largest group | Members |
|---|---|---|
| Coding of Evidentiality | Verbal affix or clitic | 3 of 8 |
| The Velar Nasal | Velar nasal, also initially | 5 of 10 |
| Hand and Arm | Different | 6 of 10 |
| Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality | Only indirect evidentials | 5 of 8 |
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN) | 5 of 8 |
Members
| Language | Branch | Basic order | Features coded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bella Coola | Bella Coola | VSO | 37 |
| Chehalis (Upper) | Tsamosan | not coded | 21 |
| Halkomelem (Upriver) | Central Salish | VSO | 30 |
| Kalispel | Interior Salish | not coded | 24 |
| Lillooet | Interior Salish | not coded | 26 |
| Shuswap | Interior Salish | no dominant order | 45 |
| Squamish | Central Salish | VSO | 97 |
| Thompson | Interior Salish | not coded | 25 |
Not listed: 18 further Salishan languages with fewer than 20 coded features.