Nooksack language
| Nooksack | |
|---|---|
| Lhéchelesem | |
| Pronunciation | /'ɬə.t͡ʃə.lə.səm/ |
| Region | Whatcom County, Washington |
| Ethnicity | Nooksack people |
| Extinct | 1988, with the death of Sindick Jimmy |
| Revival | 1 fluent L2 speaker (2020) |
Salish
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nok |
| Glottolog | nook1247 |
Nooksack is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Nooksack (Nooksack: Lhéchelesem, /'ɬə.t͡ʃə.lə.səm/) is a Coast Salish language of the Salishan language family. Nooksack is spoken by the Nooksack people, who reside primarily along the Nooksack River in Whatcom County, Washington.
Linguistically, Nooksack is most closely related to the Squamish, shíshálh and Halkomelem languages, which are all spoken in nearby parts of British Columbia, Canada. Some researchers have questioned whether the Nooksack language is simply a divergent dialect of Halkomelem, but research has proved that Nooksack is in fact a distinct language.
The Nooksack language has only one fluent speaker as of 2020.