Home > Oregon Penutian languages

Linguists are not in complete agreement over the classification of languages in this family. In classifications, the languages of the family are classified in several distinct families. Some linguists classify Lower and Middle Chinookan as belong to a distinct family called the Chinookan languages.

Languages in the Oregon Penutian family (with their identified dialects and area of speech in the 19th century) include:

• Lower (Coastal) Chinookan
  • Shoalwater dialect, spoken in southwestern Washington around southern Willapa Bay.
  • Clatsop dialect, spoken in northwestern Oregon around the mouth of the Columbia River and the Clatsop PlainsThe Clatsop Plains are an area of wetlands and sand dunes between the Coast Range and Pacific Ocean in northwestern Oregon in the United States. They stretch from near the mouth of the Columbia River south to the vicinity of Tillamook Head near Seaside..

• Middle Chinookan
  • Multnomah dialect, spoken on Sauvie IslandSauvie Island is an island in the Columbia River approximately ten miles West-Northwest of downtown Portland, Oregon along U. Highway 30. The island is home to agricultural zones and a small number of year-round residents. There is one industrial factory and in the PortlandPortland is the largest city in Oregon, and county seat of Multnomah County. It is a major Pacific seaport located about sixty miles from the west coast of the United States, situated on both sides of the Willamette River, just south of its confluence wit area in northwestern Oregon
  • Kathlamet dialect, spoken in northwestern Oregon along the south bank of the lower Columbia River.
  • Wahkiakum dialect, spoken in southwestern Washington along the north bank of the lower Columbia River.
  • Clackamas dialect, spoken in northwestern Oregon along the ClackamasThe Clackamas River is a tributary of the Willamette River, approximately 85 mi (137 km) long, in northwestern Oregon in the United States. The river drains an area of approximately 940 square miles. In its upper reaches, it passes through mostly forested and SandyThe Sandy River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approxiately 50 mi (80 km) long, in northwestern Oregon in the United States. It rises in the Cascades in eastern Clackamas County, issuing from a glacier on the flanks of Mount Hood. It flows northwes rivers
  • Watlala dialect, spoken in north-central Oregon along the Columbia River GorgeThe Columbia River Gorge is a spectacular canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to 4,000 feet (1300 m) deep, the canyon stretches for over 80 miles (130 km) as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range for.

• Alsean
  • Yaquina dialect, spoken on the central Oregon coast around Yaquina Bay & along the Yaquina River (central Oregon coast)
  • Alsea dialect, spoken on the central Oregon coast around Alsea Bay and along the AlseaThe Alsea River is river, approximately 40 mi (64 km) long along the Pacific coast of western Oregon in the United States. It drains an area of Coastal Range southwest of Corvallis. It rises in several forks in northwestern Lane County, approximately 15 m and Yachats rivers

• Siuslawan
  • Siuslaw dialect spoken on the central Oregon coast along the Siuslaw RiverThe Siuslaw River (sei-YOO-slaw) is river, approximately 110 mi (177 km) long, along the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States. It drains an area of approximately 4560 sq mi (11900 sq km) in the Coastal Range southwest of the Willamette Valley and and around Siltcoos Lake
  • Kuitsh dialect spoken on the central Oregon coast around Winchester Bay and along the lower Umpqua and Smith rivers.

• Coosan
  • possibly several Hanis dialects spoken along the southern Oregon cosat in the vicinity of Coos Bay and along the Coos River.
  • possibly one or two Miluk dialects spoken along the southern Oregon coast around South Slough of Coos Bay and along the lower Coquille River.

• Molalan
  • Northern Molala dialect, spoken in southern Oregon in the Cascade Range
  • Upper Santiam Molala dialect, spoken along the upper Santiam River in the Cascades in central Oregon.
  • Southern Molala dialect, spoken in southern Oregon in the Cascade Range

• Northern Kalapuya
  • Tualatin dialect, spoken in the northern Willamette Valley along the Tualatin River, Lake Wapato , and the lower Willamette River.
  • Yamhill dialect, in the northwestern Willamette Valley along the Yamhill River

• Central Kalapuya
  • Ahantchuyuk dialect, spoken in the northeastern Willamette Valley along the Pudding and Molalla rivers
  • Santiam dialect, spoken in the central Willamette Valley along the lower Santiam River
  • Luckiamute dialect, spoken in the central Willamette Valley along the Luckiamute River
  • Chepenafa dialect, spoken in the central Willamette Valley along Mary's River
  • Chemapho dialect, spoken in central Willamette Valley along Muddy Creek .
  • Chelamela dialect, spoken in the southwestern Willamette Valley along the Long Tom River
  • Tsankupi dialect, spoken in the southeastern Willamette Valley along the Calapooia River
  • Winefelly-Mohawk dialects, spoken in the southeastern Willamette Valley along the McKenzie, Mohawk, and Coast Fork Willamette rivers

• Yoncalla
  • possibly two or three dialects spoken in southwestern Oregon in the Umpqua River valley, along Elk Creek and Calapooia Creek.

• Takelma
  • possibly the Cow Creek dialect spoken in southwestern Oregon along the South Umpqua River, Myrtle Creek, and Cow Creek .
  • Latgawa dialect, spoken in southwestern Oregon along the upper Rogue River
  • Lowland Takelma dialect, spoken in southwestern Oregon in the Rogue Valley