Chehalis, Lower
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A language of United States
Alternate Names
Łəw’ál’məš
User Population
No known L1 speakers. Last known speakers may have survived into the 1990s (1990 M. Kinkade).
Location
Washington: southwest coast.
Language Status
9 (Dormant). Language of registered tribe: Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, Quinault Indian Nation, Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation.
Language Use
A few people may have passive knowledge of some words and phrases (Golla 2007). Shifted to English [eng].
Language Development
Lower Chehalis people are attempting to merge what remains of their language with Quinault [qun].
Not well documented but some sound recordings were made around 1940 (Golla 2007).