Makah is a southern Wakashan language that was spoken in the northwest of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state in the USA, along the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The last fluent native speaker, Ruth E. Claplanhoo, died in 2002, however the Makah tribe are working to revive the language. There are Makah classes for children and adults, and textbooks have been published.
Makah is also known as Kwe-Nee-Chee-Aht or Kweedishchaaht, and is related to Nuu-chah-nulth and Ditidaht.
Download an alphabet chart for Makah (Excel)
qʷiyubuta·ł kabatse·ʔit ʔiʔi·x̌ʷaqa·ł čačabax̌i·kłʔit pi·šbe·daq̓aqƛ ̓k̓a·šč̓uʔu· ʔiš yaša·baq̓aqƛbadax̌ ʔadʔaʔƛ̓ubał kabat̓ap ʔiʔi·x̌ʷaqa·ł ʔuʔu·tax̌su·bač čačabax̌ kabat̓ap qʷa·ʔux̌.
More than anything else, whale hunting represents the spiritual and technological preparedness of the Makah people and the wealth of the culture.
Source: http://content.lib.washington.edu/cmpweb/exhibits/makah/whaling-in-makah.html
Information about Makah | Numbers
Information about the Makah Language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makah_language
http://www.native-languages.org/makah.htm
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/myh
http://content.lib.washington.edu/cmpweb/exhibits/makah/language.html
Ditidaht, Haisla, Heiltsuk, Kwak̓wala, Liq’wala, Makah, Nuu-Chah-Nulth, Oowekyala
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page last modified: 18.09.23
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