With the help of elders, educators, and tribal councils of the Klallam Tribes at Elwha, Port Gamble, and Jamestown, Washington, and Becher Bay on Vancouver Island, Timothy Montler has compiled a comprehensive dictionary of the Klallam language. It includes over 9,000 entries, a brief grammatical sketch, and numerous indexes, along with a wealth of cultural information.

Klallam is the language of the people whose ancestors lived at Tse-whit-zen, the largest archaeological site in Washington. It is an endangered language being revived through the efforts of the Klallam Language Program. While there are fewer than a dozen speakers of Klallam as their first language, there are hundreds who have gone through tribal language programs in the past twenty years.

Rich in authentic cultural content and detailed linguistic analysis, this comprehensive work is an important legacy for the Klallam people and an excellent contribution to research on Salish languages. -- Donna Gerdts, Simon Fraser University

About the Author

Timothy Montler is a professor at the University of North Texas. He is the author of many articles and books on Native American languages.

Reviews

". . . this dictionary represents a seminal contribution to pedagogy and to future scholarly studies of the language. The compiler's achievement embodies the best results of linguistic documentation in the modern context of language revitalization. Highly recommended."

* Choice *

"Klallam people from all over the Peninsula and beyond turned out for a recent signing ceremony for the dictionary in Port Angeles. Some cradled the book like a baby. Many already had decided where such an important book would be kept in their home. . ."

* Lynda Mapes *

"The new Klallam Dictionary- celebrated at the gathering of Klallam people from Elwha, Jamestown, and Port Gamble- holds the future of the language. And it holds a lot of history."

-- Richard Walker * North Kitsap Herald *

"Timothy Montler's Klallam Dictionary is much more than a listing of words in Klallam and English. It is a beautiful, solid volume of information that has potential to be useful to a wide range of people.... from historians and language learners and teachers to linguists."

-- Suzanne Urbanczyk * BC Studies *



Book Information
ISBN 9780295992075
Author Timothy Montler
Format Hardback
Page Count 1004
Imprint University of Washington Press
Publisher University of Washington Press
Weight(grams) 2585g