The native language of the Squaxin Island people is a southern dialect of Lushootseed, a Puget Salish language. Lushootseed is spoken from the Skagit River Valley near Bellingham, along the eastern shores of Puget Sound through Seattle, Tacoma, Nisqually, Olympia and Shelton, as well as some areas on the western side of Puget Sound such as Suquamish near Poulsbo.

Lushootseed Research is dedicated to sustaining Lushootseed language and culture to enhance cross-cultural knowledge, wisdom and relations, as shared and celebrated by the First Peoples of Puget Sound, through research, recording, publishing and the presentation of oral traditions and literature. Autobiography of the Founder Vi "taqʷšəblu ...

Lushootseed is a member of the Salish language family, whose approximately twenty surviving languages are spoken from northern Oregon to central British Columbia, Map that shows the area where Salishan languages are spoken from the Pacific coast eastward into Montana and along the British Columbia-Alberta border. The Lushootseed-speaking region extends along the …

Lushootseed Research is excited about a new feature to our website. Available now and currently under construction is our lessons page. This feature was created to enhance the original Lushootseed language curriculum developed by Thom Hess and Vi Hilbert. These instructional texts are the results of more than thirty years of research ...