Talk:Salish–Spokane–Kalispel language

Name
Deparate constructs need to be acknowledged; tribal nations are not languages or traditional ethnic groups.

Language: Spokane-Kalispel-Flathead (npoqínišcn-qlispé-séliš) is the name of the language not Montana Salish language. Montana Salish refers to séliš only.

Federally Recognized Tibes: the Spokane tribe, the Kalispel tribe, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation are contemporary political organizations not ethnic groups.

Traditional ethnic groups/tribes or bands: Bitterroot Salish, Pend d'Oreilles, Spokane

The Chewelah branch of Pend d'Oreilles ended up in the Spokane Tribe. Some Pend d'Oreilles became citiznes of the Kalispel Tribe and some became citizens of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation. The Spokane was split up into Upper, Middle, and Lower Bands and some members of the Upper and Middle Bands ended up in the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.134.207.224 (talk) 19:21, 27 April 2011 (UTC)
 * "Montana Salish" refers to all three. — kwami (talk) 01:01, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Name 2
Why does academia continue to call the Selish, Flathead? The term is often used by other tribal groups to indicate all three tribes of the Flathead Reservation. To call them "Montana Salish" assigns the recent political boundary of Montana to a peopel who predate such boundaries. Some even dispute the Flathead Reservation is part of Montana. Why not just call them Salish or Selish? Isn't this the tribe that gave name to the bigger language? I have read some refer to them as Salish Proper. Maybe they could be called Selish Salish. Please academia, stop the misnomer "Flathead." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.14.231.69 (talk) 20:53, 16 May 2011 (UTC)
 * We do not control how they're called. Demonstrate a different name is common or predominant in the lit, or preferred by the tribal govt., and we can move the article. — kwami (talk) 01:01, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Script used?
Please reference the script or character set that is used in the examples here (IPA, like the infobox says? Americanist phonetic notation, said to be most common for these languages at Salishan languages?)  Is there a written language community using this language? What script do they tend to use? What script is used by the new Spokane Indians baseball team jersey? Thanks! ★NealMcB★ (talk) 19:49, 4 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Preferred font used by the Salish - Pend d'Oreille Culture Committee is the Salish Font & Keyboard "made by James D. Parkin of Idiom Software for Salish School of Spokane and the Kalispel Tribe." This font works for "Colville-Okanagan, Kalispel–Spokane-Bitterroot, Coeur d'Alene, and Wenatchee-Columbian." --Djembayz (talk) 02:00, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

Request to rename article from a member of the Salish - Pend d'Oreille Culture Committee
I have an e-mail from a Seliš language teacher who works with the Salish - Pend d'Oreille Culture Committee. He says that "I visited with people and they feel it shouldn't be Montana Salish because two of the tribes are not from Montana." He requests that we move this article to "Salish-Spokane-Kalispel language."

You can see current material for learning the language here:
 * Salish Language, Salish Institute. It is called "Salish & Pend d’Oreille Dialect" or "Seliš u Qlispé".
 * Learn Spokane Salish Picture Dictionary
 * Spokane Salish Blog

Although there are slight differences between the dialects, a new speaker can use material from all three dialects to learn.

The Salishan language taught at the Salish School of Spokane is not "Spokane Salish" as you might expect, but rather turns out to be the Colville-Okanagan language, which is similar, but not identical. Chris Parkin's Colville-Okanagan curriculum, The Beginning Course in Colville-Okanagan Salish, was modified to create the Seliš u Qlispé books.

Please e-mail if any questions. --Djembayz (talk) 02:00, 14 December 2014 (UTC)