KWAKIUTL 



By Franz Boas 



§ 1. DISTRIBUTION AND HISTORY 



The Wakashan stock embraces the languages spoken by a number 

 of tribes inhabiting the coast of British Cohimbia and extending 

 southward to Cape Flattery in the state of Washington. Two 

 principal groups may be distinguished — the Nootka and the Kwa- 

 kiutl. The former is spoken on the west coast of Vancouver island 

 and at Cape Flattery, the latter on Vancouver island and on the coast 

 of the mainland of British Columbia from the northern end of the 

 Gulf of Georgia northward to the deep inlets just south of Skeena 

 river. The outlying islands north of Milbank sound are occupied by 

 a branch of the Tsimshian, while the coasts of Bentinck Arm are 

 inhabited by the Bellacoola, a tribe speaking a Salish language. The 

 neighbors of the Wakashan tribes are the Tsimshian to the north, 

 Athapascan tribes to the northeast, Salish tribes to the southeast and 

 south, and the Quileute at Cape Flattery. Among all these 

 languages, only the Salish and the Quileute exhibit some morpho- 

 logical similarities to the Kwakiutl. 



The Kwakiutl language may be divided into three principal sub- 

 languages or main dialects — the northern, or the dialect of the tribes 

 of Gardner inlet and Douglas channel; the central, or the dialect of 

 the tribes of Milbank sound and Rivers inlet; and the southern, 

 which is spoken by all the tribes south and southeast of Rivers inlet. 

 Each of these main dialects is" subdivided into sub-dialects which 

 differ somewhat in phonetics, form, and vocabulary. Their number 

 can not be determined exactly, since almost every village has its own 

 peculiarities. They may, however, be grouped in a number of 

 divisions. Only the divisions of the southern dialect are loiown. 



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