Our Language

SPEAKING TILLAMOOK

In an effort to preserve the Tillamook language, some researchers
from the University of Hawaii interviewed Joe Scovell’s mother and
other members of the Nehalem band of the Tillamook tribe from
1965-72. They have so far compiled a 120-page Tillamook-English
dictionary, with a 35-page English-Tillamook index, which is an
unpublished work still in progress.

A sampling:

Hello, how do you do?
dəʔ šʔálen̓əxʷš

Tomorrow
gʷə wə́š gʷas

Good
də húcsənə

White person
ʔənʔúns

Tillamook (city)
datági

The tide is coming in
ʔələ́lil

Source: M. Terry Thompson

A Talking Dictionary is a work in progress by the Living Tongues Institute
for Endangered Languages supported by National Geographic.

To listen, use this link Tillamook Talking Dictionary

Click Here to go to the Tillamook Living Language Website

For questions or additional information, contact us at [email protected].