Syilx: Difference between revisions

The '''''Syilx''''' ({{IPA-sal|sjilx}}) people, also known as the '''Okanagan''', '''OkanoganSuknaqinx''', or '''Okinagan''' people, are a [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] and [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] people whose traditional territory spans the [[Canada–United States border|Canada–US boundary]] in [[Washington state]] and unceded [[British Columbia]] in the [[Okanagan Country]] region.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Lozar |first=Patrick |date=2018-07-01 |title="My Home Is on Both Sides": Indigenous Communities and the US-Canadian Border on the Columbia Plateau, 1880s–1910s |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00141801-4451374 |journal=Ethnohistory |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=391–415 |doi=10.1215/00141801-4451374 |issn=0014-1801}}</ref> They are part of the [[Interior Salish]] ethnological and linguistic grouping.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Noonan |first1=Michael |last2=Mattina |first2=Anthony |date=June 1989 |title=Colville-Okanagan Dictionary |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/415365 |journal=Language |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=433 |doi=10.2307/415365 |jstor=415365 |issn=0097-8507}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Peacock |first=Sandra L. |date=February 2008 |title=From complex to simple: balsamroot, inulin, and the chemistry of traditional Interior Salish pit-cooking technologyThis paper was submitted for the Special Issue on Ethnobotany, inspired by the Ethnobotany Symposium organized by Alain Cuerrier, Montréal Botanical Garden, and held in Montréal at the 2006 annual meeting of the Canadian Botanical Association/l'Association Botanique du Canada. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b07-111 |journal=Botany |volume=86 |issue=2 |pages=116–128 |doi=10.1139/b07-111 |issn=1916-2790}}</ref> The SyilxOkanagan are closely related to the [[Spokan]], [[Sinixt]], [[Nez Perce tribe|Nez Perce]], [[Pend d'Oreilles (tribe)|Pend Oreille]], [[Secwepemc]] and [[Nlaka'pamux]] [[Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau|peoples of the same Northwest Plateau region]].<ref name=":1" />

At the height of Okanagan Syilx culture, about 3000 years ago, it is estimated that 12,000 people lived in this valley and surrounding areas. The Syilx employed an adaptive strategy, moving within traditional areas throughout the year to fish, hunt, or collect food, while in the winter months, they lived in semi-permanent [[villages]] of [[Quiggly hole|kekulis]], a type of pithouse.<ref>{{cite book

When the [[Oregon Treaty]] partitioned the [[Pacific Northwest]] in 1846, the portion of the tribe remaining in what became [[Washington Territory]] reorganized under [[Tonasket|Chief Tonasket]] as a separate group from the majority of the Syilx, whose communities remain in Canada.<ref name=":1" /> The Okanagan Tribal Alliance, however, incorporates the American branch of the Syilx. The latter are part of the [[Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation|Confederated Tribes of the Colville]], a multi-tribal government in Washington state.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dulic |first1=Aleksandra |last2=Thorogood |first2=Miles |last3=Sam |first3=Marlowe |last4=Correia |first4=Maria |last5=Alexis |first5=Sarah |last6=Armstrong |first6=Jeanette |date=2023-11-20 |title=Okanagan Waterways Past, Present and Future: Approaching Sustainability through Immersive Museum Exhibition |journal=Sustainability |volume=15 |issue=22 |pages=16109 |doi=10.3390/su152216109 |doi-access=free |issn=2071-1050}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gooding |first=Susan Staiger |date=1994 |title=Place, Race, and Names: Layered Identities in United States v. Oregon, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Plaintiff-Intervenor |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3054027 |journal=Law & Society Review |volume=28 |issue=5 |pages=1181–1229 |doi=10.2307/3054027 |jstor=3054027 |issn=0023-9216}}</ref>

The bounds of Syilx territory are roughly the basin of [[Okanagan Lake]] and the [[Okanagan River]], plus the basin of the [[Similkameen River]] to the west of the [[Okanagan|Okanagan valley]], and some of the uppermost valley of the [[Nicola River]]. The various Syilx communities in [[British Columbia]] and [[Washington (state)|Washington]] form the [[Okanagan Nation Alliance]], a border-spanning organization which includes American-side Syilx residents in the [[Colville Indian Reservation]], where the Syilx are sometimes known as Colvilles.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Terbasket |first=Pauline |date=2019-08-25 |title=Syilx Perspective on Original Foods: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2019.091.016 |journal=Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |pages=1–6 |doi=10.5304/jafscd.2019.091.016 |issn=2152-0801|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":1" />

The [[Upper Nicola Indian Band]], a Syilx group of the [[Nicola Country|Nicola Valley]], which was at the northwestern perimeter of Okanagan territory, are known in their dialect as the [[Spaxomin]], and are joint members in a historic alliance with neighbouring communities of the [[Nlaka'pamux]] in the region known as the [[Nicola River|Nicola Country]], which is named after the 19th-century chief who founded the alliance, [[Nicola (chief)|Nicola]]. This alliance today is manifested in the [[Nicola Tribal Association]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nicholas |first=George P. |date=2006 |title=Decolonizing the Archaeological Landscape: The Practice and Politics of Archaeology in British Columbia |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/aiq.2006.0031 |journal=The American Indian Quarterly |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=350–380 |doi=10.1353/aiq.2006.0031 |issn=1534-1828}}</ref>

The language of the Syilx people is NsyilxcənNsyilxcn. "Syilx" is at the root of the language name NsyilxcənNsyilxcn, surrounded by a prefix and suffixcircumfix indicating a language.<ref>Johnson, M. K. (2012). k^sup w^u_sq^sup w^a?q^sup w^a?álx (we begin to speak): Our journey within nsyilxcnNsyilxcn (okanaganOkanagan) language revitalization. ''Canadian Journal of Native Education, 35''(1), 79.</ref> NsyilxcənWhen writing Nsyilxcn, no capital letters are used.<ref>{{Cite web |last=reporter |first=Athena Bonneau, Local Journalism Initiative |date=2021-07-24 |title=Penticton Museum's new exhibit honours four Syilx language keepers |url=https://indiginews.com/okanagan/penticton-museum-exhibit-honours-syilx-language-keepers |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=IndigiNews |language=en-US}}</ref> Nsyilxcn is an Interior Salish language that is spoken across the Canadian[[Canada–United and U.S.A.States border]] in the regions of southern British Columbia and northern Washington.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Sʔímlaʔx Michele K. |date=November 2017 |title=Syilx Language House: How and Why We Are Delivering 2,000 Decolonizing Hours in Nsyilxcn |journal=Canadian Modern Language Review |volume=73 |issue=4 |pages=509–537 |doi=10.3138/cmlr.4040 |s2cid=149072885 |issn=0008-4506}}</ref> This language is currently endangered and has only 50 fluent speakers remaining.<ref name=":0" />

*[[Okanagan Nation Alliance]]<ref>'''[[Okanagan language|Syilx (Okanagan) Language]] Names:''' Upper Nicola Band. “Syilx"Syilx Place Names".” Facebook, October 5, 2020. [https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1057161971367609 https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1057161971367609].</ref>

**[[Westbank First Nation]] (Westbank) (t''Tqłəníw̓tqłəníw̓t/Sn̓qatqłəníw̓tsn̓qatqłəníw̓t'')

**[[Lower Similkameen Indian Band]] (Keremeos) (n̓''N̓iʔxʷín̓aʔiʔxʷín̓aʔ'')

**[[Upper Similkameen Indian Band]] (Keremeos) (t''Tk̓r̓miw̓sk̓r̓miw̓s'')

**[[Osoyoos Indian Band]] (s''Swiw̓swiw̓s'')

**[[Penticton Indian Band]] (s''Sn̓pin̓tktn̓n̓pin̓tktn̓'')

**[[Okanagan Indian Band]] (Vernon) (n̓''N̓k̓maplqsk̓maplqs'')

**[[Upper Nicola Indian Band]] (Douglas Lake) - also part of the [[Nicola Tribal Association]] (s''Spax̌mn̓pax̌mn̓'')