Klallam Classified Word List

This word list contains 2642 English items with nearly 3500 Klallam words written in the Klallam alphabet. Around 1000 of these words are associated with sound files. Click on a word and you may hear the Klallam word pronounced by native speakers Ed Sampson, Tom Charles, Adeline Smith, or Bea Charles. Occasionally you may hear a word pronounced by a non-native speaker.

A version of this list was first posted in 1999. This completely revised 2009 version is based on the Klallam Dictionary. Every word has been checked and rechecked for accuracy of transcription and meaning. Many of the English items have multiple Klallam words associated with them. There are some fine distinctions of meaning in Klallam that cannot be explained in a simple word list like this. The forthcoming dictionary will have full definitions and many example sentences that will make these meaning differences clear.

There are many more words in the Klallam language than are presented here. This list presents basic words in their most basic forms that match the meaning of the English word given in the list.

The organization of this list is based on a word list for northwest languages designed in the 1970's by Aert Kuipers and Randy Bouchard. It has been modified to match the Saanich word list published in 1991.