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Quileute is a group, currently numbering approximately 750, of Native American peoples from westernWashington state in the United States. The Quileute people settled onto reservation lands after signing a treaty with the former Washington Territory in 1855. The reservation's main population lives in La Push, Washington. The Quileute tribe linguistically belongs to the Chimakuan family of languages among Northwest Coast indigenous peoples. The Quileute language is one of a kind, as the only related aboriginal people to the Quileute, the Chemakum, were wiped out by Chief Seattle and the Suquamish people during the 1860s. The Quileute language is one of only five known languages to not have any nasal sounds (m, n). Like many Northwest Coast natives, the Quileute relied on fishing from local rivers and the Pacific Ocean for food and built plank houses (longhouses) to protect themselves from the harsh, wet winters west of the Cascade Mountains. The Quileutes, along with the Makah people, were once great whalers.
Phonology Quileute has three vowels, , long and short, as well as which only occurs long. Stress is historically penultimate, though this has become somewhat obscured and is no longer predictable. It has the following consonants ( and are rare): See also | ||||||||
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