Nooksack Place Names: Geography, Culture, and Language

Place names convey a people's relationship to the land, their sense of place. For indigenous peoples, place names can also be central to the revival of endangered languages. This book takes readers on a voyage into the history, language, and culture of the Nooksack people of Washington State and southern British Columbia as it documents more than 150 places named by elders and mentioned in key historical texts. Descriptions of Nooksack history and naming patterns - with maps, photographs, and linguistic analyses - give life to a nearly extinct language and illuminate the intertwined relationships of place, culture, language, and identity. Read more