Salish Root Project

In this series, I’m showing how vowels work in Salish.

But not in the usual way.

In English, vowels mostly help form the word.

In Salish, the vowel helps show:

how something begins
how it takes shape
how it becomes real

The structure stays the same.

Only the vowel changes.

And when the vowel changes, the experience changes.

Some feel:

natural
effortful
immediate
gradual

This video is one part 1 of a 6-day series.

Watch this one today, then come back tomorrow and notice how the next one feels different.

Bonus word

x̌sip — it finally starts after effort

CTA
If you want to see how this connects across the language:

🌿 patreon.com/SalishRadical
🌿 salishradical.com

💬 Which one do you think would feel the most natural?

Did you know Cinco de Mayo isn’t actually Mexican Independence Day? 😄

In the United States it became a huge commercial holiday for restaurants, bars, shopping, and party culture.

Meanwhile, in Salish:

sclčstasq̓t l̓ sp̓eƛ̓m spq̓ni
“The fifth day of the Bitterroot Moon.”

And to the relatives:

x̌cm̓ncutš mšʕ x̌ʷaq̓ʷntxʷ anpecʕ̓ ɬu kʷqs x̌ecty t sp̓eƛ̓m

“Get prepared, sharpen your bitterroot digger.”

That’s the real seasonal holiday announcement 😂

I love this phrase because:
x̌cm̓ncutš (“prepare yourself”)
and
x̌ect (“dig roots”)

come from the same root.

x̌c, prepare, make ready

Preparation itself is understood through root digging and seasonal readiness.

The land told you what time it was.

ha kʷ ʕpɬkʷtunt sx̌lx̌alt l̓ sp̓eƛ̓m spq̓ni?
Do you have a holiday or seasonal tradition in May?

The final video in the -p intro series is up, focusing on -up.

This form has a really interesting feeling in Salish.

A lot of the words carry the sense that:

the condition emerges from within itself.

Not externally caused.
Not simply initiated by someone.

More like:

darkness settling naturally
snow beginning
water flowing
a sudden springing movement

It’s a very different way of viewing how things begin.

The whole series has been building toward this:

base
foundation
entry into condition
establishment
emergence from within

I’m really happy with how this series came together.

Bonus words 🌊

mʕʷup (often written moóp, and sometimes shortened to just moó) — something became flowing

This word quietly hints at something bigger that’s coming later in the pharyngeals series.

Outside of my work, many learners only encounter forms like:

moóp
or simply moó

But beneath those spellings is:

mʕʷup

And once you begin seeing that structure, a really interesting question starts forming:

Why does the word use -up in the initial form…

but then in all the flowing forms afterward, the language returns to:

-p

Like:

ʕs mʕʷpmisty — it is flowing
ʕs nmʕʷpmisty — it is flowing inside
ʕs čmʕʷpmisty — it is flowing down/on something
ʕs k̓ʷɬmʕʷpmisty — it is flowing out of something

That’s where the deeper structure starts becoming visible.

The initial emergence happens through:

-up — the condition arising from itself

Then the language shifts back to:

-p — the base condition from which all the developed flowing states continue.

That pattern matters.

And it opens the door toward understanding both:

the vowel system
and the pharyngeals underneath many modern spellings.

What patterns have you started noticing now that you’re seeing these forms connected together?

🌿 Support the ongoing research and document work:
patreon.com/SalishRadical

Video 6 in the -p series is up, focusing on -ip.

This is probably the most familiar and common form in the whole family.

A lot of everyday words use it:

ƛ̓lip — stop
x̌lip — it became light
t̓lip — it tore
wlip — it caught fire

What’s interesting is that -ip isn’t just “beginning.”

The deeper pattern is:

entering a condition and arriving into the resulting state.

So with:
x̌lip
it’s not simply “light started.”

It’s:

the world entered into light.

That’s a very different feeling.

Bonus word🌌

čsx̌lip — all night; in pursuit of the day

This word carries a beautiful feeling.

Not simply “nighttime,” but:

remaining awake through the night, moving toward the coming of light.

x̌l — clear, open, light
-ip — entering into a new condition
čs- — directed or purposeful orientation

So the form carries the sense of:

staying within the night while moving toward the arrival of day.

ʕs čsx̌lpmisty
S/he is staying up all night.

The language frames it almost as:

holding oneself in the unfolding approach of light.

Can you think of a moment where you realized:
“things are different now”?

🌿 Support the ongoing research and document work:
patreon.com/SalishRadical

For May the 4th / Star Wars Day, I made a short video connecting the idea of “the Force” to a Salish root that I think gets surprisingly close conceptually.

The root is:

sw — “stay aligned with”

From this root come familiar words like:
• sew — ask; ascertain using the senses
• sewnt — “Ask it.”
• swmeš — spiritual or medicine power

Many people know the word swmeš, but don’t realize it comes from this deeper idea of sustained alignment and relation.

One of my favorite examples is:
sewɬkʷ — water

People often connect it only with “ask,” but it’s deeper than that. Water embodies flowing alignment — sensing, adjusting, remaining in relation with the world around it.

There are also forms like:
• sewnʕ̓ — hear, listen, obey
• sewčs — ascertain with the hand
• sewšn — ascertain with the foot

All connected through the same hidden root structure.

That’s one of the things the Salish Root Project is trying to reveal: words that seem unrelated in English are often deeply connected underneath.

What familiar Salish word changed meaning for you once you learned the root behind it?

Video 5 in the -p series is up, focusing on -ep.

This vowel form has a really grounded feeling to it.

A lot of the words connect to:

roots
foundations
entrances
following behind
primal or foundational positions

One of the clearest examples is:

sʕʷx̌ʷep — root

Not just a root as an object, but:

that which forms the foundational beginning beneath.

Another one I really like:

snč̓mep — the entrance/front side of a structure

Again, the feeling is:

the foundational point where entry begins.

This is one of those forms where you can really start feeling how Salish organizes experience spatially and structurally.

What places or experiences help you feel grounded or connected?

🌿 Support the ongoing research and document work:
patreon.com/SalishRadical


Bonus word

ʕwtep — follow; be behind

A following position grounded in relation to another.

Today is World Laughter Day, and I wanted to share one of my favorite Salish roots.

The root is ʕʷy.

People translate it as “laugh,” but it also means things like “thaw” or “unfreeze.”

At a deeper level, the root describes something held, frozen, restrained, or inward suddenly releasing into movement, warmth, openness, and expression.

That is why laughing and thawing belong together in the language.

A face opening into laughter.
Frozen berries softening into movement.
Tension melting away.
People warming up together.

The language is not grouping words by English categories. It is grouping them through shared lived patterns.

BONUS WORD:
čn nkʷɬʕʷyncutm l̓ islax̌t — I laughed together with my friend

Honestly, that may be one of the best forms in the whole set.

What is something recently that made you genuinely laugh with someone?

— Salish Root Project
Tachini

Video 4 in the -p series is up, focusing on the vowel form -ap.

This form often carries the feeling that a condition has become noticeable, significant, or clearly active.

Not just “beginning” in a quiet way…

but:

entering a condition strongly enough that it stands out.

Some examples:

water boiling
something becoming hard
something cooling off
movement becoming active

The language is paying attention to the quality of emergence.

That’s what I find fascinating about these vowel forms. They don’t just change sound—they change orientation and experience.

Bonus word

ʕs x̌ʕpulʕ̓xʷy
“A cool breeze is blowing along the ground.”

This comes from x̌aʕ — cool, moving air — but the added form -ulʕ̓xʷ brings the meaning down to the land or ground surface. Here, -p shows the coolness beginning to establish as a felt condition. So this is not just “it got cool.” It is the felt movement of cool air traveling along the ground.

Can you think of a moment where a change became unmistakably real?

🌿 Support the ongoing research and document work:
patreon.com/SalishRadical

Video 3 in the -p series is up.

This one is the overview of the vowel forms:

-ap
-ep
-ip
-up

What’s fascinating is that the base idea stays connected, but each vowel changes how the beginning is experienced.

A few examples:

something noticeably coming into condition
something taking root or foundation
something resolving into a result
something beginning from its own carried condition

The language is organizing experience in different ways through the vowels.

That’s where things really started opening up for me.

Bonus word

ʕs ʕʷx̌ʷx̌ʷepy — the roots are growing.

Literally:

It is getting strung out at the base.

Which vowel form makes the most intuitive sense to you so far?

🌿 Support the ongoing research and document work:
patreon.com/SalishRadical

This is Video 2 in the -p series.

This one keeps exploring the idea that -p is not just “beginning,” but a base condition that something returns to, grows from, or becomes established in.

One of the words I talk about is:

pisp — to get restored; re-established in a grounded condition.

This is one of those words that opened a lot for me over time.

At first glance, English might translate it as “restore” or “revive.” But the deeper feeling is more structural:

something had become deviated, disturbed, disconnected, or out of alignment…
and then it returned to a condition where it could hold properly again.

There’s that old story where Fox revives Coyote:

čɬk̓ʷit̓šlš šʕ pispys kʷʕƛ̓ep
“Fox hopped over and revived Coyote.”

But even there, the word isn’t simply “brought back to life.”

It’s:

restoring someone into a grounded state again.

That’s a very different way of seeing restoration.
Bonus word

pispm — restore someone/something

What’s your sense of the difference between “fixing” something and “restoring” it?

🌿 Support the ongoing research and document work:
patreon.com/SalishRadical

Started a new short video series today on the Salish suffix -p.

At first it looks simple — “beginning” or “start.”
But the deeper you look, the more you realize it’s really about the base something begins from.

Tree trunks.
Roots.
Stopping.
Snow starting.
Things becoming light.

They’re all connected through this same structural idea.

This first video is laying the foundation before moving into the vowel forms.

Bonus phrase

ʕs mx̌ʷpmisty — It is snowing.

Not just weather happening — the condition is unfolding and continuing.

I’ve been building these videos alongside the documents and research work for the Salish Root Project.

If you’d like to support the work or follow the deeper research:
👉 patreon.com/SalishRadical

Walking Through Pink Blossoms (in Salish)

ʕacc̓x̌nty ɬy ʕ u čnʕs xʷisty.
All of you watch this—I’m walking.

č̓ šey̓ y čhnhen l̓ ʕsšit̓…
to those pinks on the trees…

sčc̓ʕc̓ʕk̓ʷeɬp… blossoms.
hayo x̌sx̌est ɬyhʕ̓… wow, it’s really nice here.

This is how Salish works.
Not translation first—experience first.

Come walk with me.

🌐 salishradical.com
🤝 Support the work: patreon.com/SalishRadical
☕ buymeacoffee.com/salishradical