Okanagan language

Okanagan, Colville-Okanagan, or Nsyilxcən (n̓səl̓xcin̓ or n̓syilxčn̓) is a Salish language that originated among the Indigenous peoples of the southern Interior Plateau. It was primarily spoken in the Okanagan and Columbia River basins of present-day Canada and the United States in the precolonial era. Following British, American, and Canadian colonization during the 19th century and the subsequent forced assimilation of Salishan tribes, the use of the language declined significantly.

Colville-Okanagan is considered highly endangered. Approximately 50 fluent first language speakers remain, the majority of whom reside in British Columbia. The language is currently classified as moribund, with no first language speakers under the age of 50. Despite this, Colville-Okanagan remains the second-most spoken Salish language after Shuswap. Although it is rarely acquired as a first language, it is currently being learned as a second language by more than 40 adults and 35 children in Spokane, Washington, as well as by dozens of adults on the Colville Indian Reservation and within the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia.