Okanagan, or Colville-Okanagan, or Nsyilxcən (n̓səl̓xcin̓, n̓syilxčn̓), is a Salish language which arose among the Indigenous peoples of the southern Interior Plateau region based primarily in the Okanagan River Basin and the Columbia River Basin in precolonial times in Canada and the United States.

Following British, American, and Canadian colonization during the 1800s and the subsequent assimilation of all Salishan tribes, the use of Colville-Okanagan declined drastically.

Colville-Okanagan is highly endangered, is rarely learned as a first language, but is being learned as a second language by more than 40 adults and 35 children in the City of Spokane, Washington, and by several dozen adults on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington State and among Okanagan people in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia.

About 50 deeply fluent first-language speakers of Colville-Okanagan Salish remain, the majority of whom live in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia.

Historically, Colville-Okanagan originated from a language which was spoken in the Columbia River Basin and is now termed Proto Southern Interior Salish.

As a result of the initial expansion of Colville-Okanagan prior to European contact, the language developed three separate dialects: Colville, Okanagan, and Lakes.

Colville-Okanagan was an exclusively oral form of communication until the late 19th century, when priests and linguists began transcribing the language for word lists, dictionaries, grammars, and translations.

As described in an Indiginews article, "In an egalitarian society, capitalization insinuates there is something that holds more importance over another, and that does not fall in line with syilx ethics".

Revitalization efforts for Colville-Okanagan in the United States include instruction for children and intensive programs for training new adult speakers.

However, concentrated efforts are made on the part of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation to promote language preservation.

Among the activities in which the Confederation takes part are allocating funds both local and federal for cultural preservation projects.

P-6 classrooms are 100% n̓səl̓xčin̓ immersion classes in which the language of instruction is n̓səl̓xčin and math, literacy, science, art, music and physical education are taught in n̓səl̓xčin.

Another 16 adults, parents of SSOS students, participate in paid afternoon and evening n̓səlxčin̓ fluency track training.

All SSOS parents commit to completing at least 60 hours of n̓səl̓xčin̓ language classes per year in order for their children to be eligible to attend the school.

[6][7] Salish School of Spokane makes a point of not falling into the trap of monopolizing teaching resources.

Unlike Walsh's examples of tribes opting to not share materials, Salish School maintains a variety of audio resources and curricula to advance Colville-Okanagan revitalization.

The Salish School works alongside organizations such as the Paul Creek Language Association, a nonprofit based in British Columbia, on the N̓səl̓xcin̓ Curriculum Project.

The project is spearheaded by Christopher Parkin, and is translated primarily by the fluent elder Sarah Peterson, with the additional help of Hazel Abrahamson and Herman Edwards.

The participation of native speakers ensures clear meaning and high fidelity to the Okanagan language.

[9] To encourage interest in teaching vocations, the En'owkin places a strong emphasis on its various certification programs.

The Certificate of Aboriginal Language Revitalization is offered in the En'owkin Centre and is taught by linguist Maxine Baptiste.

[10] Additionally, the Centre also offers a certification to become a Certified Early Childhood Education Assistant which is in partnership with Nicola Valley Institute of Technology.

The certificate does not qualify one to teach at the secondary level, but does ensure employability in daycare and pre-K.[10] The strategy behind these two certificates ensures that potential teachers have easy access to college credits from centers of higher learning like the University of Victoria, and potential education assistants can be involved in the education of children, thus establishing fluency in Okanagan early on.

[12] In this program, participants spend 2000 hours over four years learning nsyilxcen via a variety of different teaching methods, regular assessments, frequent visits from Elders, and full immersion.

It is designed to work closely with the community to provide comprehensive and high-quality education and to promote new, fluent speakers with a deep understanding of the language, culture, and customs.

It is a head-marking language that relies mostly on grammatical information being placed directly on the predicate by means of affixes and clitics.

The combination of derivational and inflectional suffixes and prefixes that are added onto the stem words make for a compact language.

(I write it [for myself]) The -x(i)t- ditransitive affix shares all of the features of -ɬt- with the sole exception that it requires a clitic to be attached to front of the verb stem.

Finally, the oblique ‘t' may be used to mark functions including time and instrument: kənItxamcombtOBLsx̌əx̌c'iˀstickkən txam t sx̌əx̌c'iˀI comb OBL stick"I combed my hair with a stick" [17]‘t' may also coincide with the determiner ‘iʔ' in the case of instrumentals and passive agents: tʕapəntísshoot-DIR-3SG.ERG[iʔDET[tOBLswlwlmínk]gun].

k̓əl incitxʷ "To my house" (there specifically) Verbs may react in a number of different ways when a suffix is attached to the root stem of the word.