[3][4][5][6] It is believed by some elders within the Skokomish community (such as Bruce Subiyay Miller) that the language branched off from Lushootseed (a neighboring related Coast Salish language) because of the region-wide tradition of not speaking the name of someone who died for a year after their death.
Subiyay speculated that this process increased the drift rate between languages and separated Twana firmly from Lushootseed.
[citation needed] The last fluent speaker died in 1980.
[1][2] The Skokomish Indian Tribe released an online Twana dictionary in 2020,[3] and the language is currently being revived.
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