This book (and recordings) teaches the words and sentence structure of the Hul̓q̓umín̓um̓ language. Hul̓q̓umín̓um̓ is one of the twenty-three Salishan languages spoken in British Columbia and the United States. It is a Coast Salish language. Other Coast Salish languages include Comox, Sechelt, Squamish, and Straits (Saanich, Songish, Lummi). There are three principal dialect areas of Hul̓q̓umín̓um̓: Upriver (or Stalo), spoken in the Chilliwack vicinity; Downriver, spoken in Musqueam; and Island. There are several sub-dialects within Island Hul̓q̓umín̓um̓, including Nanoose, Nanaimo, Chemainus, and Cowichan. This book focuses on data from the first three of these sub-dialects.

The sound system of Hul̓q̓umín̓um̓, the orthography (writing system), and many vocabulary items a retaught in a companion text book, Hul̓q̓umín̓um̓ Phonics. This book, ‘i’ lhe’ xwulmuxuqun is intended to help teach the language to beginners or to experienced speakers by explaining the meaning and grammatical usage of each word and the sentence structure of the language…

…We hope you will enjoy working through this book and that it will help you to read, write, and speak Hul̓q̓umín̓um̓. Moreover, we hope that it will help you to understand the words of your elders. 

The PDF below shows the text of the book only. To access the recordings associated with the text please open the link above.