Kathlamet texts


Title Cover Image: Kathlamet texts

Published in 1901 by pioneering anthropologist Franz Boas, Kathlamet Texts is a foundational ethnographic compilation of the myths, legends, and cultural narratives of the Kathlamet Chinookan people of the lower Columbia River. Working closely with Charles Cultee, one of the final fluent speakers of the nearly extinct language, Boas meticulously recorded these oral traditions using rigorous phonetic transcriptions alongside literal English translations. A keen insight drawn from the work is how the complex syntax and untranslatable idioms preserved in these bilingual texts vividly demonstrate Boas's foundational theory of linguistic relativity, proving that the nuanced Kathlamet worldview was inextricably bound to the specific structure of their language. Consequently, the book stands not merely as a collection of folklore, but as a critical act of linguistic salvage that permanently secured the grammatical and cultural heritage of a vanishing Pacific Northwest civilization.

Author(s): Franz Boas
Document: Book · Hardcover · ONLINE CIRC [ 1 ]
Edition: 1st Edition
Published: 1901
Physical Description: 261 pages : portraits ; 30 cm
Genre: Texts
Notes:

57th Cong., 2d sess. House. Doc. no. 456

Contents:

Myths Tales Abstracts of myths Abstracts of tales

Subjects:

Cathlamet dialect, Cathlamet dialect Texts, Kathlamet (Dialecte) Textes, Texts

 

Circulation

Here are a list of places where this title can be found and the various formats it can be found in.

Collection Resource Available Edition Published Publisher
Internet Archive: Books Book Digital 1st Edition 1901 Washington : Government Printing Office 1901

 

Last updated: 2026-09-13