The Suquamish dialect of Lushootseed falls under the Salish Family of languages. Lushootseed is the language spoken by the Native tribes throughout the Puget Sound Watershed. At one time, there was a distinct dialect for each family within a tribe, however through reservation relocation, meaning the act which put all villages of a tribe onto one segment of land; these dialects for the most part have disappeared. What remains are two recognized dialects, consisting of Northern Lushootseed spoken by the Snohomish, Swinomish of the Skagit river and Whidbey Island and the Sauk-Suiattle of the Sauk River and Suiattle River tribes, and Southern Lushootseed, spoken by the Skykomish, Snoqualmie, Steilacoom, Suquamish, Duwamish, Puyallup, Nisqually, Sahewamish, and Muckleshoot from Green and White River tribes.   Due to the Assimilation through Education Acts, all Lushootseed dialects are on the verge of extinction.

Under the Assimilation through Education Acts, Native American children were rounded up by representatives of the U.S. Government and sent to live at boarding schools established for the sole purpose of assimilating them into non-native American society as second class citizens. Among other rules established to demolish Native American cultures, children were not allowed to speak their tribal language in class, or in private. Anyone caught doing so was subject to minor or severe punishments including slaps on the face, or burning of the tongue. This system proved successful, as there are only a handful of tribal elders from the Puget Sound area who can still speak or understand Lushootseed fluently.

In an effort to preserve this beautiful language, numerous Puget Sound tribes have created Lushootseed programs and classes available to tribal members and others from the community who work to keep it alive. In the past decade, the hard work of what the Tribe calls “Keepers of the Language” or “Language Carriers” has resulted in the ability of at least two dozen community members who have the ability to carry on a basic conversation in Lushootseed, with a handful who are considered fluent enough to teach the Language at an introductory and intermediate level, where before there were only a few fluent elders who have now passed on.