Previous analyses have made insightful progress on how Lushootseed functions primarily based upon elicitation work and morphosyntactic observations. Much of this work is based upon a structural linguistic analysis. For years, this form of analysis has been the primary way Lushootseed has been presented and these insights have been helpful in understanding how Lushootseed functions. Indeed, much of what has been said about Lushootseed on this level is the basis for my analysis in this dissertation. However, there are elements of Lushootseed that do not fit well within this more traditional frame work and are not fully understood through just a structural linguistic analysis. This includes morphological elements, such as: the functions of the s- ‘nominalizer’; ʔu-, previously analyzed as a perfective marker; and =əxʷ, previously analyzed as marking a change of state. In addition, previous analysis on the diachronic Salish passive construction does not hold as a synchronic passive among four Central Salish languages. The methodology in this dissertation examines natural speech patterns and leans towards analyzing morphosyntactic elements in terms of focus and discourse marking. When certain Lushootseed constructions are analyzed using this approach, their distributions have promising results.