Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
April 5, 2003
Page 9
THE CONFEDERATED TRIBES LANGUAGE LESSON
Learner's Corner
Over the many past weeks we have examined the action words see, go, sing, and dance. This has given us a good look at what patterns form as we express different
subjects (I, you, we, etc.). In this, and the next, issue we will look at two new action words. Practice what you have learned already. By now, you might even be able
to do some of these exercises without any English answer translation!
Kiksht
(Wasq'u)
Numu
(Paiute)
Ichishkiin
(Sahaptin)
3 Z
go
1edi
walk
go
sogomea
mea
walk
go
tkw'anaitisha
winasha
Sentences
1 L
Sentenced
Sentences
See if you can recognize the action word (remem
ber the "sandwich" idea) in the following few
sentences. Then try and practice it your knowl
edge below:
Itgaqwit inuya skulyamt.
Alma itgaqwit anuya skulyamt.
Itgaqwit nanuya skulyamt.
You probably recognized skulyamt ("to school"),
but did you pick out the action word? What is it
saying? Copy it down and try to pull it apart
before you look at the answer here:
inuya
i n u ya
few hours past I near time go
went (just recently)
anuya
a n u ya
future I far time go
will go
nanuya
na n u ya
several months past I near time go ,
went (a few months ago)
Now, see if you can translate these English sen
tencesfragments into Kiksht:
You will go
Remember that Numu has similar structure to
English, but different habits and word order. Sub
jects and objects are expressed in a like manner to
English (with a single word, rather than a helper
phrase glued to another word), but the logical
phrasing order is: subject-object-verb. (See past
issues for reviews of this.)
Nu nasekooodukwitoo sogome'a.
I school-to walk.
walk to school.
Nu nasekoodukwitoo sogomeano'o.
I school-to walking.
am walking to school.
Nu nasekoodukwitoo sogomeokwe.
I school-to will walk.
will walk to school.
Trv and translate these three English sentences:
You walk to school.
You may have noticed by now that the communi
cation of subject and object follow a fairly
straight-forward formula. In fact, this formula is
even easier than that of English. The first word of
an Ichishkiin sentence generally tells you who the
subject is. (The special case is when talking
about he, she, or they. In that case, this action
word tells us if it is he, she, or they.) Now, let's
start with a few example sentences using what
you already have learned about tenses
(past,present, and future):
Tkw'anaitmshnash ai sapsikw'atpamayau.
Tkw'anait msh nash ai sapsikw'atpama yau
walk past 1 to, for school towards, to
walked to school.
Tkw'aninash sapsikw'atpamayau.
Tkw'ani nash sapsikw'atpama yau
walk 1 school towards, to
I am walking to school.
Tt'nash tkw'anaitita sapsikw'atpamayau.
1' I nash tkw'anaiti ta sapsikw'atpama yau
emphasis 1 walk future school towards, to
I will walk to school.
try' and translate these six English sentences:
You will walk to school.
went to work. '"
, '. ft. I
1
r-vi
You went (a year or more ago)
They walk to school. m
lam going ftc ::?rfc
Hi
You walked (went on foot) to school.
They will .walk to school.
I will go U
JF
How do you think you did? Use the past Issues of
Spilyay to help you out. When you are done, call
the Kiksht team within the Language Program
(553-3575) on Fridays end see how you Cif
.'IT
We are walking to school.
VAkw CUaiiM I I m lileht? r
(Taken from Wasq'u Itfawacha, a newletter produced bv the
' Kiksht languczi team. ,f
sr
3b
f , Why should I learn this language? It doesn't help me
get a job! It doesn't he!? me get money out b th ba? (or
put it in). It Isn't u::d by anyone today' -Thsse ar innocent "
questions that tti youth are asking toay. And we feel it's
our obligation to shsre the Importance of our; language with
the youth. t v , , ' : -
Keep In mind tst only a small percentage of children
ask these questions. And according to a survey Mrs. Graham
shared with us that the majority of parents (over 80) are in
favor of their children learning a language. Over 70 of the
Hich School students surveyed believe langauge is Important
to them.
One way we try to answer these questions Is to share
the history of our people and their displacement over a
century ago. That if it had not been the unique relationship
shared between our government and the U.S. government
that we would not have a place to call our own as we do
today. We gave up our claim to the land inherently ours to
the government for the white settlers that were coming to
the area. It was because of our uniqueness that urged the
government to make a treaty with us. ,
, We had our own langauge, government, Inherent land
base, customs, and religious beliefs. If we should start giving
up these characteristics, what would make us different from
those around us? We don't claim to answer all the questions
the kids ask, but if you have ideas that can add to these,
please feel free to jot them down and send them to us, or call
553-3575. . .
We will walk to school.
Are you goinntiy
I will go to the school.
, Compare what you w; tp '
and thank you for tz:j t::.z
Howcaycuc
When you've finished, ask around to compare your
answers. Feel free to call the Language Program,
especially on Fridays, and ask your Numu language
team for the right answers and see how you did!
(553-3575) What is more important than getting
them right is making the effort. Thank you for
taking time for the precious activity of language
study.
'Answers:
Winaniash kutkutpemcyau.
Winashaash kutkutpamayau.
, Tt'nash winata kutkutpamayau.
Mishnam winana" kutkutpamayau. . , ,
Mishnam winasha' kutkutpamayau. ,
Mishnam winata kutkutpamayau. l: