June 26. 2003
THE CONFEDERATED TRIBES LANGUAGE LESSON
Learner's Corner
Kiksht
. Tai itukdi, alqalma y
avamaelalava. 'nS
Try practicing your Kiksht language as you
answer the phone-impress your friends, your
Elders, and maybe even yourself! There is
never a bad time to use Kiksht.
Spilyay Tymoo, Wsrm Springs, Oregon
yanuxa Juy i,
A fed
Awawatbama
'd like to speak with Judy.
Thank you. Good-bye
Hello, this is the "Culture and Heritage Depart
ment". May I help you?
Itukdi wigwa dauda
r. .Ij.. o i i
uunure ot neniaye
riant ona rhi
LVpi, CIU Will
ayamgenxudinma?
Kaya dika akiax
She is not here.
Here is an incomplete break-down of this
sentence:
Kaxsh gnuxt wawa anuxa Judy
well for me talk I'm doing
As you see, Wasq'u and English are
noticably different. As we've seen before,
Kiksht action words (such as anuxa) are
formed in layers, working from the inside out.
As you become familiar with the "trimmings",
or the outter parts of these action words, it
will be easier and easier to recognize what is
in the middle and what the word means! In
this example, the first and last a tell us a little
about when the action of doing is taking place
(i.e. now) and the n tells us that I am doing.
chishkiin
Here is a quick conversation in Ichishkiin. Try
this with your family and Elders! If language
becomes part of your daily life it becomes
much easier to pick up!
Asamxnatat'ashaash
Judy-na.
'Sti
iCfJP Ring...
rKumish. Kw'ata ) (y
iiau!!
a
I'd like to speak with Judy.
Hello, this is the "Culture and Heritage Depart
ment". May I help you?
D( Ai!! Chi iwa "Culture ) X Au, chau iwa chna.
and Heritage Depart- ( f
f ment". Mishnam? ) V ( )
She is not here.
; . , Thank you. Good-bye,
Let's take a closer look at the sentence
"Asamxnatat'ashaash Judy-na." Do you know
where these meanings come up: I and like to
speak with?
As we've talked about before, the subject
of a sentence (in this case, I) shows up at the
end of an action word. If you see or hear a
word ending in -ash (for I) or -nam (for you),
these are clues.
Asamxnatat'asha -ash Judy -na
to look for I to-Judy
to wish to speak with
Nunniu
Let's use Numu everywhere, even on phone
conversations! Here is a simple conversa
tion. Give it a try on your friends, Elders, or
even the Culture & Heritage Department!
Above all else, let's keep Numu in use.
Nu ka Judyno
soodyadoo'a
Yadoana
ffwRin9'"
I'd like to speak with Judy.
r v
I IV
Ha oo u? Esoo "Culture and
Heritage Department."
Hemma u sookwi'e?
Ln Hi' ' iJ
Oosoo kadoo'oo
Hello, this is the "Culture and Heritage Depart
ment". May I help you?
She is not here.
You probably know "Ha oo u"-how are you?
But, let us look at the sentence "Nu ka
Judyno soodyadoo'a". Numu sentences prob
ably look fairly familiar. As we've talked
about before, Numu follows this order: sub
ject, object, verb.
This shows us that "Nu" is the subject, "ka
Judyno" is the object, and "soodyadoo'a" is
the verb. From the translation you can prob
ably pick up that Nu is I and soodyadoo'a is
like tospeak. Do you recognize any other
words in there, such as ka? (The -no on the
end of Judy means "with".)
You probably will recognize oosoo from the
response "She is not here". This is translated
as she, but its literal translation is closer to
"it" or "that one". (Gender is not conveyed in
the Numu word oosoo.) Kadoo'oo, obviously,
means not here.
...... .