SSBMI Language Department

Family Songs

Túyc’e Wánay

Lizzie Enos, a Nisenan speaker from the Auburn area, was recorded singing the Nisenan-language lullaby Túyc’e Wánay in the 1960s.

This lullaby consists of a single lyric, "túyc’e wánay", for which we do not have an exact translation at this time. You can listen to Mrs. Enos singing this lullaby using the controls below.

Note that the recorder was turned on after she had begun singing.

Túyc’e Wánay, sung by Lizzie Enos

Lizzie Enos circa 1965 (photo by Samuel A. Barrett)

About the singer and song

This song was shared by Lizzie Enos, a Nisenan woman from the Auburn area, with linguist Richard Smith in the 1960s.

Mrs. Enos was a speaker of the Central Hill dialect of Nisenan. In the 1960s, Smith and others worked with Mrs. Enos to record her language, producing audio recordings of her oral stories and songs. The audio recording that we share here comes from the California Language Archive, at the University of California, Berkeley. The photo of Mrs. Enos is from the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, also at UC Berkeley.

Mrs. Enos's native dialect, Central Hill Nisenan, differs in many respects from the SSBMI's heritage Nisenan dialects, Valley Nisenan & Southern Hill Nisenan (which are similar to one another). For example, her word túyc’e would be tuyic’é in these dialects. While this is a small difference, there are many more significant differences between the words and grammar of Central Hill Nisenan and Valley/Southern Hill Nisenan.

Mrs. Enos was a close friend of Lillie Williams, daughter of SSBMI Matriarch Pamela Adams. We are excited to be able to share her language.

Language for everyday life

You can expand on and use parts of this song in everyday life!

For example, tuy- (which is part of the word túyc’e) is a Nisenan word root related to 'sleep'. Here are some Nisenan phrases with this root:

Webpage last updated: 2024-05-07