The SSBMI Language Department created this set of flashcards to support you as you learn names for animals and related language in Nisenan and Northern Sierra Miwok. Here, you can listen to the language on the Animals flashcards and learn more.
The SSBMI Community has ancestral ties to the Valley and Southern Hill dialects of the Nisenan language through the Tribe's Matriarchs, Pamela Cleanso Adams and Annie Hill Murray Paris. Pamela spoke the Valley dialect and she, her brother Tom Cleanso, and her daughter Lillie Williams are responsible for passing on most of the knowledge we have of Valley Nisenan today. We have less direct information about Annie’s language; based on where she was from and documented language from her relations and associates, she likely spoke Southern Hill Nisenan.
The Nisenan language that we share is from speakers of the Valley dialect like SSBMI Matriarch Pamela Cleanso Adams and her brother Tom Cleanso as well as speakers of the Southern Hill dialect like William Joseph, Ida Hill Starkey, & Charlie Hunchup. We also adapted names for two introduced animals from the Central Hill dialect because we lack names for these animals from speakers of the Tribe's heritage dialects.
The Northern Sierra Miwok language that we share comes from many speakers like Eph Cummings and others who worked with C. Hart Merriam in the early 1900s, and Queenie Miller, Elena McCauley, & Nicolas Villa Sr. who worked with linguist Catherine Callaghan on the Northern Sierra Miwok dictionary (1987). To the best of our knowledge, speakers of all Northern Sierra Miwok dialects share most of these words and phrases.
If you would like a copy of the flashcards, please visit us in the Tribal Admin building or contact us at language@ssband.org. Supplies are limited and we cannot guarantee copies for non-SSBMI Tribal Members.
You can also download printer-friendly versions of the Nisenan cards and the Northern Sierra Miwok cards that you can print at home.
Webpage last updated: 2025-03-26
