Language Day Camp

We hosted our fourth annual Language Day Camp at the Shingle Springs Rancheria on June 17, 2025.

At this event, Tribal Members learned food-related Nisenan language while participating in activities hosted by the Language Department, the Environmental Department, the Exhibits & Collections Center (ECC), and the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) Department.

Participants received a copy of the Language Day Camp (LDC) activity booklet and set of Payelpé! (Let’s Eat!) flashcards for learning names for common foods and phrases for mealtimes in Nisenan. They practiced the language by participating in language games like Sɨpaayuwá! and other activities like making clay models of their favorite foods or learning about different traditional food sources. They received a custom enamel pin for participating in the event; this year's pin featured a butterfly (koowáwa in Nisenan; hóllokkiṭiwwa in Northern Sierra Miwok).

The LDC activity booklet

Here you can read the LDC activity booklet and listen to audio recordings of the Nisenan language in the booklet. You can download and print a copy of the booklet at home, or visit us in the Tribal Admin building or email us at Language@ssband.org to receive a copy.

Listen to the language in the LDC activity booklet!

If you want to listen to the food names and mealtime phrases, go to our Payelpé! flashcards webpage. You can listen to all other language here:

Nisenáanweypé!

'Let's speak Nisenan!'

Nisenan phrases for making things (page 7)

Hesíbe?

'What is it?'

Honiyéekani?

'Do you have a plan?'

Hesí siyéekani?

'What are you making?'

Homaatín siyéenaakas?

'How can I make that?'

Heek’aamén.

'Don't rush.'

Wallíp.

'Be careful with it.'

K’asip’í ni!

'I've finished!'

Etáp!

'Look!'

Wosak’atím!

'It's beautiful!'

Meal times (page 13)

Homoyák payelíbe mi?

'When do you eat?'

Combo platters (page 14)

Haan

'Yes'

Wiin

'No'

What color are these foods? (page 16)

P’anaanák

'Red-Orange-Yellow'

Kow

'White-Gray'

Koc’ís

'Green-Blue'

Esak’ábe mi? (Do you know?) Most Nisenan color terms refer to a whole range of colors that we would describe with distinct color words in English. For example, the word koc’ís refers to all the colors that we would call "green" and "blue" in English.

P’anaanák

color patch: red-orange-yellow

Kow

color patch: white-gray

Koc’ís

color patch: green-blue

Grow your language (back cover)

Neetíp min henɨmí!

'Grow your language!'

Group up!

At Language Day Camp, participants joined teams named after five foods: Apple, Blackberry, Cheese, Grape, and Strawberry.

Aapél

'Apple'

Muté

'Grape'

Ennáan

'Blackberry'

Mank’á

'Strawberry'

C’iis

'Cheese'

At the end of each activity, participants were asked the question Hésmɨsébe mi? (What group are you in?). They could respond using the name of their group alone, or by putting the name of their group in the structure _____-mɨsém ni (I'm in the _____ group), like so:

Hesmɨsébe mi?

'What group are you in?'

_____-mɨsém ni.

'I am in the _____ group.'

Aapélmɨsém ni.

'I am in the Apple group.'

Mutémɨsém ni.

'I am in the Grape group.'

Ennáanmɨsém ni.

'I am in the Blackberry group.'

Mank’ámɨsém ni.

'I am in the Strawberry group.'

C’íismɨsém ni.

'I am in the Cheese group.'

Esak’ábe mi? (Do you know?) You use the same structure to identify yourself as being "of the people of" a specific village, such as Pusúune or Yáales, or even the Rancheria. Check out our Neetíp Min Henɨmí (Grow Your Language) section below to learn more!

Neetíp min henɨmí (Grow your language)

You can say more in the Nisenan language than you think! Recall the question and answer pair below:

Hesmɨsébe mi?

'What group are you in?'

_____-mɨsém ni.

'I am in the _____ group.'

Hésmɨsébe mi? can also be translated "Of what people are you?". Nisenan speakers ask this when they want someone to identify themselves.

Hesmɨsébe mi?

'Of what people are you?'

Here we learned how to identify ourselves as members of teams named after foods. But you can also use the names of places, like the Nisenan villages of Pusúune or Yáales for example, to talk about where you come from and who your Ancestors are. Here are some examples:

Pusúunemɨsém ni.

'I am of the people of Pusúune.'

Yáalesmɨsém ni.

'I am of the people of Yáales.'

You can use the same structure to talk about other places too. For example, you could also say that you are from the Shingle Springs Rancheria:

Shingle Springs Rancheria-mɨsém ni.

'I am of the Shingle Springs Rancheria.'

This is not a complete list of the places your Ancestors may have come from, and there are other ways to talk about yourself and your heritage in the Nisenan language. This is just a small example of how you can build on what you learned at Language Day Camp!

Esak’ahá daak’ábe mi c’aykɨ́ɨ? (Do you want to know more?)

About the event: Language Day Camp (LDC) is an annual, Tribal Member-only event hosted by the SSBMI Language Department in the summer. At Language Day Camp, we meet outdoors (weather permitting) to learn and use language with one another while participating in fun activities.

LDC 2022: We held the first Language Day Camp at Verona Marina in 2022. At LDC 2022, we learned some Nisenan together while spending our time outdoors fishing at the marina, going on a plant scavenger hunt, and doing other activities.

LDC 2023: We held the second Language Day Camp at the Shingle Springs Rancheria in 2023 following a last-minute move from Verona Marina. At LDC 2023, we learned Nisenan & Northern Sierra Miwok together while playing Language games and participating in fun activities hosted by the Exhibits & Collections Center and the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Department. You can read more about LDC 2023 here.

LDC 2024: We held the third Language Day Camp at the Shingle Springs Rancheria. We decided to focus on Nisenan to be able to better support our collaborators and language learners, and maximize the amount of language we are able to learn and use at the event. Participants received a copy of the 2024 LDC Guidebook and a custom soft enamel pin featuring lisnó (hummingbird). You can read more about LDC 2024 here.

LDC 2025: We held this year's Language Day Camp at the Shingle Springs Rancheria, focusing on food-related language in Nisenan. Participants received a deck of Payelpé! (Let’s Eat!) flashcards and copy of the LDC activity booklet; you can get a copy of these materials from the Language Department. They also received a custom soft enamel pin featuring a butterfly and its names in Nisenan and Northern Sierra Miwok:

Nisenan

Koowáwa

Miwok

Hóllokkiṭiwwa

About the language: The SSBMI Community has ancestral ties to the Valley & Southern Hill dialects of Nisenan 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 such as SSBMI Matriarch Pamela Cleanso Adams & her brother Tom Cleanso as well as speakers of the Southern Hill dialect like William Joseph, Ida Hill Starkey, & Charlie Hunchup. Valley Nisenan and Southern Hill Nisenan are very similar to one another in their words and grammar; we note any differences between these dialects on this website.

About the website: This website is maintained by SSBMI Language Department staff in order to share our language learning resources with the Tribal Membership and other learners. We are all leraners of the Nisenan and Northern Sierra Miwok languages and hope you will join us too!

If you have questions or want to know more about Nisenan or Northern Sierra Miwok, or if you would like to request any of our materials from Language Day Camp or other resources, you can visit us in the Tribal Admin building or contact us at Language@ssband.org.

Webpage last updated: 2025-06-10