SSBMI Language Department

SSBMI Summer Youth Intern Program - Nisenan language review

Séekas’in! Hello! This webpage serves as a brief review of the SSBMI Summer Youth Intern Program's language class on July 19, 2024. In this class, we learned and practiced using Nisenan language that we will use at Language Day Camp on July 26, 2024.

The Tribe has ancestral ties to the Nisenan language through the Tribe's Matriarchs, Pamela Cleanso Adams and Annie Hill Murray Paris. Pamela, Annie, and many of their close relations spoke Nisenan and shared their language with researchers in the early 1900s. The knowledge they shared provides us with a pathway to reconnect with the Nisenan language today. The Tribe also has significant connections to ancestral Nisenan villages like Pusúune and Yáales, where the Nisenan language has been spoken since time immemorial.

You can download a copy of the review sheet by clicking here. You can use the links below to jump to a specific part of this webpage:

Vocabulary & Phrases

Olém Ham (Coyote Says)

Neetíp min henɨmihí (Grow your language)

Vocabulary & Phrases

We learned several useful Nisenan words, including how to say "yes" and "no":

We also learned the Nisenan names for five animals, including Black Bear, Fox, Butterfly, Deer, and Salmon:

At Language Day Camp, participants will be assigned to one of five groups named after these animals. We also learned to answer the question Hésmɨsébe mi? (What group are you in?) by putting the name of an animal in the structure _____-mɨsém ni (I'm in the _____ group), like so:

We also learned a few functional Nisenan phrases that you can use at Language Day Camp as well as in other spaces, such as at home or work:

Olém Ham (Coyote Says)

We learned to play Olém Ham (Coyote Says), which is like the English game "Simon Says".

Here are the commands we learned. Note that all of these commands are addressed to two or more people:

To use these commands in the game, we use this sentence "frame":

Here are the commands repeated in the sentence frame Olém _____ ham (Coyote says _____):

How to play Olém Ham (Coyote Says)

One person acts as Olé (Coyote). When Olé gives a command in the sentence frame Olém _____ ham (Coyote says _____), the players have to obey the command as quickly as possible.

Anyone who doesn't perform the correct action is out. Anyone who obeys a command given without the sentence frame is out.

The last player standing wins!

Neetíp min henɨmihí (Grow your language)

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

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

Here we learned how to identify ourselves as members of teams named after animals. But you can also use the names of places, like the Nisenan villages of Pusúune or K’ademmá for example, to talk about where you come from and who your ancestors are.

Here are some examples of how to identify yourself as coming from a few of the Tribe’s ancestral villages:

This is not a complete list of the places your Nisenan 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 in this class.

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

If you have questions or want to know more about the Nisenan language, you can reach out to us at Language@ssband.org.

Webpage last updated: 2024-07-16