The SSBMI Language Department created sets of flashcards to support you and your loved ones as you learn words for relatives and phrases of kindness in Nisenan and Northern Sierra Miwok. Here, you can listen to the language on the Kind Words cards 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 Pamela and her relations spoke Valley Nisenan and shared some of their knowledge of the Nisenan language through historical documents. We have less direct information about Annie's language; however, based on where she was from and the documented language of her relations and associates, it is likely that Annie 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. To the best of our knowledge, speakers of Valley Nisenan and Southern Hill Nisenan share almost entirely all of these words and phrases.
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 dialects of Northern Sierra Miwok share 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: 2025-02-12
