The SSBMI Language Department created a tote bag sharing positive phrases in Nisenan and Northern Sierra Miwok. Here, you can listen to the language on the Language Bag and learn more about where the language we share comes from.
Henɨmpé nisée henɨmí!
'Let's speak our languages!' (Nisenan)
Líwwantic liwáycɨ!
'Let's speak our languages!' (Northern Sierra Miwok)
Please contact us at language@ssband.org to check on the availability of the Language Bag and to ask us any questions.
Nisenan (language name)
Hello!
How are you?
Where are you coming from?
Everything will be alright.
You make me feel good.
Please give it to me!
Thank you.
(literal meaning: 'It is good.')
Take care of yourself!
You've done well.
Let's speak our languages!
Want to know more? Some of the phrases that we share here are traditional greetings and goodbyes, such as séekas’in (hello) and sitapáy’omís (take care of yourself). You can learn more greetings and read more about our efforts to teach Tribal language greetings on our greetings page.
We also share positive language via our Kind Words flashcards. You can read more about the flashcards and learn other positive phrases here.
Northern Sierra Miwok (language name)
How are you?
Good day.
Are you well?
Everything will be alright.
You make me feel good.
Give it to me!
Thank you.
(literal meaning: 'I appreciate it.')
Take care of yourself!
You've done well.
Let's speak our languages!
Want to know more? Some of the phrases that we share here are traditional greetings, such as micɨ́ksɨs (hello) & kucí’’acin aa? (are you well?). You can learn more greetings and read more about our efforts to teach Tribal language greetings on our greetings page.
We also share positive language via our Kind Words flashcards. You can read more about the flashcards and learn other positive phrases here.
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. To the best of our knowledge, the phrases we share here would be understood by speakers of both Valley Nisenan and Southern Hill Nisenan.
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 have any questions about either language or about the availability of the Language Bag, please contact us at language@ssband.org.
Webpage last updated: 2025-04-02