Sahaptin language facts for kids

Sahaptin or Shahaptin, endonym Ichishkin, is one of the two-language Sahaptian branch of the Plateau Penutian family spoken in a section of the northwestern plateau along the Columbia River and its tributaries in southern Washington, northern Oregon, and southwestern Idaho, in the United States; the other language is Nez Perce or Niimi'ipuutímt. Many of the tribes that surrounded the land were skilled with horses and trading with one another; some tribes were known for their horse breeding which resulted in today's Appaloosa or Cayuse horse.

The word Sahaptin/Shahaptin is not the one used by the tribes that speak it, but from the Columbia Salish name, Sħáptənəxw / S-háptinoxw, which means "stranger in the land". This is the name the Wenatchi (in Sahaptin: Winátshapam) and Kawaxchinláma (who speak Columbia Salish) traditionally call the Nez Perce people. Early white explorers mistakenly applied the name to all the various Sahaptin speaking people, as well as to the Nez Perce. Sahaptin is spoken by various tribes of the Washington Reservations; Yakama, Warm Springs, Umatilla; and also spoken in many smaller communities such as Celilo, Oregon.

The Yakama tribal cultural resources program has been promoting the use of the traditional name of the language, Ichishkíin Sɨ́nwit (″this language″), instead of the Salish term Sahaptin.

Tribes and dialects

Sahaptin tribes speak three mutually intelligible dialects:

Northern Sahaptin

Northwest Sahaptin dialects:

• Kittitas (Upper Yakama) (autonym: Pshwánapam / Pshwanpawam)
• Lower Yakama (Yakama proper) (autonym: Mámachatpam)
• Klickitat (Klikatat) (Yakama name: Xwálxwaypam or L'ataxat)

• Upper Cowlitz (Cowlitz Klickitat, Lewis River Klickitat Band, autonym: Taidnapam / Táytnapam)
• Upper (Mountain) Nisqually (Meshal / Me-Schal / Mashel / Mica'l Band of Nisqually, autonym: Mishalpam, Yakama name: Mical-ɫa'ma)

Northeast Sahaptin dialects:

• Wanapum (Wánapam)
• Walla Walla (Yakama name: Waluulapan)
• Palouse (Palus) (Yakama name: Pelúuspem)
• Lower Snake River

• Chamnapam
• Wauyukma
• Naxiyampam

Southern Sahaptin (Columbia River dialects):

• Umatilla (Rock Creek Indians, Yakama name: Amatalamlama / Imatalamlama)
• Sk'in/Skin-pah (Sawpaw Band, Fall Bridge, Rock Creek people, Yakama name: K'milláma, perhaps another Tenino subtribe)
• Tenino (Warm Springs bands)

• Tinainu (Tinaynuɫáma) or "Dalles Tenino" (Tenino proper)
• Tygh (Taih, Tyigh) or "Upper Deschutes" (divided into: Tayxɫáma (Tygh Valley), Tiɫxniɫáma (Sherar's Bridge), and Mliɫáma (Warm Spring Reservation)
• Wyam (Wayámɫáma) or "Lower Deschutes" (Celilo Indians, Yakama name: Wayámpam)
• Dock-Spus (Tukspush) (Takspasɫáma) or "John Day"

Phonology

The charts of consonants and vowels below are used in the Yakima Sahaptin (Ichishkiin) language:

Consonants

Vowels

Vowels can also be accented (e.g. /á/).

Writing system

This writing system is used for Umatilla Sahaptin.

Grammar

There are published grammars, a recent dictionary, and a corpus of published texts.

Sahaptin has a split ergative syntax, with direct-inverse voicing and several applicative constructions.

The ergative case inflects third-person nominals only when the direct object is first- or second-person (the examples below are from the Umatilla dialect):

The direct-inverse contrast can be elicited with examples such as the following. In the inverse, the transitive direct object is coreferential with the subject in the preceding clause.

The inverse (marked by the verbal prefix pá-) retains its transitive status, and a patient nominal is case marked accusative.

A semantic inverse is also marked by the same verbal prefix pá-.

In Speech Act Participant (SAP) and third-person transitive involvement, direction marking is as follows:

See also

In Spanish: Idioma sahaptin para niños

• Sahaptian languages
• Sahaptin people
• Cayuse
• Palus (tribe)
• Umatilla (tribe)
• Walla Walla (tribe)
• Yakama