Umatilla language facts for kids

Umatilla (also called Tamalúut or Imatalamłaamí Sɨ́nwit) is a special language spoken by the Umatilla in the United States. It's a type of Southern Sahaptin, which is part of a bigger language family called Plateau Penutian. Long ago, people spoke Umatilla along the Columbia River, so it's sometimes called Columbia River Sahaptin.

Today, only a few dozen older people and some adults on the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon speak Umatilla as their first language. The word Umatilla might come from imatilám-hlama. Hlama means 'people of' or 'those living at'. The meaning of imatilám is still debated, but some say it refers to an island in the Columbia River. Others believe it comes from a village called ímatalam at the mouth of the Umatilla River.

The Umatilla people say the word ímatalam. A single Umatilla person is called imatalamłá, and the Umatilla people as a group are called imatalamłáma. The Nez Perce people call the Umatilla people hiyówatalampoo.

Bringing the Umatilla Language Back

As of 2013, about 50 people speak Umatilla as their first language. But there's a lot of effort to help more people learn it!

Learning Umatilla in Schools

The Umatilla language is taught at the Nixyaawii Community School. Six full-time teachers work for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) to teach the language. For over ten years, Nixyaawii Community School has offered classes in Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Nez Perce languages. There's even a special program called Cay-Uma-Wa Head Start that helps teach the language to very young children (three to five years old).

New Ways to Learn

People can also find online videos to help them learn Umatilla. A new program called the Tamaluut immersion school lets young children learn the language by being completely surrounded by it. The Wíyat'ish Naknúwit "For the Future" Language Project helps train new speakers through a "Master-Apprentice" program, where experienced speakers teach others one-on-one.

A special "Flash Story Camp" was held to help people learn and share stories in Umatilla. This was a team effort between First Nations Development, Tamastslikt's Language Enhancement Program, the Education Department, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Umatilla Dictionary

In 2014, a very important book called the Umatilla Dictionary was published. It was created by tribal linguist Noel Rude, who worked for many years with language experts and elders from the Umatilla Reservation. This dictionary helps record and preserve the Umatilla language, including words, how to say them, and phrases. It's a big help for the Umatilla people, as well as the Yakama Nation and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, in keeping their language alive.

How Umatilla Words Work

Like all languages, Umatilla has its own special rules for how words are formed and how sentences are put together.

Changing Words

In Umatilla, words often change their shape to show different meanings. For example, nouns (words for people, places, or things) can change to show if there's one of something, two of something, or many.

• To show two of something, a special ending like -in is added.
• To show many of something, an ending like -ma might be added, or parts of the word might be repeated. For example, pšwá means 'stone', but pšwápšwa means 'stones'.

Verbs (action words) in Umatilla are even more complex. They can change to show who is doing the action, when it happened (past, present, future), or how the action is done (like if it's happening right now or if it's a usual action).

Sentence Structure

Umatilla sentences can have a very flexible word order. This means that the order of words in a sentence can change without changing the main meaning, thanks to special endings on words that show their role in the sentence.

See also

• Sahaptian languages
• Sahaptin people
• Umatilla (tribe)