Verb nominalizer in directional complements. wiyánawiyawašamaš šápniyanat ‘I am coming to ask you’; pawiyánawišana q̓ínwanat ‘they were arriving to see [them]’; iwámšna íƛ̓iyawiyanat ‘he is coming to kill us’; túman pawiyánawiya q̓ínwanat paamanáy ‘what had come to see them?’; pawiyánawiša wáp̓anat ‘they are arriving to weave’; pawiyánawiša sápsik̓ʷanat ‘they are arriving to teach’; áana áw čí iwámš wáwˀaƛ̓awiyanat x̣ax̣áykʷyaw ‘oh now this one is coming to beg for money’; wáytšaykatyataš kʷáan Wayámkan wɨ́npanat x̣yáw núsux̣ ‘instead we were crossing on over toward Celilo to get dry salmon’. See also nominalizer -t.
As spoken by a group of elders in the early 1980s when thinking about putting their language to writing.
The words and sentences in this dictionary are mostly the contribution of Twáway, otherwise known of as Inez Spino Reves. Twáway has never flinched from working with linguists, and her command of the “old language” with all its intricacies of grammar and vocabulary is second to none. Other Umatilla contributors are Charley McKay, Donald Joe, Emily Littlefish, Fred Hill, Joan Watlamet, Mildred Quaempts, and Thomas Morning Owl. Animal and plant identifications were much aided by botanist Dave Corliss (personal communication) and by Eugene Hunn (1979, 1990).
