Sit, sit down, sit up. áyša ~ áytša ‘he is sitting’; áyčɨnk aycáwaspa ‘sit on the chair!’; k̓áaptnam áytša ‘you are sitting in the way’; čná áyčɨnk ‘sit here!’; wɨsíix áyčɨnk ‘sit still!’; áyčɨnk smáaskni ‘get up from the bed’; áyša lak̓isá ‘he is sitting down on the end’; iqáˀayča k̓ʷapɨ́n páx̣at pútaaptit wɨx̣aní ‘suddenly the aforementioned centipede sat down’; láˀayč ‘sit leisurely’; ítɨmnayč ‘kneel’; x̣ʷyáyč ‘take a sweatbath’; tamanáyč ‘sit’ (plural subject); šapáˀayč ‘install levirate husband’; ayčtpamá ‘sitting place, seat’. [N ayík; NP /wx̣suˀun/ ‘sit, be sitting’ (singular); /teméyeq/ (plural); /wx̣siˀlik/ ‘sit down’ (singular); /teméyeq̓ik/ (plural).]
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).
