2nd position modal. Expression of certainty. kutašta máysx pamáwšuwata ‘and indeed we will get ourselves ready tomorrow’; kʷaanáta kú k̓ʷapɨ́n itwánana pt̓íic ‘the aforementioned girl indeed then followed that’; kúušnašta áwɨnx̣a inmímaaman miyánašmaaman ‘thusly indeed I tell my child’; kʷata kú míš iwá níix̣ aw míšk̓a iwá mɨlá ‘and then for sure wonder whether it is good or whether it is bad’; kʷata kú míš pasápsik̓ʷasa ‘and then indeed they are teaching however’; kʷata kú míš ku pap̓ɨ́x̣ta kʷaaná ana k̓ʷapɨ́n wá naamí tamánwit čná tiičámpa ‘and then indeed somehow they will remember that which is our law in this land’; ƛ̓áax̣ʷ patáwyanayka Háwtmipa ašta kʷná kúuš ín wá áx̣ʷay ‘they all settled down on McKay Creek where indeed I am like that still today’; kunata kʷaaná ák̓ʷałanawax̣a ‘and indeed we are glad for that’; kunata kúušx̣i námač̓a kʷná sápsik̓ʷata naamí miyánašma ‘and in the very same way we also will teach our children there’; kunamta ičáx̣ɨlpawamta anam kú čɨ́ni iwínata náx̣šyaw hawláakyaw tiičámyaw ‘and indeed he will open it to you when you go from here to a spirit land’; kunamta kʷná wiyánax̣tita imikíin qqaanáytki ‘and there along the way you will surely cry about your work’; kʷaanáta kú payíkta ‘then indeed they will hear that (recorded language in the future)’; ku kúuk papx̣ʷíta, kúušx̣ašta míimi iwačá nč̓ínč̓i naamí tanánwit ‘and then they will think, long ago the Indian way of our elders was indeed like that’; anata kú páyš súlcasnɨm išapáwinatax̣na máan ‘when surely the army would drive us away’; kúuštašta kú ttáwax̣šana náma ‘in that manner then indeed we were growing up’; míšata kʷá ‘forever more!’. Sometimes takes the form =ata after a vowel: kʷɨ́ninaata wá ƛ̓áax̣ʷ pápanaymuni ‘because of that we are indeed all related to one another’. [NW =tx̣.]
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).
