A Draft Rendering of Hess and Hilbert
Lushootseed Grammar Book 1

LANGUAGE SETTING

Lushootseed is the American Indian language spoken in the vicinity of Seattle, Washington. Its domain encompasses all the Puget Sound watershed and the adjacent Skagit River drainage (at least as far upstream as Diablo Dam), the Samish River region, Whidbey Island and the eastern portion of Fidalgo Island. (It does not include the area around Hood Canal. This is the Twana language territory.)

Along each of the rivers that flows to the Sound and on the many islands and bays small differences of accent and vocabulary have developed during the many centuries that the Indian people have dwelled here. Today these varieties of Lushootseed are named after those who use them. The most well known are Skagit (also spoken by many Nooksack though again with slight variations), Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Suquamish, Duwamish, Muckleshoot (of the Green and White Rivers), Puyallup, Nisqually, and Sahewamish. Among these, a major set of differences separates Skagit and Snohomish in the north from the others to the south. The most striking divergence between these two groups is that of stress. In the north the accent is often on the second stem vowel while in the south it is usually on the first. In vocabulary, it is the names for flora and fauna that vary the most. See map opposite page ii.

In spite of the greater similarity between Snohomish and Skagit, there do occur a substantial number of differences between them. Where these two groups differ, the Snohomish term is often found also in the southern area while the Skagit name is frequently related to words occurring in Lummi-Samish to the north. The Sauk-Suiattle area is generally classed as Skagit because of the common river drainage. However, this region has a large number of forms in common with Snohomish as opposed to the Skagit spoken further downstream. Despite these differences, all Indians from Mount Baker to Mount Rainier and from the Cascade Range to the western shores of Puget Sound understand one another and call their language dxʷləšucid.

Design and Use of the Lessons

These lessons are designed for eachers who are fluent speakers of Lushootseed but who have no or only minimal language teaching experience. These lessons are designed for teachers who are fluent speakers of Lushootseed but who have no or only minimal language teaching experience. If this format is successful, anyone who knows the language should be able to teach it by following the arrangement presented here. The intended students are adult Indians who have reached maturity without having heard their language often enough in childhood to have learned it.

The vocabulary and tapes of the Choral Repetitions (example sentences) are, with only a very few exceptions, based on the Skagit spoken at the Swinomish Reservation. Footnotes and the Vocabulary Comments point out those ways in which one or another region differs from Skagit; therefore, the teacher from any other Lushootseed speaking tribe will have no difficulty in adapting the sentences to his own speech.

Most lessons consist of seven sections: Choral Repetition, Sound and Symbol, Grammar Notes, Sound Drills, Vocabulary Comment, New Vocabulary, and Exercises. The first, Choral Repetition, is the backbone of each lesson. Here the grammar and vocabulary are presented in very short sentences following a pattern of question and answer. Vocabulary is most accurately mastered in the context of actual sentences rather than as isolated items. Similarly, the grammar is best assimilated through the use of short, structural conversations instead of by memorizing lifeless rules. Hopefully, this format of question and answer will enable the student to engage in brief conversation with fluent speakers at a fairly early stage in his study and to learn about those aspects of his cultural heritage that cannot be readily expressed in English. To this end interrogative words and a part of the location system are presented from the outset.

The intended use of the Choral Repetitions is as follows: The instructor reads each sentence while the students listen without looking at their texts. The instructor reads the sentences a second time while the students follow the printed page. A third and fourth time he reads the sentences pausing after each to enable the students to repeat them aloud in mison. The teacher may wish to ask individual members of the class to recite one or another sentence for additional drill or to check pronuncia-tion. It is essential that Choral Repetition sentences be repeated enough times to inculcate the new grammatical patterns and vocabulary.

As the lessons progress, short texts are gradually introduced to prepare the student for reading and appreciating the body of literature being written in Lushootseed. This literature consists mostly of the ancient stories called syeyahub in the north and sx i?ab in the south; but there is also a sizeable corpus of information about Puget Sound Indian history recounted by the Indian elders in their own language and from their point of view - not from that of the white historian.

The section Sound and Symbol explains in brief, non-technical terms how the sounds of Lushootseed are made and presents the symbols used to represent these sounds.

The Grammar Notes call the students' attention to particular facets of the language structure and summarize the grammatical points that arise in the Choral Repetitions.