A Sociolinguists’ Eye-View: The Yakama People of the Pacific Northwest

The Sociolinguists' Eye View series is a daughter project of the Pacific Northwest English Study. It tells the story of the linguistic outcomes of interethnic contact in the Pacific Northwestern United States from the point of view of the respondents who participated in our study. The research project focuses on five ethnic groups with a long-established presence in the Pacific Northwest.

Back to Regional History by Cultural Group

The Yakama people have a long and storied past here in the Pacific Northwest, and contribute much to the cultural melting pot we call home. Archaeologists have confirmed that native peoples have lived at The Dalles and on the lower Snake River for at least 10,000 years (Borden, 1979; Hunn & Selam, 1990). The Yakama themselves state that they have lived in the area, from the lowlands around the Columbia River to the snow-peaked Cascade Mountains, "from time immemorial" (Yakama Nation, n.d.). Their stories, and the stories of their families are the point of departure we use to understand the Pacific Northwest, as they experience it. Our intention is not to give a comprehensive history of this ethnic group, but rather an ethnographic, case-based perspective, of the experiences of real people; one which can help us understand the ways in which their voices intermingled with those of others both in and outside the PNW.

Go to Yakama History Timeline from our Community Member's Point of View

From a sociolinguist's perspective when we look at the English spoken in the Yakima valley we see that contact between groups has made it distinct. This process is known as koineization. This is when a new variety of language or dialect is formed from the mixing, leveling, and simplifying of different languages or dialects in contact with each other (Siegel, 1985). This variety, called a koine can show mixture in two ways: it could keep the features shared by all the language varieties that were in contact in the area, or it can 'choose' particular features creating a new dialect with a new combination of forms. In the first case we have a dialect that is not noticeably different. In the second case we have a dialect that stands out in the region. While the Yakama people first experienced interethnic contact with Mexican Americans around 1710, the post 1855 treaty period was likely the time of earliest continual contact with English. Now, English resides alongside the heritage language Yakama Sahaptin, which is currently undergoing revitalization efforts. Interestingly, when examining the English vowel system of Yakama heritage speakers we see it appears to reflect features of the Sahaptin language today. An example of a feature that stands out in Yakima Valley English is the vowel /u/ present in words like boot (Wassink & Hargus, 2020) Interestingly, Chicano English speakers in the area also have very similiar vowel systems likely from acquiring the Sahaptin-influenced English dialect spoken by the Yakama people.

Go to Yakama English

What follows are selected highlights from our transcribed audio-recorded sessions with respondents of Yakama descent. Click on the black play button to hear some of the stories our respondents told us, in their own words.

Our speakers' voices:

In our interviews with members of the Yakama Nation, we learned much. Not just about the people and their culture, but about the land that they've called home for countless generations. Like so many historically marginalized groups, theirs is a story not without its fair share of grief. Our respondents shared with us stories of displacement from their ancestral homes and schools that forced them to cut their braids and paddled them for speaking their parents' language. And although at times the pain was evident in the voices of our respondents, so too was a strength, and a pride, and a love for family and culture and the land that was at times both touching and inspiring. These are their voices.

Personal details are omitted to protect respondent identity

The following audio clips are used with permission and should not be used by any other entity without the expressed written consent of the respondent.

Ceremony and Tradition:

The Yakama culture is one steeped in tradition. Many of these traditions center around a respect for the local land, and the roots, berries, and wild game it produces. There are also numerous traditions that center around the local community, and the longhouse that acts at once as both community center and church.

Respondent explains the tradition tied to a hunter's first kill.

“They had to have his clothes and his gun and he gives his gun away too..."

Audio transcriptHide

“We shot deer and elk and quails and then when you shoot your first one you’re supposed to... like when you go to the longhouse you're supposed to keep the hide. he’s supposed to dance with the [hide]. That’s what my son had to do, and they had to have his clothes and his gun, and he has to give his gun away too, just like the kids first picking too, the berry picking. The little girls, they’re supposed to give their basket away, and then somebody replaces it"

Longhouse Protocols and eye contact in Yakama culture.

"You have to understand certain things, you have to understand when to be quiet you have to understand when to assert yourself..."

Audio transcriptHide

“Theres certain things we have to understand. Because of the longhouse, theres certain protocol when you go into the longhouse belief system, which is the main belief system in this area you have to understand certain things. You have to understand when to be quiet. You have to understand when to assert yourself. You have to understand things. And there’s certain protocols that you grew up with that oppose the public school system’s way of thinking of it, because in our ways you know... its like in white culture it's always looked at you’re rude if you [don't] do eye to eye contact. If they don’t look at you, its considered rude. But in our ways, we don’t do eye to eye contact. It’s not our way. You know we look away. If you look at us in the eye we’ll look away from you, cuz it’s not our way.”

Songs and Prayers for the seasons.

"Theres certain songs that are appropriate to sing before you go up and gather these foods..."

Audio transcriptHide

“Theres songs that accompany the seasons and the food too. Theres certain songs that are appropriate to sing before you go up and gather these foods, and they are usually done beforehand and after also, and that’s what- These feasts have meaning you know? We’re thankful for you know listening to our prayers so we got all this food and now we’re feasting. And then there’s prayers for- song and prayers for after it too. We’re thankful for now we’re feeding the people.”

The Land:

A large portion of Yakama culture is defined by their relationship to the land. For centuries they have lived harmoniously with the delicate nutrient cycles of the soil, and the life cycles of the local flaura and fauna. The local land bases are prominent in their story-telling and a respect for those land bases is emphasized in the values they pass on to their children.

A Sacred Land

"If you pay attention really closely... It'll talk to you..."

Audio transcriptHide

“I remember my my dad telling me, he says that if you pay attention really closely, and you keep in tune with this environment, it’ll talk to you. It’ll tell you. It’ll tell you. And he used to seem kind of silly to me when I’d listen to him talk or even my mother talk. They’d say it talks to you. If you pay attention to it, it’ll talk to you. And if you love your land, the land will love you, and you’ll feel it when you go there. And that’s what I kind of understand now, cuz I go to the lands that my Mother and my Father worked so hard for, and I can feel their love for that land when I go there, and it feels sacred. It feels like a sacred land”

Through a Grandfathers heart.

"I can see through his stories, through his mind, through his heart..."

Audio transcriptHide

“I was raised by my grandfather. I can see through his stories, through his mind, through his heart, the eighteen hundreds as he spoke to me. And he not only spoke to me, he would take me to those certain places, certain land bases and he'd show me. He would show me, this is where at one time we lived, and the imagination then was our TV. That was how the old people believed in developing a child's mind, was through that. You imagine as they speak, and you could see the movements."

Respondent discusses the loss of ancestral lands.

"...And with the mentality of submission, you then lose your integrity."

Audio transcriptHide

“You know the ability to gather foods is not there anymore. You know, the land- the purchasing of land by the wineries, by the windmill corporations, the [name omitted] power administration, the core of engineers, the incorporated cities, you know they’ve pretty much bought up all the land that you would traditionally use for gathering your roots. You know, for wildlife to be there so you could you know, harvest- they say harvest- venison they call them yamush deer. You know, all the different types of wildlife that were there for subsistence you know are no longer there, and if they are you can't trespass, cause its private property. So how's a person to survive? You know, you have to submit to Safeway, McDonalds you know, those type of food resources. Or government subsistence, subsidies, or what they call commodity foods, welfare, you know then with the mentality of submission, you then lose your integrity”

Food and Agriculture:

The Yakama are expert fishermen, hunters, and agriculturists. From spring to fall, the Yakama people harvest the local foods when they’re in season. From various edible roots to choke cherries to huckleberries to the immense Yakima hops farms, the Yakama people have become experts at living off the Pacific Northwest land. They are also seasoned fishermen, and have for generations fished the Columbia river and its tributaries. The end of harvest season is huckleberry season, and as such, a feast takes place to celebrate the bounty of that year’s harvest. During the winter months, they tend to live in winter villages, living off their preserves, supplemented with local game, such as deer and elk.

Following the seasons and learning from their Mothers

"We worked in the fields on a regular basis we’d follow the seasons we’d be cherry picking we’d be apple picking we’d be grape picking..."

Audio transcriptHide

“Our mothers, they taught us, like I say, they were working all the time. They were drying the meats, drying the foods. We worked in the fields on a regular basis. We’d follow the seasons. We’d be cherry picking, we’d be apple picking, we’d be grape picking. And the- we’d go down to [name omitted] Oregon. We’d be picking raspberries there.”

Preparing for winter.

"We would live off our produce, our dried meats, our fruit, stuff like that"

Audio transcriptHide

“And the people would gather and work year round, because it wasn’t like- In the winter time was winter time. There was no store you’re gonna have a 24 hour mart to do it. You had to have your storage ready to survive those months, and our mothers kept that tradition. I remember we’d have food stored away for the winter months. We really would. We would live off our produce, our dried meats, our fruit, stuff like that. And when my father would say lets go hunting, and you know, I didn’t have a choice it was like, ‘we’re going hunting no matter-‘ I didn’t have no choice in the matter. We’re going hunting. And little did I realize we weren’t rich people. I didn’t realize how important it really was. That was our meat”

Social Class and Status:

In Western culture, we are very comfortable with the idea of wealth going hand in hand with social status, but of course the issue of social status is larger than the size of one's wallet. In our interviews we often found that asking a respondent where they saw themselves on the socioeconomic ladder would lead to a larger conversation about social and cultural capital, and often forced us to rethink how we thought about power, influence, and the role of money in a culture that historically valued other things.

From an "English" context.

"We depended on the roots, and the berries, and the natural foods that were plentiful…"

Audio transcriptHide

“Well probably from English context I'd be looking at below poverty. But in richness of how we were, we survived. We depended on the roots, and the berries, and the natural foods that were plentiful, and we harvested them in season. And salmon was a greater part of that, as well as hunting for deer, elk. So that kept us health-wise- it kept us living and we didn’t starve”

Social status in the longhouse community.

"in some ways our status was kinda up there, cuz of the amount of food that we would collect..."

Audio transcriptHide

“When I grew up, you know our status was food gathering. We’d always have food. When Sunday would come around, that was our big day to go to the longhouse, and we’d bring a lot of food. So in some ways our status was kinda up there, cuz of the amount of food that we would collect and put away.”

Low income but different desires.

"We never had the material things that other cultures have, but those weren't desired"

Audio transcriptHide

“And see the funny thing is I didn't know I was low income until I was a senior in high school, when I had to actually fill out my own application for school district. They said ‘low income?’ and I was like ‘I don't know’... Obviously I'd been the same size. We've had plenty of food, you know, we never struggled with bills really. I mean we- not to say we- we never had the the material things that other cultures have, but those weren't desired.”

Language:

Sahaptin is the ancestral language of the Yakama people. Together with the language of the Nez Perce people, they make up the Sahaptian branch of the Plateau Penutian language family (Beavert, 2017). There are 14 different bands of Yakama that are native to the area, and as such there are numerous dialects. Most modern Yakama grow up with English as their first language, usually only speaking Sahaptin in small phrases in longhouse gatherings. Unfortunately, there are very few native Sahaptin speakers left. There have, however, been attempts spearheaded by elders in the community to revive the language, and while the language is indeed endangered, more and more Yakama youth are expressing interest in learning the language.

Resondent discusses the different dialects of Sahaptin.

"The dialects may have differed a little bit but... they understood each other..."

Audio transcriptHide

“Within the fourteen tribes and bands of the Yakama nation the language was somewhat very similar connected. There may have been little differences as you've moved from yakama down to Columbia River, or from Columbia River up to Wenatchee. The dialects maybe may have differed a little bit, but the context of the language itself, they understood each other. But there was only one band out of the fourteen that was totally different. It's called Sahaptin, but it's a different language, a different dialect within itself known as Wishcum band.”

English-only schools and their effects on native Sahaptin speakers.

"They were told they could never speak their language anymore, only English..."

Audio transcriptHide

“Many of them, they were told they could never speak their language anymore, and only English. So it took effect, to many families it was very accurate that [for] years in their family they didn't know how to speak their language. But the more traditionalist ones, that maintained themselves to their family always came back, and they they kept that within themselves, how to speak, when to speak”

A critical time for language preservation.

"This is really a critical time for the language to be preserved..."

Audio transcriptHide

“This is vital. This is really a critical time for the language to be preserved and we’re losing more of our real traditional old speakers that could explain the dialects fully. You know, [name omitted] [is] one of the few that can do that.”

Interested in learning more about Yakama Nation?

Visit their official website at yakama.com