Published through the Recovering Languages and Literacies of the
Americas initiative, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon FoundationIn
this book of Native American language research and oral traditions,
linguist John Lyon collects Salish stories as told by
culture-bearer Lottie Lindley, one of the last Okanagan elders
whose formative years of language learning were unbroken by the
colonizing influence of English. Speaking in the Upper Nicola
dialect of Okanagan, a Southern Interior Salish language, Lindley
tells the stories that recount and reflect Salish culture, history,
and historical consciousness (including names of locales won in
battle with other interior peoples), coming-of-age rituals and
marriage rites, and tales that attest to the self-understanding of
the Salish people within their own history.
For each Okanagan Salish story, Lyon and Lindley offer a continuous
transcription followed by a collaborative English translation of
the story and an interlinear rendition with morphological
analysis. The presentation allows students of the dialect,
linguists, and those interested in Pacific Northwest and Interior
Plateau indigenous oral traditions unencumbered access to the
culture, history, and language of the Salish peoples. With few
native speakers left in the community, Okanagan Grouse Woman
contributes to the preservation, presentation, and—with
hope—maintenance and cultivation of a vital indigenous language and
the cultural traditions of the Interior Salish peoples.