Don Addison Photo by Larry Johnson

Numu, Eecheeshkeen, and Kiksht

Arlie Neskahi:
Welcome back to Wisdom of the Elders.

Don Addison:           
Halito!  I’m Don Addision and this is Speaking Native.

At one time, about 35 different dialects of Kalapuya could be heard all along the Willamette Valley of western Oregon. The most important were the Tualatin or Atfalati in the north, Santiam in the central valley, and Yoncalla in the south. Among the Yoncalla Kalapuya, a formal welcoming greeting would be gampialax’wa, and for someone very special, ka’be could be used. Gampialax’wa—ka’be!

Until next time, yakoke!