History

The Ichishkíin language is part of the Sahaptian language family, which spans across what is currently the Pacific Northwest. We have sibling languages in Warm Springs and Umatilla on the Oregon side of the Columbia River, and a cousin language in Nez Perce along the current Washington-Idaho border. There are many dialects and variations under "Yakama Ichishkíin" stemming from the tribes, bands, and families that comprise the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation.

In the 1970s, the Consortium of Johnson O'Malley Committees of Region 4 within the State of Washington began creating curriculum resources for school districts to use in their classroom teaching. This included the 1975 Yakima Practical Dictionary, overseen by Dr. Virginia Beavert (Tux̱ámshish) and Dr. Bruce Rigsby. Many school districts began offering language classes in this era.

In 2003, the Yakama Nation established the Language Program under the Division of Natural Resources to help document and create materials with our remaining elder Ichishkíin speakers. Mavis Kindness led the project for the first few years before her transition onto Tribal Council, when Lavina Wilkins stepped in. Lavina helped oversee the Master-Apprentice Project supported by ANA in 2010-2011. She continued to lead the program until 2019, when the program went dormant during the COVID lock-down. 

In 2009, the Ichishkíin Sɨ́nwit Yakama/Yakima Sahaptin Dictionary was published through the University of Washington Press by Dr. Virginia Beavert and Dr. Sharon Hargus.

In 2010, a linguistic grammar was finished by Dr. Joana Worth Jansen as her doctoral dissertation at the University of Oregon with the support of elder speaker Dr. Virginia Beavert.

In 2016, the Naami Sinwit app was developed by the Yakama Nation Tribal School with the support of Thornton Media. It is currently available on iOS platforms.

Many community organizations have also stepped up to help provide language programming, including the Heritage University Language Center and Ttáwax̱t Birth Justice Center.

In 2023, Keegan Livermore helped reawaken the program to continue serving the community. Now, in 2024, we have over half a dozen school districts, multiple universities, and several early childhood learning centers and community organizations working to help our community reconnect with our language. 

In 2003, tribal elders were interviewed about the state of our language. 50 fluent 1st generation fluent speakers were identified at that time, with 223 speakers at all levels of fluency were identified.

In 2012, a community survey was conducted that identified 37 remaining 1st generation fluent speakers, with 369 speakers at all levels of fluency identified.

In 2023, a community census was started that has identified 32 fluent speakers across generations. Information is still forthcoming about these results.