MASS IN KUMEYAAY

During the summer of 2009 we re-introduced some Kumeyaay responses to the prayers during Mass. The following are audio samples of how the prayers are to be said and included.  You will hear Fr. Dick Landry and Haley Price:

1 - Intro

2 - Format

3 - Introduction & Penitential Rite

4 - Opening Prayer & Explanation

5 - Final Blessing

6 - Prayer to the 4 Directions

7 - Explanation of the Kumeyaay Words

The Order of the Mass in Kumeyaay

Overview                

 Introduction - Click Here 

 Format - Click Here 

 Some Words Explained Order of Mass - Click Here 

1. Introductory Rites:

Greeting and Penitential Rite  - Click Here 

Opening Prayer - Click Here

Greeting The Sign of the Cross:  

In the name of the Father  -  EN-TAATEM AYIPE

and of the Son  -  WHOMAAY 

and of the Holy Spirit  -  AMIAHAA MUGGHOW

Amen  -  INYAAGE  ATCHPAY   

God be with you  -  AMIAHAA  AMIYIPE       

Penitential Rite:     

Lord, have mercy  -  AMIAHAA, MECHAACH KECHEM WHOMAAY,  MECHAACH KECHEM AMIAHAA MUGGHOW, MECHAACH KECHEM  

2.  Liturgy of the Word - Click Here

Liturgy of the Word:

Readings - After the 1st & 2nd Readings, lector says:  -  AMIAHAA MA-AA   (This is the Word of the Lord)  The Assembly responds:  -  AMIAHAA UUHAYAE           (Thanks be to God)

3. Offertory – Presentation of the Gifts - Click Here

Offertory – Presentation of the Gifts:  

Priest: Blessed are You, Lord God of all creation, through your goodness we have this bread…. wine…. to offer…. etc.  

The Assembly responds:  -  AMIAHAA EYAY  AAHAAN AKURRUM PAYO  (Blessed be God forever)

4. Eucharist Prayer – Preface - Click Here

Eucharistic Prayer:

Preface - Priest:  -  AMIAHAA AMAYIPE  (God be with you)

Assembly:  -  AMIAHAA  AMAYIPE

Priest:  -  YACHICH  KUUMAAN  (Lift up your hearts)

Assembly:  -  INUWAP  YACHICH  UUMAAN  (We lift them up to the Lord)

Priest:  -  AMIAHAA INUWAP EWIP UUHAYAE  (Let us give thanks to the Lord our God)

Assembly:  -  AMIAHAA EHAN WIN UUHAYAE  CHAAHAAY  (It is right to give Him thanks and praise)

​5. Prayer of the Directions - Click Here

Prayer of the Directions is said just before the Great Amen.

6. Final Blessing - Click Here

Final Blessing  

Priest:  -  AMIAHAA AMAYIPE

Assembly:  -  AMIAHAA AMAYIPE  

Priest: May almighty God bless you   In the name of the Father,  -  EN-TAATEM AYIPE

and of the Son,  -  WHOMAAY 

and of the Holy Spirit  -  AMIAHAA MUGGHOW

Amen  -  INYAAGE  ATCHPAY   

Priest: Let us go in peace

​Assembly:  -  AMIAHAA UUHAYAE  (Thanks be to God)

History of the Kumeyaay Language

The Kumeyaay language was traditionally spoken in the southern parts of what is now San Diego County and northwest Baja California. 

There are two main varieties of Kumeyaay: Ipai and Tipai. In pre-contact times, there may have been 3000 speakers (Kroeber 1925). 

Today, Kumeyaay is spoken by 140-150 people (Golla 2011).Kumeyaay (also called "Diegueño") is a member of the Yuman language family. Within Yuman, it is most closely related to Cocopa (spoken in pre-contact times around the Colorado River Delta in Mexico), and more distantly to Kiliwa (spoken in Baja California), Maricopa, Mojave, Pai (spoken in Arizona), Paipai (spoken in Baja California), and Quechan. 

Together, the Yuman languages comprise one branch of the hypothesized Hokan language family, the other members of which are Chimariko, Esselen, Karuk, the Palaihnihan languages (Achumawi and Atsugewi), the Pomoan languages (Central Pomo, Eastern Pomo, Kashaya, Northeastern Pomo, Northern Pomo, Southeastern Pomo, and Southern Pomo), Salinan, the Shastan languages (Konomihu, New River Shasta, Okwanuchu, and Shasta), Washo, and Yana.Grammatical information.

The first grammar of Kumeyaay was written by Margaret Langdon, whose fieldnotes are now at the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. Langdon designed a practical Kumeyaay writing system which is in use today; we will also use it here. 

Kumeyaay has 26 consonants: bilabial p, v, m, w; dental t, s, n, r (flap); alveolar tt, ss, nn, l, ll (voiceless), nn and rr (trill); palatal ch, ny, ly, lly (voiceless), y; velar k, x; labiovelar kw, xw; postvelar q, and glottal stop ('). It has four vowels (a, i, o, u) long and short, and the reduced vowel schwa, represented in the orthography as e.

Besides basic noun stems, new stems can be formed through reduplication and coumpounding, or derivation from verbs. Nouns in Kumeyaay are marked for possession, with kinship terms, body parts and alienably possessed nouns marked differently from each other. Nouns have a relatively robust case system, including subject, object, indirect object, instrumental case, and a number of locationals and directionals.

Like many other California languages, verbal morphology is very rich. Complex verb stems can be derived from over twenty classificatory prefixes indicating action upon or by means of various shapes, sizes, quantities and body parts. For example:aa- long object, as in aa-xwaarr 'to scrape with a knife,' aa-ull 'to lay a long object on top of'ch- numerous objects/motions, as in ch-xwaarr 'to scour, to bunch', ch-ull 'to put several on top'chuu- by means of the mouth, as in chuu-katt 'to bite off', chuu-kwarr 'to preach'Kumeyaay also has plural forms of stems, with various formal processes used to mark a range of pluractionality concepts, including collective and distributive actions, subjects or objects. 

The processes include lengthening or shortening of nonplural stem, infixation of –ch- (with several allomorphs) or –uu-, prefixes p- and n-, suffixation of –p or –ch, reduplication and suppletion. Several of these can show up on the same form:aaull 'to lay a long object on top of' → aachuullaa 'to go' → naaxemay 'look for' → xuumaypaakekwii 'ask a question' → akechewiichpam 'get there' → nekemich 'several get there'

There are a large number of reduplicated forms indicating repeated sounds, motions or designs, e.g.'aatt 'aatt,'to rock back and forth like a rocking horse'; xekall xekall 'to be scalloped'; 'exmirkexmirk 'to chuckle'. Kumeyaay has extensive sound symbolism expressed through consonant alternations, mainly between sonorants: e.g. kwir 'to spin (like a top)'; xekwirr 'to weave'; kwilkwil 'to flutter'; kwillkwill 'swinging, dangling'.Kumeyaay has portmanteau person prefixes marking both subject and object. 

There are a set of auxiliary verbs deriving from verbs for movement or position but utilized to indicate both position/movement and aspect. 

Kumeyaay exhibits “switch-reference” marking, where if two verbs in sequence have the same subject, the first verb will use one suffix (-ch), and if they have different subjects, the first verb will use (-m). 

Example:

nyatewaa-c,

'iikwic

'exin

tuuyuuw-m

ewuuw.

when.he.was.there-same.subjmanonehe.saw-switch.subjhe.was.standing'When he was there, he saw a man standing there.'Selected archival materials at BerkeleyCalifornia Language Archive: "Kumeyaay"

Further Reading

Couro, Ted and Christina Hutcheson. 1973. Dictionary of Mesa Grande Diegueño: 'Iipay aa-English/English-'Iipay aa. Banning, CA: Malki Museum Press.Couro, Ted and Margaret Langdon. 1975. Let's talk 'Iipay aa: An introduction to the Mesa Grande Diegueño language. Banning, CA: Malki Museum Press.

Golla, Victor. 2011. California Indian languages. Berkeley: University of California Press.Langdon, Margaret. 1970. 

A grammar of Diegueño: The Mesa Grande dialect. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Miller, Amy. 2001. 

A grammar of Jamal Tiipay. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Links

Barona Band of Mission Indians

Campo Kumeyaay Nation

Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians

Jamul Indian Village

La Posta Band of Mission Indians

OLAC Resources in and about the Kumiai language

San Pasqual Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of California

Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation

Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians

World Atlas of Language Structures: Jamul Tiipay

World Atlas of Language Structures: Mesa Grande Diegueño