Tellings from Our Elders

Oral stories form a portal through which rich cultural and linguistic information is passed from generation to generation. Traditional stories, called syeyehub in the Lushootseed language, are among the most valued oral traditions of the Coast Salish people of the southern and eastern shores of Puget Sound.

Tellings from Our Elders, Volume 2, presents nine syeyehub told in the Skagit River dialects, transcribed from recordings of the last generation of Elders who learned Lushootseed as an exclusive mother tongue. Presented in an interlinearized format with full morpheme-by-morpheme glosses and English translations, the stories open a doorway to important cultural knowledge, specialized vocabulary, and patterns of narrative stylistics typical of Coast Salish storytelling.