Peter J. Seymour was a Salish storyteller. He carried forward earlier tales of elders along with his own experiences as fewer and fewer native speakers were sharing the Colville-Okanagan
language and oral literature. To thwart the demise of this language, over the course of a decade he passed along Salish stories not only to his family but also to linguist Anthony
Mattina.
The Complete Seymour: Colville Storyteller includes Seymour’s tales collected in the late 1960s and early 1970s, before his death. It documents Seymour’s rich storytelling and includes
detailed morphological analyses and translations of this endangered language. This collection is an important addition to the canon of Native American narratives and literature and an
essential volume for anyone studying Salish languages and linguistics.
