Ohlone languages

Last updated
Ohlone
Costanoan
Ethnicity Ohlone
Geographic
distribution		 San Francisco Bay Area
Linguistic classification Yok-Utian
Subdivisions
Glottolog cost1250
Ohlone color map.svg
Pre-contact distribution of the Ohlone languages
Notes
ISO 639-3 codes
  • krb : Karkin
  • cst : N. Costanoan
  • css : S. Costanoan

The Ohlone languages, also known as Costanoan, form a small Indigenous language family historically spoken in Northern California, both in the southern San Francisco Bay Area and northern Monterey Bay area, by the Ohlone people. Along with the Miwok languages, they are members of the Utian language family. The most recent work suggests that Ohlone, Miwok, and Yokuts are branches of a Yok-Utian language family. [1]

Contents

Myth of the Coyote in the Rumsen language recorded by Alfred Kroeber in 1902

Languages

Ohlone comprises eight attested varieties: Awaswas, Chalon, Chochenyo (also spelt as Chocheño), Karkin, Mutsun, Ramaytush, Rumsen, and Tamyen. Overall, divergence among these languages seems to have been roughly equivalent to that among the languages of the Romance sub-family of Indo-European languages. Neighboring groups seem to have been able to understand and speak to each other. [2]

The number and geographic distribution of Ohlone language divisions partially mirrors the distribution of Franciscan missions in their original lands. While the known languages are, in most cases, quite distinct, intermediate dialects may have been lost as local groups gathered at the missions. [3] A newly discovered text from Mission Santa Clara provides evidence that Chochenyo of the East Bay area and Tamyen of the Santa Clara Valley were closely related dialects of a single San Francisco Bay Ohlone language. [4] [5]

The last native speakers of Ohlone languages died by the 1950s. However, Chochenyo, Mutsun, and Rumsen are now in a state of revival (relearned from saved records). [6]

The classification below is based primarily on Callaghan (2001). Other classifications list Northern Costanoan, Southern Costanoan, and Karkin as single languages, with the following subgroups of each considered as dialects:

The Muwekma-Tah-Ruk theme house at Stanford University: Muwekma-Tah-Ruk means "house of the people" in Ohlone Muwekma-Tah-Ruk closeup.jpg
The Muwekma-Tah-Ruk theme house at Stanford University: Muwekma-Tah-Ruk means "house of the people" in Ohlone

More recently, Callaghan (2014) [7] groups Awaswas together with Mutsun as part of a South Central Costanoan subgroup with the Southern Costanoan branch.

Dialect or language debate

Regarding the eight Ohlone branches, sources differ on if they were eight language dialects, or eight separate languages. [8] Richard Levy, himself a linguist, contradicted himself on this point: First he said "Costanoans themselves were a set of tribelet [small tribes] who spoke a common language... distinguished from one another by slight differences in dialect"; however after saying that, he concluded: "The eight branches of the Costanoan family were separate languages (not dialects) as different from one another as Spanish is from French". [9] Randall Milliken [3] stated in 1995 that there were eight dialects, citing missionary-linguist Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta to the effect that the idioms seemed distinct as one traveled from mission to mission, but actually formed a dialect chain from one neighboring local tribe to another. Catherine Callaghan (1997, 2001), a linguist who steeped herself in the primary documents, offered evidence that the Costanoan languages were distinct, with only Ramaytush, Tamyen, and Chochenyo possibly being dialects of a single language. Milliken (2008), [10] himself an ethnohistorian and not a linguist, shifted his position in 2008 to follow Callaghan, referring to separate Costanoan languages rather than dialects.

Native placenames

The Ohlone native people belonged to one or more tribes, bands or villages, and to one or more of the eight linguistic group regions (as assigned by ethnolinguists). Native names listed in the mission records were, in some cases, clearly principal village names, in others the name assigned to the region of a "multifamily landholding group" (per Milliken). Although many native names have been written in historical records, the exact spelling and pronunciations were not entirely standardized in modern English. Ethnohistorians have resorted to approximating their indigenous regional boundaries as well. (The word that Kroeber coined to designate California tribes, bands and villages, tribelet , has been published in many records but is advisably offensive and incorrect, per the Ohlone people.) [11]

Many of the known tribal and village names were recorded in the California mission records of baptism, marriage, and death. Some names have come from Spanish and Mexican settlers, some from early Anglo-European travelers, and some from the memories of Native American informants. Speakers were natives still alive who could remember their group's native language and details. [12]

Some of the former tribe and village names were gleaned from the land maps (" diseños de terreno ") submitted by grantees in applying for Spanish and Mexican land grants or designs (" diseños ") that were drawn up in Alta California prior to the Mexican–American War. [13] In this regard, large amounts of untranslated material is available for research in the records of Clinton H. Merriam housed at the Bancroft Library, and more material continues to be published by local historical societies and associations. [14] [15]

Spelling and pronunciation

Many of the original sounds were first heard and copied down by Spanish missionaries using Spanish as a reference language, subject to human error, later translated into English and Anglicized over time. Spelling errors crept in as different missionaries kept separate records over a long period of time, under various administrators. Ethnohistorians Kroeber, Merriam, and others interviewed Ohlone speakers and were able to define some pronunciations on word lists. Ethnolinguists have used this to some advantage to create phonetic tables giving some semblance of languages, notably the Selected Costanoan Words by Merriam. [16]

Native words

A partial table of words comes from Indian Names for Plants and Animals Among California and other Western North American Tribes by Clinton Merriam. This published list covers 400 Ohlone words from interviews of native speakers. The Ohlone words listed are by "phonetic English" pronunciations. [17]

Selected Costanoan Words by Merriam [18]
English WordSchedule #56Schedule #57Word #
Salmon [19] Oo'-rahkHoo"-rah-ka247
Abalone Oo==ch [20] Hah-shan254
Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)–Ho-o-pe280
Valley Live Oak
(Quercus agrifolia or Quercus lobata) [21] 		Yū'KsYou-kish296
Big Round Tule [22] RōksRó-kus409
Legend:
  • Schedule # – record number of one more interviews, with one or more persons.
  • Word # – Merriam numbers his words for easy reference.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohlone</span> Native American people of the Northern California coast

The Ohlone, formerly known as Costanoans, are a Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the area along the coast from San Francisco Bay through Monterey Bay to the lower Salinas Valley. At that time they spoke a variety of related languages. The Ohlone languages make up a sub-family of the Utian language family. Older proposals place Utian within the Penutian language phylum, while newer proposals group it as Yok-Utian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rumsen language</span> Extinct Utian language of California

The Rumsen language is one of eight Ohlone languages, historically spoken by the Rumsen people of Northern California. The Rumsen language was spoken from the Pajaro River to Point Sur, and on the lower courses of the Pajaro, as well as on the Salinas and Carmel Rivers, and the region of the present-day cities of Salinas, Monterey and Carmel.

The Bay Miwok are a cultural and linguistic group of Miwok, a Native American people in Northern California who live in Contra Costa County. They joined the Franciscan mission system during the early nineteenth century, suffered a devastating population decline, and lost their language as they intermarried with other native California ethnic groups and learned the Spanish language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utian languages</span> Language family of Northern California, US

Utian is a family of Indigenous languages spoken in Northern California, United States. The Miwok and Ohlone peoples both spoke languages of the Utian language family. It has recently been argued that the Utian languages and Yokuts languages are sub-families of the Yok-Utian language family. Utian and Yokutsan have traditionally been considered part of the Penutian language phylum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramaytush</span> Linguistic subdivision of Ohlone people

The Ramaytush or Rammay-tuš people are a linguistic subdivision of the Ohlone people of Northern California. The term Ramaytush was first applied to them in the 1970s, but the modern Ohlone people of the peninsula have claimed it as their ethnonym. The ancestors of the Ramaytush Ohlone people have lived on the peninsula—specifically in the area known as San Francisco and San Mateo county—for thousands of years. Prior to the California Genocide, the Ohlone people were not consciously united as a singular socio-political entity. In the early twentieth century anthropologists and linguists began to refer to the Ramaytush Ohlone as San FranciscoCostanoans—the people who spoke a common dialect or language within the Costanoan branch of the Utian family. Anthropologists and linguists similarly called the Tamyen people Santa Clara Costanoans, and the Awaswas people Santa Cruz Costanoans.

The Karkin language is an extinct Ohlone language. It was formerly spoken in north central California, but by the 1950s there were no more native speakers. The language was historically spoken by the Karkin people, who lived in the Carquinez Strait region in the northeast portion of the San Francisco Bay estuary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chalon people</span>

The Chalon people are one of eight divisions of the Ohlone (Costanoan) people of Native Americans who lived in Northern California. Chalon is also the name of their spoken language, listed as one of the Ohlone languages of the Utian family. Recent work suggests that Chalon may be transitional between the northern and southern groups of Ohlone languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mutsun language</span> Extinct Utian language

Mutsun is a Utian language spoken in Northern California. It was the primary language of a division of the Ohlone people living in the Mission San Juan Bautista area. The Tamien Nation and Amah Mutsun band is currently working to restore the use of the language, using a modern alphabet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Awaswas</span> One of the Ohlone Native Americans of Northern California

The Awaswas, also known as the Santa Cruz people, were a group of the Indigenous peoples of California in North America, with subgroups historically numbering about 600 to 1,400. Academic research suggests that their ancestors had lived within the Santa Cruz Mountains region for approximately 12,000 years. The Awaswas maintained regular trade networks with regional cultures before the Spanish colonists began settling in the area from the 18th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamien people</span> Native American people of the Santa Clara Valley in Northern California

The Tamien people are one of eight linguistic divisions of the Ohlone (Costanoan) people groups of Native Americans who live in Northern California. The Tamien traditionally lived throughout the Santa Clara Valley. The use of the name Tamien is on record as early as 1777, it comes from the Ohlone name for the location of the first Mission Santa Clara on the Guadalupe River. Father Pena mentioned in a letter to Junipero Serra that the area around the mission was called Thamien by the native people. The missionary fathers erected the mission on January 17, 1777, at the native village of So-co-is-u-ka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chochenyo</span> Division of the Ohlone people of Northern California

The Chochenyo are one of the divisions of the Indigenous Ohlone (Costanoan) people of Northern California. The Chochenyo reside on the east side of the San Francisco Bay, primarily in what is now Alameda County, and also Contra Costa County, from the Berkeley Hills inland to the western Diablo Range.

The Chalon language is one of eight Ohlone languages, historically spoken by the Chalon people of Native Americans who lived in Northern California. Also called Soledad, it belongs to the one of the Ohlone languages of the Utian family. Recent work suggests that Chalon may be transitional between the northern and southern groups of Ohlone languages.

The Tamyen language is one of eight Ohlone languages, once spoken by Tamyen people in Northern California.

The Ramaytush language is one of the eight Ohlone languages, historically spoken by the Ramaytush people who were indigenous to California. Historically, the Ramaytush inhabited the San Francisco Peninsula between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean in the area which is now San Francisco and San Mateo Counties. Ramaytush is a dialect or language within the Ohlone branch of the Utian family. The term Ramaytush was first applied to it during the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rumsen people</span> Indigenous people of California, US

The Rumsen are one of eight groups of the Ohlone, an indigenous people of California. Their historical territory included coastal and inland areas within what is now Monterey County, California, including the Monterey Peninsula.

The Karkin people are one of eight Ohlone peoples, indigenous peoples of California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Awaswas language</span> Extinct Ohlone language

Awaswas, or Santa Cruz, is one of eight Ohlone languages. It was historically spoken by the Awaswas people, an indigenous people of California.

Chochenyo is the spoken language of the Chochenyo people. Chochenyo is one of the Ohlone languages in the Utian family.

References

  1. ↑ Utian and Penutian classification: Levy 1978 , p. 485–486 (citing Kroeber), Callaghan 1997 , Golla 2007 . Yok-Utian as a taxonomic category: Callaghan 1997 , Callaghan 2001 ; Golla 2007 , p. 76
  2. ↑ Names of dialects or languages: Levy 1978 , p. 485; Teixeira 1997 , p. 33–34; Milliken 1995 , p. 24–26. For the assertion they are dialects of one language, refer to Milliken 1995 , p. 24–26 (an ethnohistorian, not a linguist), who cited missionary-linguist Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta to that effect. Levy 1978 , p. 485 (a linguist) asserted they were distinct languages, but he contradicted himself on same page. Callaghan (1997, 2001), a linguist who steeped herself in the primary documents, offered evidence that the languages were separate, with only Ramaytush, Tamyen, and Chochenyo possibly being dialects of a single language. Milliken 2008 , p. 6 followed Callaghan, referring to separate languages rather than dialects.
  3. 1 2 Milliken 1995, p. 24–26.
  4. ↑ Blevins & Golla 2005.
  5. ↑ Forbes 1968 , p. 184, an ethnohistorian, introduced the term Muwekma for a hypothetical northern division of the Costanoan language family, with an Ohlone subdivision (San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Jose dialects) and a Huchiun–Karkin division. Beeler 1961 , Levy 1978, and Callaghan 1997 , all linguists, consider the Santa Cruz and Karkin dialects completely distinct from any of the other dialects grouped by Forbes.
  6. ↑ for extinction classification, Gordon 2005 (krb, cst, css); For revitalization claims see external links section, revitalization articles.
  7. ↑ Callaghan 2014, p. 17.
  8. ↑ For the names of the languages, see Levy 1978 , p. 485; Teixeira 1997 , p. 33–34; and Milliken 1995 , p. 24–26. The latter two both cite Levy 1978 , p. 485 as their source.
  9. ↑ Levy 1978, p. 485, "Language and Territory".
  10. ↑ Milliken 2008, p. 6.
  11. ↑ Milliken 1995:13n and Appendix I; Term "tribelet" not accepted by many Native American scholars and others, per Bean 1994 , p. 299–300, article by Leventhal et al.
  12. ↑ Village Names: Cook 1976b , attributes a good village name list to Merriam's assistant. "Informant" interviews were made as early as 1890, and as late as the 1940s. Mainly from Bancroft (earliest), Kroeber and Merriam (published 1970s posthumously via R. F. Heizer and others).
  13. ↑ For example of a Diseño de terreno, see Diseño de terreno de la Misión Dolores, 1854, from the Bancroft Library.
  14. ↑ Merriam 1979, "Preface".
  15. ↑ Teixeira 1997.
  16. ↑ Discussion of spelling, translation and mission record variances, Milliken 1995. Phonetic tables: Merriam 1979
  17. ↑ Phonetic tables, Merriam, 1979. See also "C. Hart Merriam" biography and endorsement, Teixeira 1997 , p. 33–34
  18. ↑ Merriam 1979.
  19. ↑ While Merriam does not list the species, it is most likely Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), and less likely pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha); although both ply in both bay areas.
  20. ↑ The double equals require a ch over them, as listed.
  21. ↑ Merriam listed Valley Live Oak. Since that is not a listed species, he probably meant either Coast Live Oak or Valley Oak.
  22. ↑ Merriam listed Big round tule. Since that species is NOT in California, he must mean one of the Bay Area tules possibly Scirpus lacustris . (See California Indian Watercraft by Richard W. Cunningham. 1989:36)

Bibliography

  • Callaghan, Catherine (2014). "Proto-Utian Grammar and Dictionary: with notes on Yokuts". Trends in Linguistics Documentation. 31. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. doi:10.1515/9783110276770.
  • Levy, Richard (1978). "Costanoan". In Heizer, Robert F.; Sturtevant, William C. (eds.). Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 485–495. ISBN   0-16-004578-9.
  • Kroeber, Alfred Louis (1910). The Chumash and Costanoan languages. Berkeley, The University Press. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
  • Milliken, Randall (1995). A Time of Little Choice: The Disintegration of Tribal Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area 1769–1910. Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press Publication. ISBN   0-87919-132-5.
  • Milliken, Randall (2008). Native Americans at Mission San Jose. Banning, CA: Malki-Ballena Press. ISBN   978-0-87919-147-4.
  • Teixeira, Lauren (1997). The Costanoan/Ohlone Indians of the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Area, A Research Guide. Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press Publication. ISBN   0-87919-141-4.

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