Upper Umpqua language

Last updated
(Upper) Umpqua
Native to USA
Region Oregon (Umpqua Valley)
Extinct ca. 1950
Language codes
ISO 639-3 xup
xup
  qhk (not ISO)
Glottolog uppe1436
Lang Status 01-EX.svg
Upper Umpqua is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
[1]

Upper Umpqua is an extinct Athabaskan language formerly spoken along the south fork of the Umpqua River in west-central Oregon by Upper Umpqua (Etnemitane) people in the vicinity of modern Roseburg. It has been extinct for at least fifty years and little is known about it other than it belongs to the same Oregon Athabaskan cluster of Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages as the Lower Rogue River language, Upper Rogue River language and Chetco-Tolowa.

The most important documentation of Upper Umpqua is the extensive vocabulary obtained by Horatio Hale in 1841 (published in Hale 1846). Melville Jacobs and John P. Harrington were able to collect fragmentary data from the last speakers as late as the 1940s (Golla 2011:70-72). Although known to early explorers and settlers as Umpqua, the language is now usually called Upper Umpqua to distinguish it from the unrelated Oregon Coast Penutian language Lower Umpqua (Kuitsh or Siuslaw language) that was spoken closer to the coast in the same area.

Related Research Articles

The Coquille are a Native American people who historically lived in the Coquille River watershed and nearby coast south of Coos Bay. They were signatories of the Oregon Coast Tribes Treaty of 1855 and were subsequently removed to the Siletz Reservation in northwestern Oregon in 1856. Most Coquille people today live there as members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, but some whose ancestors remained in the traditional homeland or fled the reservation now make up the Coquille Indian Tribe, centered in southwest Oregon where the Coos River flows into Coos Bay.

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

The Umpqua people are an umbrella group of several distinct tribal entities of Native Americans of the Umpqua Basin in present-day south central Oregon in the United States. The area south of Roseburg is now known as the Umpqua Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athabaskan languages</span> Group of indigenous languages of North America

Athabaskan is a large family of Indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific Coast and Southern. Kari and Potter (2010:10) place the total territory of the 53 Athabaskan languages at 4,022,000 square kilometres (1,553,000 sq mi).

The Tututni tribe is a historic Native American tribe, one of Lower Rogue River Athabascan tribes from southwestern Oregon who signed the 1855 Coast Treaty, and were removed to the Siletz Indian Reservation in Oregon. They traditionally lived along the Rogue River and its tributaries, near the Pacific Coast between the Coquille River on the north and Chetco River in the south. Lower Rogue River Athabascan tribes are a group of Athabascan tribes who were historically located in southwestern Oregon in the United States and speak the same Athabascan language, known as Lower Rogue River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Umpqua River</span> River in Oregon, United States

The Umpqua River on the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States is approximately 111 miles (179 km) long. One of the principal rivers of the Oregon Coast and known for bass and shad, the river drains an expansive network of valleys in the mountains west of the Cascade Range and south of the Willamette Valley, from which it is separated by the Calapooya Mountains. From its source northeast of Roseburg, the Umpqua flows northwest through the Oregon Coast Range and empties into the Pacific at Winchester Bay. The river and its tributaries flow almost entirely within Douglas County, which encompasses most of the watershed of the river from the Cascades to the coast. The "Hundred Valleys of the Umpqua" form the heart of the timber industry of southern Oregon, generally centered on Roseburg.

The Siletz were the southernmost of several divisions of the Tillamook people speaking a distinct dialect; the other dialect-divisions were: Salmon River on the Salmon River, Nestucca on Little Nestucca River, Nestucca River and Nestucca Bay, Tillamook Bay on the Tillamook Bay and the mouths of the Kilchis, Wilson, Trask and Tillamook rivers, and Nehalem on Nehalem River. The name "Siletz" comes from the name of the Siletz River on which they live. The origin of the name is unknown

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coosan languages</span> Language family of Oregon, US

The Coosan language family consists of two languages spoken along the southern Oregon coast. Both languages are now extinct.

Pacific Coast Athabaskan is a geographical and possibly genealogical grouping of the Athabaskan language family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Takelma language</span> Extinct Native American language formerly spoken in Oregon

Takelma is the language that was spoken by the Latgawa and Takelma peoples and the Cow Creek band of Upper Umpqua, in Oregon, USA. The language was extensively described by the German-American linguist Edward Sapir in his graduate thesis, The Takelma Language of Southwestern Oregon (1912). Sapir’s grammar together with his Takelma Texts (1909) are the main sources of information on the language. Both are based on work carried out in 1906 with language consultant Frances Johnson, who lived on to become the last surviving fluent speaker. In 1934, with her death at the age of 99, the language became extinct. An English-Takelma dictionary is currently being created on the basis of printed sources with the aim of reviving the language.

The Tolowa language is a member of the Pacific Coast subgroup of the Athabaskan language family. Together with three other closely related languages it forms a distinctive Oregon Athabaskan cluster within the subgroup.

The Tolowa people or Taa-laa-wa Dee-ni’ are a Native American people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethno-linguistic group. Two rancherías still reside in their traditional territory in northwestern California. Those removed to the Siletz Reservation in Oregon are located there.

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in the United States is a federally recognized confederation of more than 27 Native American tribes and bands who once inhabited an extensive homeland of more than 20 million acres from northern California to southwest Washington and between the summit of the Cascades and the Pacific Ocean. After the Rogue River Wars, these tribes were removed to the Coast Indian Reservation, now known as the Siletz Reservation. The tribes spoke at least 11 distinct languages, including Tillamook, Shasta, Lower Chinook, Kalapuya, Takelma, Alsea-Yaquina, Siuslaw/Lower Umpqua, Coos, the Plateau Penutian languages Molala and Klickitat, and several related Oregon Athabaskan languages.

Cahto is an extinct Athabaskan language that was formerly spoken by the Kato people of the Laytonville and Branscomb area at the head of the South Fork of the Eel River. It is one of the four languages belonging to the California Athabaskan cluster of the Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages. Most Kato speakers were bilingual in Northern Pomo and some also spoke Yuki.

Siuslaw was the language of the Siuslaw people and Lower Umpqua (Kuitsh) people of Oregon. It is also known as Lower Umpqua. The Siuslaw language had two dialects: Siuslaw proper (Šaayušƛa) and Lower Umpqua (Quuiič).

The Coast Oregon Penutian languages are a proposed family of three small languages or language clusters on the Oregon Coast that has moderate support. Although much of their similarity is demonstrably due to language contact, linguists such as Scott DeLancey believe they may be genealogically related at a greater time depth. They are part of the much more hypothetical Penutian proposal.

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

Mattole, or Mattole–Bear River, is an extinct Athabaskan language once spoken by the Mattole and Bear River peoples of northern California. It is one of the four languages belonging to the California Athabaskan cluster of the Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages. It was found in two locations: in the valley of the Mattole River, immediately south of Cape Mendocino on the coast of northwest California, and a distinct dialect on Bear River, about 10 miles to the north.

Molala is an extinct language once spoken by the Molala people of Oregon. Currently it is included among the Plateau Penutian language family, with Klamath and Sahaptin being considered the closest related.

Galice, or Galice-Applegate or Upper Rogue River, is an extinct Athabaskan language once spoken by the two Upper Rogue River Athabaskan tribes, the Galice tribe and Applegate tribe of southwestern Oregon. It was spoken on the "Galice Creek and Applegate River, tributaries of the Rogue River in southwestern Oregon. There were at least two distinct dialects the Galice Creek and Applegate, but only the Galice Creek dialect is well documented."

Tututni, also known as Upper Coquille, (Lower) Rogue River and Nuu-wee-ya, is an Athabaskan language once spoken by three Tututni tribes: Tututni tribe, Coquille tribe, and Chasta Costa tribe who are part of the Rogue River Indian peoples of southwestern Oregon. In 2006 students at Linfield College participated in a project to "revitalize the language." It is one of the four languages belonging to the Oregon Athabaskan cluster of the Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages.

The Takelma–Kalapuyan languages are a proposed small language family that comprises the Kalapuyan languages and Takelma, which are spoken in the Willamette Valley and the Rogue Valley in the U.S. state of Oregon.

References

  1. Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (Report) (3rd ed.). UNESCO. 2010. p. 11.