Chochenyo language explained

Chochenyo
Nativename:Čočeño, East Bay
States:United States (California)
Ethnicity:Chochenyo people
Extinct:1934, with the death of José Guzmán[1]
Revived:early 2000s
Revived-Cat:Native American language revitalization
Familycolor:American
Fam1:Yok-Utian
Fam2:Utian
Fam3:Ohlone
Fam4:Northern
Fam5:San Francisco Bay
Script:Latin
Iso3:none
Iso3comment:(included in [cst])
Glotto:east2548
Glottorefname:East Bay [Costanoan]
Elp:7409
Elpname:San Francisco Bay Costanoan (shared)
Map:File:Chochenyo_map.svg
Mapcaption:Map of Chochenyo varieties

Chochenyo (also called Chocheño, Northern Ohlone and East Bay Costanoan) is the spoken language of the Chochenyo people. Chochenyo is one of the Ohlone languages in the Utian family.

Description and history

Linguistically, Chochenyo, Tamyen and Ramaytush are thought to have been dialects of a single language, but Tamyen and Ramaytush are very poorly attested. The speech of the last two native speakers of Chochenyo was documented in the 1920s in the unpublished fieldnotes of the Bureau of American Ethnology linguist John Peabody Harrington. The final native speaker of the language was José Guzmán who died in 1934 in Niles, California.The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, which (as of 2007)[2] is petitioning for U.S. federal recognition, has made efforts to revive the language. As of 2004, "the Chochenyo database being developed by the tribe ... [contained] from 1,000 to 2,000 basic words."[3] [1] By 2009, many students were able to carry on conversations in the Chochenyo language. Through both successful word formation, as well as extending documented words, the Chochenyo dictionary has grown significantly throughout the early 21st century. During the canonization of Saint Junípero Serra on September 23, 2015, the first reading at Mass was read in Chochenyo by Vincent Medina.[4]

Phonology

Consonants[5]

LabialDental/
alveolar
RetroflexPalatalVelarGlottal
Nasalpronounced as /link/ (m)pronounced as /link/ (n)pronounced as /nʲ/ (nY)
Plosivepronounced as /link/ (p)pronounced as /link/ (t)pronounced as /link/ (ṭ)pronounced as /link/ (k)pronounced as /link/ (')
Affricatepronounced as /link/ (ts)pronounced as /link/ (č)
Fricativepronounced as /link/ (s)pronounced as /link/ (š)pronounced as /link/ (x)pronounced as /link/ (h)
Approximantpronounced as /link/ (w)pronounced as /link/ (l)pronounced as /link/ (y)
Flappronounced as /link/ (r)
Vowels!! Front! Back
Closepronounced as /link/pronounced as /link/
Close-midpronounced as /link/
Open-midpronounced as /link/
Openpronounced as /link/

The vowels can be long or short. Prolongation is shown by repeating the vowel.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: California magazine. https://web.archive.org/web/20080404221853/http://www.alumni.berkeley.edu/Alumni/Cal_Monthly/September_2004/A_faith_in_words.asp. dead. April 4, 2008. Apr 4, 2008. Dec 18, 2019.
  2. News: Ron Russell . 2007-03-28 . The Little Tribe That Could. As descendants of San Francisco's aboriginal people, the Muwekma Ohlone Indian tribe seldom gets much respect. But that could be about to change. . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230225155543/https://www.sfweekly.com/archives/the-little-tribe-that-could/article_c2a92470-2ed3-5182-8c69-5145d73fe558.html . 2023-02-25 . 2024-05-14 . SF Weekly.
  3. News: Kathleen Maclay. 06.04.2004 - Conferences focus on saving native languages. UC Berkeley News. 2012-07-23. 2004-06-04.
  4. September 23, 2015 . Canonization Mass for Junipero Serra . Latin, Spanish, English, Chochenyo . 67 . 2023-08-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230814173510/https://www.c-span.org/video/?328177-1/canonization-mass-junipero-serra . 2023-08-14 . Washington . C-SPAN . bot: unknown .
  5. Web site: Harrington. John Peabody. Chochenyo Linguistics Notes. siris-archives.si.edu. Smithsonian Institution.