Chumashan languages explained

Chumash
Ethnicity:	Chumash
International Status:	federally recognized tribe
Region:	southern coastal California
Familycolor:	American
Family:	One of the world's primary language families
Glotto:	chum1262
Glottorefname:	Chumashan
Child1:	Northern Chumash (Obispeño)
Child2:	Central Chumash (Purisimeño, Ineseño, Barbareño and Ventureño)
Child3:	Island Chumash
Map:	Chumash langs.png
Mapcaption:	Pre-contact distribution of Chumashan languages
Iso3:	chs
Iso3comment:	retired
Extinct:	1965, with the death of Mary Yee

Chumashan is an extinct and revitalizing family of languages that were spoken on the southern California coast by Native American Chumash people, from the Coastal plains and valleys of San Luis Obispo to Malibu, neighboring inland and Transverse Ranges valleys and canyons east to bordering the San Joaquin Valley, to three adjacent Channel Islands: San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz.^[1]

The Chumashan languages may be, along with Yukian and perhaps languages of southern Baja California such as Waikuri, one of the oldest language families established in California, before the arrival of speakers of Penutian, Uto-Aztecan, and perhaps even Hokan languages. Chumashan, Yukian, and southern Baja languages are spoken in areas with long-established populations of a distinct physical type. The population in the core Chumashan area has been stable for the past 10,000 years. However, the attested range of Chumashan is recent (within a couple thousand years). There is internal evidence that Obispeño replaced a Hokan language and that Island Chumash mixed with a language very different from Chumashan; the islands were not in contact with the mainland until the introduction of plank canoes in the first millennium AD.^[2]

Although some say the Chumashan languages are now extinct or dormant, language revitalization programs are underway with four of these Chumashan languages. These languages are well-documented in the unpublished fieldnotes of linguist John Peabody Harrington. Especially well documented are Barbareño, Ineseño, and Ventureño. The last native speaker of a Chumashan language was Barbareño speaker Mary Yee, who died in 1965.

Family division

Languages

Six Chumashan languages are attested, all now extinct. However, most of them are in the process of revitalization, with language programs and classes. Contemporary Chumash people now prefer to refer to their languages by native names rather than the older names based on the local missions.

• Chumashan
  • Northern Chumash
    • Obispeño (also known as Northern Chumash)
      Also known as Tilhini by students of the language, after the name of the major village near which the mission was founded.
  • Southern Chumash
    • Island Chumash (mixed with non-Chumash)
      • Island Chumash (also known as Ysleño, Isleño, Cruzeño)
        Was spoken on the three inhabited islands in the Santa Barbara Channel Islands: Santa Rosa, San Miguel, and Santa Cruz.
    • Central Chumash
      • Purisimeño
      • Samala (Ineseño)
        Also spelled Sʰamala, spoken by the Santa Ynez Band. Currently being revived.
      • Šmuwič (Barbareño)
        Also spelled Shmuwich by students of the language and community members. This is the name for the language and the people; it means "coastal." Currently being revived.
      • Mitsqanaqa'n (Ventureño)
        Students of the language and community members renamed the language after the name of a major village near which the mission was founded.

Obispeño was the most divergent Chumashan language. The Central Chumash languages include Purisimeño, Ineseño, Barbareño and Ventureño. There was a dialect continuum across this area, but the form of the language spoken in the vicinity of each mission was distinct enough to qualify as a different language.

There is very little documentation of Purisimeño. Ineseño, Barbareño and Ventureño each had several dialects, although documentation usually focused on just one. Island Chumash had different dialects on Santa Cruz Island and Santa Rosa Island, but all speakers were relocated to the mainland in the early 19th century. John Peabody Harrington conducted fieldwork on all the above Chumashan languages, but obtained the least data on Island Chumash, Purisimeño, and Obispeño. There is no linguistic data on Cuyama, though ethnographic data suggests that it was likely Chumash (Interior Chumash).

Post-contact

The languages are named after the local Franciscan Spanish missions in California where Chumashan speakers were relocated and aggregated between the 1770s and 1830s:

• Obispeño—Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa
• Purisimeño—Mission La Purísima Concepción
• Ineseño—Mission Santa Inés
• Barbareño—Mission Santa Barbara
• Ventureño—Mission San Buenaventura

Genetic relations

Roland Dixon and Alfred L. Kroeber suggested that the Chumashan languages might be related to the neighboring Salinan in a Iskoman grouping.^[3] Edward Sapir accepted this speculation and included Iskoman in his classification of Hokan.^[4] More recently it has been noted that Salinan and Chumashan shared only one word, which the Chumashan languages probably borrowed from Salinan (the word for 'white clam shell', which was used as currency).^[5] As a result, the inclusion of Chumashan into Hokan is now disfavored by most specialists, and the consensus is that Chumashan has no identified linguistic relatives.^[6]

Characteristics

The Chumashan languages are well known for their consonant harmony (regressive sibilant harmony). Mithun presents a scholarly synopsis of Chumashan linguistic structures.^[7]

Vowels

The Central Chumash languages all have a symmetrical six-vowel system. The distinctive high central vowel is written various ways, including pronounced as /<ɨ>/ "barred I," pronounced as /<ə>/ "schwa" and pronounced as /<ï>/ "I umlaut." Contemporary users of the languages favor pronounced as //ɨ// or pronounced as //ə//.

Vowels of Central Chumash

	Front	Central	Back
High	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /ɨ/ə/	pronounced as /link/
Low	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/

Striking features of this system include

• Low-vowel harmony within morphemes: Within a single morpheme, adjacent low vowels match: they are both or all front /e/, central /a/ or back /o/. Pan-Central examples:

expeč "to sing" — I/B/V

ʼosos "heel" — I/B/V

ʼasas "chin" — I/B/V

• Low-vowel harmony as a process: Many prefixes include a low vowel which shows up as /a/ when the vowel of the following syllable is high. When the vowel of the following syllable is low, the vowel of the prefix assimilates to (or "harmonizes" with) the front-central-back quality of the following vowel. The verb prefix kal- "of cutting" illustrates this process in the following Barbareño examples, where the /l/ may drop out:

kamasix "to cut into three pieces" — kal- + masix "three"

keseqen "to cut out" — kal- + seqen "to remove"

qoloq " to make or bore a hole, cut a hole in — kal- + loq "to be perforated"

katun "to cut into two pieces" — kal- + =tun "of two, being two"

Consonants

The Central Chumash languages have a complex inventory of consonants. All of the consonants except /h/ can be glottalized; all of the consonants except /h/, /x/ and the liquids can be aspirated.

Proto-language

Proto-Chumash
Familycolor:	American
Target:	Chumashan languages

Proto-Chumash reconstructions by Klar (1977):^[8]

no.	gloss	Proto-Chumash	Proto-Southern Chumash	notes
1	advise, to	si/umun
2	all		yimlaʔ
3	alone	l-ho
4	already	kVla-
5	ant	tkaya’		plus sound symbolism
6	armpit	ti/uq’olo(lo)		stem: *q'olo(lo)
7	arrive	ki/um
8	arrow		ya'
9		l’VmV
10	ascend	-nVpa
11	ashamed, to be	-nos-
12	ashes	qSa
13	ask, to	-VsqVnV
14	back (body part)	mVtV’
15	ball	-apapa		reduplicated stem
16	bat (animal)	mVkala
17	bathe, to	k-ep’
18	bear (animal)	qus
19	bee	olo		plus sound symbolism
20	begin, to	-nVna’		reduplicated stem?
21	blow, to	aq-(tV)-p-; *-kVt	-wu-
22	boil, to	-wi-
23	bone	Se
24	bow (noun)	aqa
25	break, to	k’oto; *eqe
26	breast	kVtet
27	breathe; breath	kal-haS; *-haS
28	bring, to	kVlhi
29	burn, to	qi/ut
30	cost, to	piw’
31	carry, to	kum
32	carry on back, to	sVpV
33	cheek		po'
34	chest (body part)	kVwV
35	chia	’epV-
36	canoe		tomolo
37	clitoris	Cele ~ *C’ele
38	cold, to feel	toqom ~ *qotom
39	comb, to	ti/ukikS
40	come, to	yit-i; *VlhVw
41	concerned with, to be	tak
42	cooked	pSel
43	cough, to	oqoqo-		reduplicated stem; onomatopoetic
44	cover, to	Vqmay
45	crack, split, to	-eqe
46	cut, to	’iwa		plus reduplication
47	dark-colored, to be	Soy
48	day	qSi; *-iSa-
49	deaf	tu’
50	deep	l-hiy
51	die, to	qSa
52	dirt	uyu
53	drink; thirsty, to be	aq-mihi-l-ha; *o-
54	ear	tu’
55	earth		šup
56	eat, to	uw
57	eye, face	tVq
58	eyes, face, having to do with	weqe
59	far, to be	mVkV
60	fat	qilhi
61	fight, to	aqi/u
62	fire	ne
63	flower	pey’
64	flea	-tep (Proto-Central Chumash)
65	fly (insect)	axulpes
66	follow, to	pey
67	food (cf. eat)	uw-		uw- 'eat' plus *-mu (nominalizing suffix)
68	foot	teme’
69	forget, to	may
70	full from eating, to be	qti’
71	get up, to	kVta’
72		pSoSo		reduplicated stem
73	grasshopper	ti/uqu		root: *-qu
74	gull sp.	miyV
75	hair, fur	SuSV		reduplicated stem?
76	hand	pu
77	hang, to	wayan ~ *waya
78	hear, to	taq
79	heel	’ososo		reduplicated stem
80	hello (greeting)	haku
81	hole	loq
82	hole, cave, den	Si ~ *SiSV
83	homosexual, to be	’aqi’
84		mom’oy		from *moy
85	knee	pVm’V
86	knife	’iw
87	lie down, to	toy’ ~ *ton’
88	liver	c-al’a
89	look, to	kuti ~ *kuti’
90	louse	Seke
91	low tide	qVw
92	many, much	equ
93	meat, body	’Vmin’
94	moist, to be	so’
95	money; clam sp.	’ala-qu-Cum ~ *’ana-qu-Cum		Cum is the root
96	mosquito	pewe(we)’
97	mother-in-law	mVSV
98		tVkem’
99	mouse	qlo		plus reduplication
100	mouth	’Vk
101	name	ti
102	neck	ni’
103	necklace	el’
104	nerve	pilhil
105	nest	patV ~ *patV’
106	new, to be	VmVn
107	now	kipV(’)
108	oak spp.	kuwu(’)
109	one-eyed, to be	ta’
110	open, to	kal
111	overcast, to be	iqVmay
112		sew
113	person	ku
114	pet	qo’
115	pick up, lift, raise	lay
116		qV’
117		takaka		onomatopoetic
118		ma’; *kuni’
119	rain, to	tuhuy ~ *tuy
120	red	qupe
121		pu’
122	rub, to	muy
123	salt	tepu(’) ~ *tipu(’)
124	save (rescue), to	apay
125	seed	’VmVn’
126	skunk	tVqema
127	smoke	tuwo’
128	snail, sea	q’VmV’
129	speak, say, to	’ipi(’)
130	split-stick rattle	wanS-aq’a ~ *wacs-aq’a
131	spread open	kek-an
132		emet’ ~ *em’et’
133	steps	tVyV-
134	stick to, to	pey ~ *pey’
135	sticky, to be	pilhiy
136	stone, rock	qVpV
137	straight	tyiyeme ?
138		’eleyewun’
139	tadpole	qlo ~ *qyo		root: 'small creature' (cf. mouse)
140	tail	telheq’
141	take off, to	qe
142	tears	tinik’
143	tongue	’elhew’
144	tooth	Sa
145	urinate, to	Sol’
146	vomit	paS(V)
147	walk, to	-
148	warm self, to	mol
149	water	’o’
150	whale	paqat(V)
151	wood, tree, stick	pono’
152		pVlak’a(k’)
153	wrinkled	Sok’		plus reduplication
154	yawn	San		plus reduplication
155		ɨyɨ ~ *ɨyɨ’

See also

• Rock art of the Chumash people
• Burro Flats Painted Cave
• Population of Native California
• Native Americans in the United States

Bibliography

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. .
• Dixon, Roland R.; & Kroeber, Alfred L. (1913). New Linguistic Families in California. American Anthropologist 15:647-655.
• Goddard, Ives (Ed.). (1996). Languages. Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 17). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. .
• Klar, Kathryn. (1977). Topics in historical Chumash grammar. (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley).
• Book: Kroeber , Alfred Louis . Berkeley, The University Press. Alfred L. Kroeber. The Chumash and Costanoan languages. 2012-08-26. 1910.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (hbk); .
• Grant, Campbell. (1978). Chumash:Introduction. In California Handbook of North American Indians (William C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) Vol. 8 (Robert F. Heizer, Volume Ed.). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution.
• Sapir, Edward. (1917). The Position of Yana in the Hokan Stock. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and ethnology 13:1–34. Berkeley: University of California.

Notes and References

1. Grant 1978
2. Golla, Victor. (2011). California Indian Languages. Berkeley: University of California Press.
3. Dixon and Kroeber 1913
4. Sapir 1917
5. Klar 1977
6. Mithun 1999:390
7. Mithun 1999:390-392
8. Klar, Kathryn A. 1977. Topics in Historical Chumash Grammar. Doctoral dissertation, University of California at Berkeley.