Colonel William A. Phillips

Barbareño is one of the Chumashan languages, a group of Native American languages spoken almost exclusively in the area of Santa Barbara, California. The closely related Ineseño may have been a dialect of the same language. A dialect of the Barbareño language was also "spoken at San Emigdio near Buena Vista Lake" in the southern Central Valley. This dialect, called Emigdiano, "was heavily influenced by Buena Vista Yokuts."[2] Barbareño lost its last known native speaker in 1965 with the death of Mary Yee.[1] Both Barbareño and Ineseño are currently undergoing processes of language revitalization.[3][4][5][6][7]

Language revitalization

As of 2013, the Barbareno Chumash Council is engaged in ongoing efforts to revive the language. Two of its members are language apprentices and teachers.[8][9] Wishtoyo Chumash Village, in Malibu, California, announced the opening of its Šmuwič Language School in 2010.[3][4]

Phonology

Consonants

Barbareño consonant phonemes
Bilabial Alveolar Postalveolar/
Palatal
Velar Uvular Glottal
plain sibilant
Plosive/
Affricate
plain p t t͡s t͡ʃ k q ʔ
ejective t͡sʼ t͡ʃʼ
aspirated t͡sʰ t͡ʃʰ
Fricative plain s ʃ x h
ejective ʃʼ
aspirated ʃʰ
Nasal plain m n
glottalized ˀm ˀn
Approximant plain l j w
glottalized ˀl ˀj ˀw

Vowels

Barbareño vowel phonemes
Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Open e a o

References

  1. ^ a b Poser, William J. (2004). "On the Status of Chumash Sibilant Harmony" (PDF). Ms., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Retrieved 2010-09-22.
  2. ^ "Barbareño". Survey of California and Other Indian Languages. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
  3. ^ a b "Chumash Language". Wishtoyo Foundation. Archived from the original on 2013-07-05. Retrieved 2013-05-08.
  4. ^ a b Moreno, Sarah Koyo (2011). "Our Ancestors are Happy: Chumash Language Learning at Wishtoyo". News from Native California. 24 (4). Archived from the original on 2013-02-02. Retrieved 2013-05-08.
  5. ^ Chawkins, Steve (2008-04-20). "Chumash recover their 'alishtaha'n: Armed with a trove of scattered notes, linguist saves ancestral tongue from brink of extinction". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  6. ^ "Chumash Dictionary Breathes Life into Moribund Language". The Santa Barbara Independent. Archived from the original on 2014-05-08. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  7. ^ "Bringing Back the Samala Chumash Language". Channel Islands National Park. 2010-04-08. Archived from the original on June 26, 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  8. ^ "Barbareno Chumash Council". Archived from the original on 2013-08-22. Retrieved 2013-05-08.
  9. ^ "Funded Projects". Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development. Archived from the original on 2013-05-09. Retrieved 2013-05-08.

Further reading

  • Beeler, M. S. (January 1970). "Sibilant Harmony in Chumash". International Journal of American Linguistics. 36 (1): 14–17. doi:10.1086/465084. JSTOR 1264477. S2CID 145163145.
  • Applegate, Richard. (1972). Ineseño Chumash Grammar. (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley).
  • Beeler, M. S. 1976. Barbareno Chumash: a farrago. In Langdon, Margaret and Silver, Shirley, eds. Hokan Studies: Papers from the 1st Conference on Hokan Languages held in San Diego, California April 23–25, 1970, pp. 251–270. The Hague: Mouton.
  • Wash, Suzanne. (1995). Productive Reduplication in Barbareño Chumash. (Master's thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara; 210 + x pp.)
  • Wash, Suzanne. (2001). Adverbial Clauses in Barbareño Chumash Narrative Discourse. (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara; 569 + xxii pp.)

External links