The last fluent speaker of Rumsen wasIsabel Meadows,[1] who died in 1939. TheBureau of American Ethnology linguistJohn Peabody Harrington conducted very extensive fieldwork with Meadows in the last several years of her life. These notes, still mostly unpublished, now constitute the foundation for current linguistic research and revitalization efforts on the Rumsen language.[1] The Costanoan Rumsen Carmel Tribe has been in the process of reestablishing their language. They have begun efforts to teach their tribal members Rumsen and are working to complete a revised English - Rumsen Dictionary.[citation needed]
Dialects of the Rumsen language were spoken by four independent local tribes, including theRumsen themselves, theEnsen of the Salinas vicinity, theCalendaruc of the central shoreline of Monterey Bay, and theSargentaruc of theBig Sur Coast. The territory of the language group was bordered by Monterey Bay and thePacific Ocean to the west, theAwaswas Ohlone to the north, theMutsun Ohlone to the east, theChalon Ohlone on the south east, and theEsselen to the south.[3]
Breschini, Gary S. and Trudy Haversat. 1994. Rumsen Seasonality and Population Dynamics. InThe Ohlone Past and Present, pp. 183–197, Lowell J. Bean, editor. Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press.
Hackel, Steven W. 2005.Children of Coyote, Missionaries of Saint Francis: Indian-Spanish Relations in Colonial California, 1769-1850. University of North Carolina Press.ISBN0-8078-2988-9
Kroeber, Alfred L. 1925.Handbook of the Indians of California. Washington, D.C:Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. (map of villages, page 465)
Levy, Richard. 1978.Costanoan, inHandbook of North American Indians, Vol. 8 (California). William C. Sturtevant, and Robert F. Heizer, eds. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978.ISBN0-16-004578-9 / 0160045754, pages 485–495.
Milliken, Randall. 1987.Ethnohistory of the Rumsen. Papers in Northern California Anthropology No. 2. Salinas, CA: Coyote Press.
Teixeira, Lauren.The Costanoan/Ohlone Indians of the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Area, A Research Guide. Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press Publication, 1997.ISBN0-87919-141-4.
