 | This articleshould specify the language of its non-English content using{{lang}} or{{langx}},{{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and{{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriateISO 639 code. Wikipedia'smultilingual support templates may also be used - notably acv for Achumawi.See why.(October 2025) |
| Achumawi | |
|---|---|
| ís siwa wó disi | |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | northeastCalifornia |
| Ethnicity | 1,000Achumawi people |
| Extinct | 2013 |
| Revival | [1] |
Hokan ?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | acv |
| Glottolog | achu1247 |
| ELP | Achumawi |
 Achumawi is classified as Critically Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
TheAchumawi language (alsoAchomawi orPit River language) is theindigenous language spoken by thePit River people in the northeast corner of present-dayCalifornia. The term Achumawi is an anglicization of the name of the Fall River band,ajúmmááwí, fromajúmmá'river'. Originally there were nine bands, withdialect differences primarily between upriver (Atwamwi, Astariwawi; Kosalektawi, Hammawi, Hewisedawi dialects) and downriver (Madesiwi, Itsatawi, Ilmawi, and Achumawi (proper) dialects), demarcated by theBig Valley mountains east of the Fall River valley.
Together, Achumawi andAtsugewi are said to comprise thePalaihnihanlanguage family separate from the adjacent and relatedShastan family. The basis of this grouping is weakened by poor quality of data. David Olmsted's data dictionary[2] depends almost entirely upon de Angulo, and carelessly includesPomo vocabulary from a manuscript in which he (de Angulo) set out to demonstrate that Achumawi and Pomo are not related.[3]William Bright[4] and Shirley Silver[5] questioned Olmsted's results and methods of reconstruction. Kroeber (1925:279) acknowledged that
there would have been almost as much justification for separating Atsugewi from Achomawi and erecting it into a separate family as for keeping Achomawi and Shasta apart, as ethnologists did for half a century. What lay at the bottom of this inconsistence was that the Atsugewi live in a region topographically tributary to the larger Achomawi habitat; that the two tribes were in close association and friendly; and that they followed very similar customs.
The phenomenon of non-reciprocal intelligibility[6][7] is a matter of bilingualism in the smaller and more dependent of two exogamous communities; Kroeber (1925:308) estimated that the Achumawi were ten times more numerous than the Atsugewi.[8]
Achumawi has 29 consonants. The stops and affricate (aside from the marginally contrastiveglottal stop) are in three series, plain, aspirated, andlaryngealized orglottalized. Theaspirated series is contrastive only syllable-initially and probably derives historically from the voiceless-released first member of a consonant cluster, as in the neighboringYana language. This is seen morphophonemically in e.g.it "I, me",itʰˑú "my, mine".[9]
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palato- Alveolar | Velar | Uvular | Epiglottal | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | lateral | ||||||||
| Stop | plain | p | t | tʃ | k | q | ʔ | ||
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | tʃʰ | kʰ | qʰ | ||||
| laryngealized | pʼ | tʼ | tʃʼ | kʼ | qʼ | ||||
| Fricative | s | ʜ | h | ||||||
| Sonorant | plain | m | n | l | j | w | |||
| glottalized | mˀ | nˀ | lˀ | jˀ | wˀ | ||||
The plain-aspirated distinction is neutralized and realized with voiceless release in syllable-final position and before another consonant; the aspirates are much more fortis than this voiceless release. Syllable-initial plain stops are voiceless (without voiceless release) after long vowel or when geminate (long), and voiced elsewhere. The laryngealized stops are similar in articulation to theejectiveglottalized stops of neighboring languages, but morelenis, that is, not "popped" unless an unusual effort is made at articulating the distinction.[9]
The language has a 5-vowel system /i e a o u/. Two degrees of length are contrastive for both vowels and consonants. Long vowels are typically more peripheral and short vowels more centralized, phonetically [ɪ ɛ ʌ ə ʊ]. The mid vowels /e o/ are probably of secondary origin historically, as inYana andAtsugewi. A short centralized vowel [ə ɨ] appears epenthetically between the consonants of certain prefixes, as inlhúpta "let's go!". Vowel length assimilates the next successive laryngeal state, that is, the secondmora of a long vowel is devoiced before a plain or aspirated consonant (preaspiration) and word finally before silence, and islaryngealized before a laryngealized consonant. In upriver dialects vowels and plain stops are more fully voiced. In downriver dialects, utterance-final syllables may be devoiced or whispered, especially under interrogative intonation.[9] A light syllable consists of a consonant and vowel (CV), and a heavy syllable either contains a long vowel (CVˑ) or is closed with a second consonant (CVC).
Unlike the neighboring and related languageAtsugewi, Achumawi has contrastive high and low tones.[9][10]
The Achumawi language does not have gender but it has two forms of the copula ("to be") distinguishing animate and inanimate. The verb stem comprises one or more verb roots plus optional adverbial affixes. Inflectional affixes on verbs distinguish singular, dual, and plural number, and suffixes may optionally express severality and plurality of nouns. Many nouns and adjectives are derived from verb stems or participles, and some verb stems are formed by noun incorporation. The language has independent adjectives and numerals.[9][11]
Today, the Achumawi language is extinct.[12] Out of an estimated 1500 Achumawi people remaining in northeastern California, perhaps ten spoke the language in 1991, with only eight in 2000. The last speaker[who?] died in 2013.
As of 2013, amobile app was planned for the language.
Louise Davis, who lives in northern California, is almost tearful when she describes hearing people using the language of her Pit River tribe in conversation for the first time. It happened years ago when an older man from another part of the state met up with her grandmother.
It was such a powerful, emotional experience that Davis is driven to useflashcards at home with her children and do whatever it takes to preserve the language.
"You can say things in our language that you can't say in English," she said.
Testing out a language app in February [2013], she said she couldn't wait to see it being used among young people in the tribe.[13]
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