TheRamaytush language is one of the eightOhlone languages, historically spoken by theRamaytush people who wereindigenous to California. Historically, the Ramaytush inhabited theSan Francisco Peninsula betweenSan Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean in the area which is nowSan Francisco andSan Mateo Counties. Ramaytush is a dialect or language within the Ohlone branch of theUtian family. The term Ramaytush was first applied to it during the 1970s,[2] and is derived from the termrammay-tuš "people from the west".[3] It is extinct, but efforts are being taken to revive it.[1]
The Ramaytush language territory was largely bordered by ocean, except in the south, which was bordered by the people of the Santa Clara Valley who spoke theTamyen language and the people of the Santa Cruz Mountains and Pacific Coast atPoint Año Nuevo who spoke dialects merging toward theAwaswas language. To the east, across San Francisco Bay, were tribes that spoke theChochenyo language. To the north, across theGolden Gate, was theHuimen local tribe ofCoast Miwok language speakers. The northernmost Ramaytush local tribe, theYelamu of San Francisco, were intermarried with the HuchiunChochenyos of theOakland area at the time of Spanish colonization.[4]
Heizer, Robert F. 1974.The Costanoan Indians. De Anza College History Center: Cupertino, California.
Milliken, Randall.A Time of Little Choice: The Disintegration of Tribal Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area 1769–1910 Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press Publication, 1995.ISBN0-87919-132-5.
