| Ohlone | |
|---|---|
| Costanoan, Ohlonean | |
| Geographic distribution | San Francisco Bay Area |
| Ethnicity | Ohlone |
| Extinct | 1950s |
| Linguistic classification | Yok-Utian
|
| Subdivisions |
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | cost1250 |
 Pre-contact distribution of the Ohlone languages | |
| Notes | |
TheOhlone languages, also known asCostanoan, form a smallIndigenouslanguage family historically spoken inNorthern California, both in the southernSan Francisco Bay Area and northernMonterey Bay area, by theOhlone people. Along with theMiwok languages, they are members of theUtian language family. The most recent work suggests that Ohlone, Miwok, andYokuts are branches of aYok-Utian language family.[1]
Ohlone comprises eight attested varieties:Awaswas,Chalon,Chochenyo (also spelt as Chocheño),Karkin,Mutsun,Ramaytush,Rumsen, andTamyen. Overall, divergence among these languages seems to have been roughly comparable to that among the languages of theRomance sub-family of Indo-European languages. Neighboring groups seem to have been able to understand and speak to each other.[2]
The number and geographic distribution of Ohlone language divisions partially mirrors the distribution of Franciscan missions in their original lands. While the known languages are, in most cases, quite distinct, intermediate dialects may have been lost as local groups gathered at the missions.[3] A newly discovered text fromMission Santa Clara provides evidence that Chochenyo of theEast Bay area and Tamyen of theSanta Clara Valley were closely related dialects of a single San Francisco Bay Ohlone language.[4][5]
The last native speakers of Ohlone languages died by the 1950s. However, Chochenyo, Mutsun, and Rumsen are now in a state ofrevival (relearned from saved records).[6]
The classification below is based primarily onCallaghan (2001). Other classifications list Northern Costanoan, Southern Costanoan, and Karkin as single languages, with the following subgroups of each considered as dialects:
More recently, Callaghan (2014)[7] groupsAwaswas together withMutsun as part of aSouth Central Costanoan subgroup with the Southern Costanoan branch.
Regarding the eight Ohlone branches, sources differ on if they were eight languagedialects, or eight separatelanguages.[8] Richard Levy, himself a linguist, contradicted himself on this point: First he said "Costanoans themselves were a set oftribelets [small tribes] who spoke a common language [...] distinguished from one another by slight differences in dialect"; however, after saying that, he concluded: "The eight branches of the Costanoan family were separate languages (not dialects) as different from one another as Spanish is from French".[9] Randall Milliken[3] stated in 1995 that there were eight dialects, citing missionary-linguistFelipe Arroyo de la Cuesta to the effect that the idioms seemed distinct as one traveled from mission to mission, but actually formed a dialect chain from one neighboring local tribe to another.Catherine Callaghan (1997, 2001), a linguist who steeped herself in the primary documents, offered evidence that the Costanoan languages were distinct, with only Ramaytush, Tamyen, and Chochenyo possibly being dialects of a single language. Milliken (2008),[10] himself an ethnohistorian and not a linguist, shifted his position in 2008 to follow Callaghan, referring to separate Costanoan languages rather than dialects. Golla (2011) states that all Costanoan languages in the vicinity of San Francisco Bay, with the exception of Karkin, weremutually intelligible.[11]
The Ohlone native people belonged to one or more tribes, bands or villages, and to one or more of the eight linguistic group regions (as assigned byethnolinguists). Native names listed in the mission records were, in some cases, clearly principal village names, in others the name assigned to the region of a "multifamily landholding group" (per Milliken). Although many native names have been written in historical records, the exact spelling and pronunciations were not entirely standardized in modern English. Ethnohistorians have resorted to approximating their indigenous regional boundaries as well. (The word that Kroeber coined to designate California tribes, bands and villages,tribelet, has been published in many records but is advisably offensive and incorrect, per the Ohlone people.)[12]
Many of the known tribal and village names were recorded in the California mission records ofbaptism,marriage, and death. Some names have come from Spanish and Mexican settlers, some from early Anglo-European travelers, and some from the memories of Native Americaninformants. Speakers were natives still alive who could remember their group's native language and details.[13]
Some of the former tribe and village names were gleaned from the land maps ("diseños de terreno") submitted by grantees in applying for Spanish and Mexican land grants or designs ("diseños") that were drawn up inAlta California prior to theMexican–American War.[14] In this regard, large amounts of untranslated material is available for research in the records ofClinton H. Merriam housed at theBancroft Library, and more material continues to be published by local historical societies and associations.[15][16]
Many of the original sounds were first heard and copied down by Spanish missionaries using Spanish as a reference language, subject to human error, later translated into English and Anglicized over time. Spelling errors crept in as different missionaries kept separate records over a long period of time, under various administrators. Ethnohistorians Kroeber, Merriam, and others interviewed Ohlone speakers and were able to define some pronunciations on word lists. Ethnolinguists have used this to some advantage to create phonetic tables giving some semblance of languages, notably theSelected Costanoan Words by Merriam.[17]
A partial table of words comes fromIndian Names for Plants and Animals Among California and other Western North American Tribes by Clinton Merriam. This published list covers 400 Ohlone words from interviews of native speakers. The Ohlone words listed are by "phonetic English" pronunciations.[18]
| English Word | Schedule #56 | Schedule #57 | Word # |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salmon[20] | Oo'-rahk | Hoo"-rah-ka | 247 |
| Abalone | Oo==ch[21] | Hah-shan | 254 |
| Redwood(Sequoia sempervirens) | – | Ho-o-pe | 280 |
| Valley Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia orQuercus lobata)[22] | Yū'Ks | You-kish | 296 |
| Big RoundTule[23] | Rōks | Ró-kus | 409 |
Legend:
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