Pomoan languages
| Pomoan | |
|---|---|
| Kulanapan | |
| Geographic distribution: |
California and Oregon |
| Linguistic classification: | Hokan ?
|
| Subdivisions: |
—
|
 Pre-contact distribution of Pomoan languages
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Pomoan[1] (also called Kulanapan) is a family of endangered languages spoken in northern California by the Pomo people on the Pacific Coast. According to the 2000 census, there are 255 speakers of the languages. Of these, 45 are between the ages of 5 and 17, including 15 with limited English proficiency.[citation needed]
John Wesley Powell designated this group of languages as the Kulanapan family in 1891, and noted that its boundaries were the Pacific Ocean to the west, Yukian and Copehan territories to the east, the watershed of the Russian River to the north, and Bodega Head and present-day location of Santa Rosa, California to the south.[2]
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[edit] Geographical distribution
Historically, the Pomoan languages covered an area which corresponds to modern Lake, Mendocino, and Sonoma County in Northern California in the United States. Of the seven languages, six were spoken in a in a contiguous region among these three counties, while the seventh, only Northeastern Pomo, was discontiguous, separated from the other Pomo languages by an intervening region of Wintun speakers.
[edit] Internal relationships of languages
Pomoan consists of 7 distinct languages, named by Samuel Barrett in 1908 for their geographic locations. At the time of Barrett's classification, these languages were thought to be dialects of a single language. But, the diversity and non-intelligibility between Pomoan languages has shown them to be seven distinct languages. Barrett's naming convention often leads those unfamiliar with the languages to the misconception that the Pomoan languages are dialects of one single Pomo language.
The "Kulanapan Family" in John Wesley Powell's 1891 classification of North American Languages included most of the communities now known to have spoken Pomoan languages. The term "Kulanapan" originated as the name of one Pomo band from the Clear Lake area, and was first applied to the whole Pomoan family by George Gibbs in 1853.[2]
Northern Pomo and Northeastern Pomo are now extinct (Northern Pomo in 1994). The remaining Pomoan languages are spoken by rapidly diminishing handfuls of elderly speakers. Kashaya has the most speakers.
Pomoan has been included in all formulations of the controversial Hokan language phylum.
Various genetic subgroupings of the family have been proposed, although the general outlines have remained fairly consistent. Mithun,[3] records the following tree from Robert L. Oswalt.[4] (Here major branches are in bold and dialects of individual languages are in italics, subgroupings in Smallcaps):
- Southeastern Pomo Lower Lake, Sulphur Bank
- Eastern Pomo: Upper Lake, Big Valley
- Northeastern Pomo
- Western Branch
- Northern Pomo: Potter Valley, Guidiville, Pinoleville
- Southern Group
- Central Pomo: Hopland = Shanel, Yokaya, Point Arena-Manchester
- Southern Pomo: West Creek, Salmonhole
- Kashaya = Kashia = Southwestern Pomo
Campbell 1997 [5] reiterates this grouping, citing a 1978 article by Oswalt and Sally McLendon in the Handbook of American Indian Languages.[6]
[edit] See also
- Boontling – a constructed dialect of English incorporating Pomo words
[edit] Notes
- ^ The etymology of the term "Pomo" is complex. It seems to be a combination of the Northern Pomo words [pʰoːmoː], "at red earth hole" and [pʰoʔmaʔ] (containing [pʰo-], "reside, live in a group"), together suggesting "those who live at red earth hole" (Campbell 1997:397, citing McLendon & Oswalt 1978:277)
- ^ a b Powell 1891:87-88
- ^ Mithun, Marianne (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7.
- ^ Oswalt, R. L (1962). "The internal relationships of the Pomo family of languages". Actas y Memorias del XXXV Congreso Internacional de Americanistas. 2. Mexico. pp. 413–427.
- ^ Campbell, L. (2000). American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 124. ISBN 0195140508.
- ^ "Pomo: introduction". 8. 1978.
[edit] References
- Barrett, Samuel A. (1908). The Ethno-Geography of the Pomo and Neighboring Indians. Berkeley: University of California Publications in Linguistics (Vol. 6).
- Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
- Goddard, Ives (Ed.). (1996). Languages. Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 17). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-048774-9.
- McLendon, Sally & Rovert L. Oswalt (1978). "Pomo: Introduction". In California, ed. Robert F. Heizer. Vol. 8 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant, pp. 274–88. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
- Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
- Powell, John Wesley Powell. Indian Linguistic Families Of America, North Of Mexico, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 1–142. [1]
[edit] External links
- Pomo (Yakaya, Yokaia, Shanel, Kábinapek) (Native Languages of the Americas)
- Kashaya (Kashia, Southwestern Pomo) (Native Languages of the Americas)
- Pomo/Kashaya Bibliography
- Ethnologue: Pomo
- Pomo People: Brief History
