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Wintuan

North American Language Families

The Wintuan languages are an extinct family spoken in the Sacramento Valley of central Northern California, comprising four languages in two branches: Northern Wintuan (Wintu and Nomlaki) and Southern Wintuan (Patwin and Southern Patwin). The family is usually considered part of the hypothetical Penutian phylum, though recent studies suggest the Wintuan people migrated independently to California from Oregon around 1,500 years ago. Wintu lost its last fluent speaker in 2003, and Patwin became dormant in 2018, though a speaker was reported again in 2021.

Facts
Partially Attested
Speaker Count
1 1
Wintu dormant since a 2003 death; Nomlaki had at least one partial speaker as of 2010; Patwin became dormant in 2018 though a speaker was still reported in 2021; Southern Patwin extinct since the early 20th century. Figure reflects the most recently reported living speaker, in Patwin, 2021.
Region
Sacramento Valley of central Northern California 1
Proto-Language Status
Pitkin estimated the Wintuan languages were about as close to each other as the Romance languages, diverging from a common tongue perhaps only 2,000 years ago; Shepherd undertook a comparative reconstruction of Proto-Wintuan phonology, morphology and lexicon. 1
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Wintuan Languages
Wikimedia Foundation
  • lead section, sentence 1
    Wintuan (also Wintun, Wintoon, Copeh, Copehan) is an extinct family of languages spoken in the Sacramento Valley of central Northern California.
  • Family division section
    Pitkin estimated that the Wintuan languages were about as close to each other as the Romance languages. They may have diverged from a common tongue only 2,000 years ago.
  • Family division section, vitality sentences
    Wintu became dormant with the death of the last fluent speaker in 2003. As of 2010, Nomlaki has at least one partial speaker. Patwin became dormant in 2018, though a speaker was still reported in 2021.
View the Source
Wikidata: Wintuan
Wikidata Q1294259, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
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