Chumashan is an extinct and revitalizing family of languages spoken by the Chumash people along the central and southern California coast from San Luis Obispo to Malibu, plus three Channel Islands. It is recognized as one of the world's primary language families with no identified relatives, and comprises six documented languages split into Obispeno, or Northern Chumash, and Southern Chumash, the latter including Island Chumash and the Central Chumash languages Purismeno, Inesenio, Barbareno and Ventureno. The last native speaker, Barbareno speaker Mary Yee, died in 1965.
Facts
RegionCentral and southern California coast, from the coastal plains around San Luis Obispo to Malibu, and three Channel Islands (San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz) 1 Speaker CountThe Chumashan languages have no living native speakers. Four of the six attested languages have active revitalization programs with learners, but these are not native speakers. Proto-Language StatusReconstructed: Proto-Chumash reconstructions were established by Kathryn Klar (1977). 1 In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Chumashan Languages
Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction, first sentence
were spoken on the Central and southern California coast by Native American Chumash people
Proto-language section
Proto-Chumash reconstructions by Klar (1977)
Lead section, third paragraph
The last native speaker of a Chumashan language was Barbareño speaker Mary Yee, who died in 1965.
View the Source Wikidata: Chumashan
Wikidata Q1288420, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.