Salinan language

Salinan
Native to	United States
Region	central coast California
Ethnicity	Salinan people
Extinct	1958
Language family	Hokan ? Salinan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sln
Glottolog	sali1253[1]

Salinan was the indigenous language of the Salinan people of the central coast of California. It has been extinct since the death of the last speaker in 1958.

The language is attested to some extent in colonial sources such as Sitjar (1860), but the principal published documentation is Mason (1918). The main modern grammatical study, based on Mason's data and on the field notes of John Peabody Harrington and William H. Jacobsen, is Turner (1987), which also contains a complete bibliography of the primary sources and discussion of their orthography.

Two dialects are recognized, Antoniaño and Migueleño, associated with the missions of San Antonio and San Miguel, respectively. Antoniaño is "sometimes also termed Sextapay, associated with the area of the Franciscan Mission of San Antonio de Padua in Monterey County."^[2] There may have been a third, Playano dialect, as suggested by mention of such a subdivision of the people, but nothing is known of them linguistically.

Salinan may be a part of the hypothetical Hokan family. Edward Sapir included it in a subfamily of Hokan, along with Chumash and Seri.^[3] This classification has found its way into more recent encyclopedias and presentations of language families, but serious supporting evidence for this subfamily has never been presented.

Bibliography

• Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195094275. 
• Mason, John Alden (1918). The language of the Salinan Indians. University of California Press. pp. 436–. Retrieved 24 August 2012. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 14.1-154.
• Sitjar, Fr. Buenaventura (1861) Vocabulario de la lengua de los naturales de la mission de San Antonio, Alta California. Shea's Library of American Linguistics, 7. Reprinted 1970 at New York by AMS Press.
• Katherine, Turner (1987). Aspects of Salinan Grammar, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of California at Berkeley. 

References

External links

• Salinan language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
• Antoniaño Salinan field recordings collected by William H. Jacobsen, Jr. spoken by Elario Quintana and Dave Mora
• "Salinan Sound recordings". Collections Search Center, Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2012-07-20. 
• OLAC resources in and about the Salinan language

Languages of California
Indigenous	Algic Wiyot Yurok Athabascan Tolowa Hupa Mattole Kato Wailaki Chumashan Obispeño Island Chumash Purisimeño Ineseño Barbareño Ventureño Ohlone Karkin Chochenyo Ramaytush Tamyen Awaswas Mutsun Rumsen Chalon Hokan Chimariko Karuk Achomawi Atsugewi Northeastern Pomo Eastern Pomo Southeastern Pomo Northern Pomo Central Pomo Southern Pomo Kashaya Washo Mojave Kumeyaay Yana Yahi Penutian Klamath-Mudoc Yokuts Wintu Bay Miwok Coast Miwok Lake Miwok Plains Miwok Central Sierra Miwok Northern Sierra Miwok Southern Sierra Miwok Valley Maidu Northeast Maidu Northwest Maidu Nisenan Shastan Konomihu New River Shasta Okwanuchu Shasta Uto Aztecan Cahuilla Cupeño Kawaiisu Kitanemuk Luiseño-Juaneño Mono Northern Paiute Panamint Serrano Tataviam Tongva Ute Wintuan Nomlaki Patwin Southern Patwin Wintu Yokutsan Buena Vista Yokuts, Chukchansi, Gashowu Yokuts, Kings River Yokuts, Palewyami, Tule-Kaweah Yokuts, Valley Yokuts Yukian Yuki, Wappo Language isolates and Unclassified Esselen, Chimariko, Karuk, Salinan, Takelma Plains Sign Talk
Non-Indigenous	Indo-European American English California English Chicano English Spanish Armenian Punjabi Russian Asian Chinese Korean Tagalog Vietnamese Francosign American Sign Language
Italics indicate extinct languages