Barbareño is one of the Chumashan languages, a group of Native American languages spoken almost exclusively in the area of Santa Barbara, California. A dialect of the Barbareño language was also "spoken at San Emigdio near Buena Vista Lake" in the southern Central Valley. This dialect, called Emigdiano, "was heavily influenced by Buena Vista Yokuts." Barbareño lost its last known native speaker in 1965 with the death of Mary Yee. Both Barbareño and Ineseño are currently undergoing processes of language revitalization.

Language revitalization

As of 2013, the Barbareno Chumash Council is engaged in ongoing efforts to revive the language. Two of its members are language apprentices and teachers. Wishtoyo Chumash Village, in Malibu, California, announced the opening of its Šmuwič Language School in 2010.

Phonology

Consonants

Barbareño consonant phonemes
BilabialAlveolarPostalveolar/ PalatalVelarUvularGlottal
plainsibilant
Plosive/ Affricateplainptt͡st͡ʃkqʔ
ejectivepʼtʼt͡sʼt͡ʃʼkʼqʼ
aspiratedpʰtʰt͡sʰt͡ʃʰkʰqʰ
Fricativeplainsʃxh
ejectivesʼʃʼxʼ
aspiratedsʰʃʰ
Nasalplainmn
glottalizedˀmˀn
Approximantplainljw
glottalizedˀlˀjˀw

Vowels

Barbareño vowel phonemes
FrontCentralBack
Closeiɨu
Openeao

Further reading

  • Beeler, M. S. (January 1970). "Sibilant Harmony in Chumash". International Journal of American Linguistics. 36 (1): 14–17. doi:. JSTOR . S2CID .
  • Applegate, Richard. (1972). (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley).
  • Beeler, M. S. 1976. Barbareno Chumash: a farrago. In Langdon, Margaret and Silver, Shirley, eds. Hokan Studies: Papers from the 1st Conference on Hokan Languages held in San Diego, California April 23–25, 1970, pp. 251–270. The Hague: Mouton.
  • Wash, Suzanne. (1995). Productive Reduplication in Barbareño Chumash. (Master's thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara; 210 + x pp.)
  • Wash, Suzanne. (2001). Adverbial Clauses in Barbareño Chumash Narrative Discourse. (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara; 569 + xxii pp.)

External links