Pomoan languages

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pomoan (also Kulanapan) is a family of endangered languages spoken in northern California 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.

Contents 1 Family division 2 See also 3 External links 4 Bibliography

[edit] Family division

Pomoan consists of 7 languages:

A. Western Pomoan

1. Northern Pomo (†)

I. Southern subgroup

2. Central Pomo

3. Southern Pomo

4. Kashaya (a.k.a. Southwestern Pomo, Kashia)

5. Northeastern Pomo (†)

6. Eastern Pomo language

7. Southeastern Pomo

The similarity of names of these languages has misled many people into incorrectly thinking they are simply dialects of a single language.

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, with Kashaya having the most speakers.

Pomoan has often been linked to the hypothetical Hokan language phylum.

[edit] See also

• Pomo people
• Eastern Pomo language
• Kashaya language
• Southern Pomo

[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

[edit] Bibliography

• 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.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). (1978-present). Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 1-20). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. (Vols. 1-3, 16, 18-20 not yet published).