Tataviam language

Tataviam
Alliklik
Spoken in Southern California
Extinct < 1916
Language family
Uto-Aztecan
or Chumash
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Linguist List qc5

The Tataviam language was spoken by the Tataviam people of the upper Santa Clara River basin, Santa Susana Mountains, and Sierra Pelona Mountains in southern California. It had become extinct by 1916 and is known only from a few early records, notably a word list collected by the linguist John P. Harrington in 1917.

Contents

Language family

Uto-Aztecan

Most scholars have recognized Tataviam as belonging to the Uto-Aztecan language family, Northern Uto-Aztecan division.

They have been uncertain whether it should be considered a member of the Takic branch or a separate isolate-branch of Uto-Aztecan.

Chumashan

An alternative suggestion by some scholars is that Tataviam was a Chumashan language, from a Ventureño language and others, of the Chumash-Venturaño and other Chumash groups, that had been influenced by the neighboring Uto-Aztecan speaking peoples (Beeler and Klar 1977).

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References