Mutsun (also known as San Juan Bautista Costanoan) is a Utian language spoken in Northern California. It was the primary language of a division of the Ohlone people living in the Mission San Juan Bautista area. The Tamien Nation and Amah Mutsun [Wikidata] band is currently working to restore the use of the language, using a modern alphabet.[2][3][4]
Studies of the language
Maria Ascención Solórsano de Garcia y de Cervantes, the last known fluent speaker of Mutsun, amassed large amounts of language and cultural data specific to the Mutsun.[3] The SpanishFranciscanmissionary and linguistFelipe Arroyo de la Cuesta wrote extensively about the language's grammar, and linguist John Peabody Harrington made very extensive notes on the language from Solórsano. Harrington's field notes formed the basis of the grammar of Mutsun written by Marc Okrand as a University of California dissertation in 1977[1] which to this day remains the only grammar[citation needed] ever written of any Costanoan language. Scholars from the U.S., Germany, and the Netherlands have discussed methods that could facilitate the revitalization of Mutsun.[5]
Phonology
Vowel and consonant phonemes are represented here with the descriptions and orthography of the English-Mutsun dictionary,[6] with additions from an earlier paper by Warner, Butler, and Luna-Costillas.[7]
Vowels and consonants are doubled to indicate longer pronunciation (ex: IPA for toolos 'knee' is [toːlos])
Consonants
Alphabet
Unlike many Latin-script alphabets, Mutsun uses capital letters as separate sounds.[9] The following alphabet is based on the alphabetization of the Mutsun-English dictionary and includes an example word.[10]
References
^ a bOkrand 1977.
^Warner 2006.
^ a bWarner, Luna & Butler 2007.
^"Language". Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. Archived from the original on August 11, 2013. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
^Warner et al. 2009.
^Warner, Butler & Geary 2016.
^Warner, Butler & Luna-Costillas 2006, p. 282.
^Okrand 1977, p. 23.
^Warner, Butler & Geary 2016, p. i.
^Warner, Butler & Geary 2016, contents.
Bibliography
Okrand, Marc (1977). Mutsun Grammar (Ph.D. dissertation). Berkeley: University of California.
Warner, N. (2006). "Making a Dictionary for Community Use in Language Revitalization: The Case of Mutsun". International Journal of Lexicography. 19 (3): 257–285. doi:10.1093/ijl/ecl014.
Warner, Natasha; Luna, Quirina; Butler, Lynnika (2007). "Ethics and revitalization of Dormant languages: The Mutsun language". Language Documentation & Conservation. 1 (1): 58–76. Archived from the original on January 7, 2024.
Warner, Natasha; Butler, Lynnika; Geary, Quirina (February 20, 2016). mutsun-inkiS inkiS-mutsun riica pappel [Mutsun-English English-Mutsun Dictionary]. University of Hawai'i Press. hdl:10125/24679. ISBN 978-0-9856211-8-6.
Warner, Natasha; Butler, Lynnika; Luna-Costillas, Quirina (September 2006). "Making a Dictionary for Community Use in Language Revitalization: The Case of Mutsun". International Journal of Lexicography. 19 (3): 257–285. doi:10.1093/ijl/ecl014.
Warner, Natasha; Luna, Quirina; Butler, Lynnika; van Volkinburg, Heather (July 2009). "Revitalization in a scattered language community: problems and methods from the perspective of Mutsun language revitalization". International Journal of the Sociology of Language (198): 135–148. doi:10.1515/IJSL.2009.031. hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-0012-CC69-A. ISSN 0165-2516.
Further reading
Arroyo de la Cuesta, Felipe (1862). A vocabulary or phrase book of the Mutsun language of Alta California. New York: Cramoisy Press. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
Arroyo de la Cuesta, Felipe (1861). Extracto de la gramática Mutsun, ó de la lengua de los naturales de la mision de San Juan Bautista. Trübner. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
Ortiz, Beverly R. (1994). "Chocheño and Rumsen Narratives: A Comparison". The Ohlone: Past and Present. pp. 99–164. ISBN 9780879191290.
Sitjar, Bonaventura (1861). Vocabulary of the language of San Antonio mission, California. Trübner. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
Teixeira, Lauren S. (1997). The Costanoan/Ohlone Indians of the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Area—A Research Guide. Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press. ISBN 9780879191405.
External links
[1]
Mutsun Language Talking phrasebook archived
Amah-Mutsun Tribe Website
Indian Canyon - recognized "Indian Country" in Hollister
