Miwok languages

The Miwok or Miwokan languages (/ˈmiːwɒk/;[2] Miwok: [míwːɨːk]), also known as Moquelumnan, are a group of endangered languages spoken in central California in the Sierra Nevada. There are seven somewhat diverse Miwok languages, two of which have distinct regional dialects (Sierra Miwok and Coast Miwok).[3] There are a few dozen speakers of the three Sierra Miwok languages, and in 1994 there were two speakers of Lake Miwok. The best attested language is Southern Sierra Miwok, from which the name Yosemite originates.[4] The Miwok live in the region Central Valley

Miwok
Miw·yk
EthnicityMiwok
Geographic
distribution		California, western slopes of Sierra Nevada
Linguistic classificationYok-Utian
Glottologmiwo1275[1]

Languages
1925 map of the Plains and Sierra Miwok territories

Proto-language

Reconstructions of Proto-Miwok plant and animal names by Callaghan (2014):[5]

Proto-Miwok animal names
GlossProto-Miwok
coyote*ʔole
wolf*hu·n, *hun·u-
antelope, bighorn*ha·lu-ṣ
pocket gopher*syw·yt
dog*haju
chicken hawk*suj·u
duck hawk*wek-wek
fish hawk*tuk-tuk
California condor*mol·uk ?
great horned owl*tuk·u-·li
barn owl*wič·iki-ṣ
burrowing owl*ṭok(·)ok...
valley quail*hek...
roadrunner*ʔuj(·)uj u, *ʔu·juju ?
kingfisher*ča·ṭa·-ṭa-
pileated woodpecker*pak-pak
California woodpecker*palaṭ·ak
lesser snow goose*wa·wo ?
goose spp.*low·ot ?
lizard*pit·e-·li ?
frog, sound of frog*waṭa·k ?
grasshopper*ko·ṭo ?
head louse*ke·t, *ket·y-
flea*ky(·)ky-ṣ
spider*pok·um
body louse*čypsi
scorpion*ʔet·ym
Proto-Miwok plant names
GlossProto-Miwok
mountain pine and nuts*san(·)ak
pine nuts, nuts*ṣanak
gray pine and nuts*sa·k, *sak·y
cedar, cypress*mo·nuk ?
valley oak, tree*ʔalwaṣ, ʔala·waṣ
live oak*sa·ṭa
small oak tree*su·k ?
white oak*mol·a, *mo·la
maple*ṣa·ji
buckeye (tree and fruit)*ʔu·nu
tree alder*sot·um ?
elderberry tree/fruit*ʔantaj
manzanita (tree and berries)*ʔe·je, *ʔej·e
Sierra gooseberry*ki·li
poison oakProto-Utian *nykys
brush*lim·e
wormwood (sage herb)*kičin
grapes*mut(·)e
black basket root*mul·a
root, basket root (Carex spp.)*su·li
Indian potato (Brodiaea spp.)*wa·la
tea plant*huk...
jimson weed?

Further reading
  • Callaghan, Catherine A. 1965. Lake Miwok Dictionary. University of California Press.
  • Callaghan, Catherine A. 1970. Bodega Miwok Dictionary. Publications in Linguistics 60. University of California Press.
  • Callaghan, Catherine A. 1984. Plains Miwok Dictionary. Publications in Linguistics 105. University of California Press.
  • Callaghan, Catherine A. 1987. Northern Sierra Miwok Dictionary. Publications in Linguistics 110. University of California Press.

Notes
  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Miwokan". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
  3. Golla, Victor (2011). California Indian Languages. University of California, Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 156.
  4. "Origin of the word Yosemite (and linked references)". Yosemite.ca.us. 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
  5. Callaghan, Catherine. (2014). Proto-Utian Grammar and Dictionary: with notes on Yokuts. Trends in Linguistics Documentation 31. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. doi:10.1515/9783110276770

References
  • Broadbent, Sylvia. (1964). The Southern Sierra Miwok Language. University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 38). Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Broadbent, Sylvia M., and Catherine A. Callaghan. "Comparative Miwok: A Preliminary Survey." International Journal of American Linguistics, vol. 26, no. 4 (1960): 301-316.
  • Broadbent, Sylvia M., and Harvey Pitkin. "A Comparison of Miwok and Wintun." In Studies in Californian Linguistics, ed. W. Bright, 19-45. University of California Publications in Linguistics, vol. 34. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964.
  • Keeling, Richard. "Ethnographic Field Recordings at Lowie Museum of Anthropology," 1985. Robert H. Lowie Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley. v. 2. North-Central California: Pomo, Wintun, Nomlaki, Patwin, Coast Miwok, and Lake Miwok Indians
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