Miwok languages explained

The Miwok or Miwokan languages (;^[1] North Sierra Miwok: pronounced as /míwːɨːk/), also known as Moquelumnan or Miwuk, are a group of endangered languages spoken in central California by the Miwok peoples, ranging from the Bay Area to the Sierra Nevada. There are seven Miwok languages, four of which have distinct regional dialects.^[2] 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.^[3] The name Miwok comes from the Northern Sierra Miwok word miw·yk meaning 'people.'^[4]

Languages

Language family by Mithun (1999):

• Eastern Miwok
  • Plains Miwok †
  • Bay Miwok (Saclan) †
  • Sierra Miwok
    • Northern Sierra Miwok (†) (Camanche, Fiddletown, Ione, and West Point dialects)
    • Central Sierra Miwok (nearly extinct) (East Central and West Central dialects)
    • Southern Sierra Miwok (nearly extinct) (Yosemite, Mariposa, and Southern dialects)
• Western Miwok
  • Coast Miwok † (Bodega and Marin dialects)
  • Lake Miwok †

Proto-language

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

Proto-Miwok animal names! Gloss !! Proto-Miwok

coyote	ʔole
wolf	hu·n, *hun·u-
	ha·lu-ṣ
	syw·yt
dog	haju
	suj·u
	wek-wek
	tuk-tuk
	mol·uk ?
	tuk·u-·li
	wič·iki-ṣ
	ṭok(·)ok...
	hek...
	ʔuj(·)uj u, *ʔu·juju ?
	ča·ṭa·-ṭa-
	pak-pak
	palaṭ·ak
	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! Gloss !! Proto-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
	sa·ṭa
small oak tree	su·k ?
	mol·a, *mo·la
	ṣa·ji
buckeye (tree and fruit)	ʔu·nu
	sot·um ?
elderberry tree/fruit	ʔantaj
manzanita (tree and berries)	ʔe·je, *ʔej·e
	ki·li
	Proto-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...
	?

Further reading

• Berman, Howard. 1982. Freeland's Central Sierra Miwok Myths. Survey of California and Other Indian Languages Report #3.
• Broadbent, Sylvia M., and Callaghan, Catherine A. 1960. "Comparative Miwok: A Preliminary Survey". International Journal of American Linguistics, vol. 26, no. 4: 301–316.
• Broadbent, Sylvia M. 1964. The Southern Sierra Miwok Language. Publications in Linguistics (Vol. 38). Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Broadbent, Sylvia M., and Pitkin, Harvey. 1964. "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.
• 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.
• Freeland, Lucy S. 1947. "Western Miwok Texts with Linguistic Sketch". International Journal of American Linguistics 13:31-46.
• Freeland, Lucy Shepherd. 1951. Language of the Sierra Miwok. Waverly Press.
• Freeland, Lucy Shepherd and Broadbent, Sylvia M. 1960. Sierra Miwok Dictionary with Texts. University of California Press.
• Keeling, Richard. 1985. "Ethnographic Field Recordings at Lowie Museum of Anthropology". 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.
• Sloan, Kelly Dawn. 1991. Syllables and Templates: Evidence from Southern Sierra Miwok. Ph.D. thesis. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT. . .

External links

• Miwok language keyboards at Languagegeek

Notes and References

1. Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
2. Book: Golla, Victor. California Indian Languages. University of California Press. 2011. University of California, Berkeley. 156.
3. Web site: Origin of the word Yosemite (and linked references) . Yosemite.ca.us . 2011-07-10 . 2013-12-28.
4. Book: Mithun, Marianne. The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge University Press. 1999. 978-0-521-29875-9. New York. 535.
5. Callaghan, Catherine. (2014). Proto-Utian Grammar and Dictionary: With Notes on Yokuts. Trends in Linguistics Documentation 31. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.