Information about the Utian languages

Where are the Utian languages spoken?

These languages are spoken in the center and the north of the state of California along the Pacific coast in the United States.

Who speaks these languages?

The speakers of Utian languages are members of the Miwok and Ohlone “First Nations” of North America who already inhabited the region long before Europeans arrived and before the creation of the United States.

Total number of speakers (estimated):

15 according to UNESCO

25 according to the site ethnologue.com (SIL)

Classification

The Utian language family currently has 4 to 5 languages.

Miwok Sub-family (alternate names: Miwuk; Moquelumnane)

Eastern Miwok Branch

Plains Miwok: 1 speaker in 1977 according to SIL, probably now extinct

Saclan: extinct

Sierra Miwok Group

Central Sierra Miwok: 3 non-fluent / second language speakers according to UNESCO and 12 according to SIL

North Sierra Miwok: 6 speakers according to UNESCO and SIL

South Sierra Miwok: 3 non-fluent / second language speakers according to UNESCO and 7 according to SIL

Western Miwok Branch

Coastal Miwok: extinct

Lake Miwok: 3 non-fluent / second language speakers according to UNESCO

Costonoan Sub-family (alternate name: Ohlone): extinct

Northern Costonoan: extinct

Karkin (alternate name: Carquin): extinct

Soledad (alternate name: Cholon): extinct

Southern Costanoan Branch

Mutsun (alternate name: San Juan Bautista): extinct

Rumsen (alternate name: Runsien): extinct

Comments on the classification of Utian languages:

The links between the Costanoan and Miwok sub-families have been recognized with certainty since the 1960s. But within these sub-families there are some disagreements regarding the actual number of languages.

In the Miwok subfamily, for example, some sources believe the three languages of the Sierra Miwok are actually three dialects of a single language.

There is also a great deal of disagreement regarding the number of languages and dialects in the Costanoan sub-family. This is partly due to lack of data on these languages which disappeared in the 1940s.

Utian languages are sometimes included in the hypothetical “Penutian” super-family. According to Mithun (1999), however, the validity of the Penutian family, although likely, has not been proven in a scientifically satisfactory manner. We therefore present the Utian languages as a separate family.

Are Utian languages in danger?

Yes, extremely. All languages of the Costonoan sub-family are now extinct. As for the Miwok sub-family, the situation is only slightly less critical: Lake Miwok, Central Sierra Miwok, and Southern Sierra Miwok have no remaining native speakers and only a few people still have some knowledge of these languages. They can therefore be regarded as extinct as well.

There was only one native speaker of Plains Miwok in the 1970s and the language is probably extinct today. In fact, by the time you read this passage it is quite possible that this entire family will have disappeared because the half-dozen recorded speakers of Northern Miwok were also very old. There are no longer any members of Utian communities less than 60 years of age who speak these languages as all the younger generations have adopted English as their mother tongue.

Sources:

Mithun, Marianne The languages of Native North America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (1999).

Campbell, Lyle. American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (1997)

Site devoted to American Indian languages:

http://www.native-languages.org/