It's sobering, here in California.
A language in the San Francisco Bay area, last speaker died 1934.
A language along the Southern California coast, last speaker died 1965.
Another California language, last speaker died in 2013.
And on it goes. They don't even know how many languages California possessed, pre-contact.
On the left are the tribal groups (each with their own language) and on the right are the large number of different language families these are members of (seems to be following the Joseph Greenberg classification scheme)
I was enormously honoured to be blessed by the Chief of the Chumash Nation a number of years ago. He spoke some phrases in Chumash. Afterwards I asked him about it, and he expressed great regret that he hadn't learned more Chumash from his parents, both speakers, both long since lost to us. All he knew were a few phrases, he told me.
Last edited by OC Richard; 15th March 16 at 05:22 PM.
Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte
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