Mutsun language

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. It initially went extinct in 1930 when the last speaker died, Ascencion Solórzano de Cervantes. The Tamien Nation and Template:Ill band is currently working to restore the use of the language, using a modern alphabet.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

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.Template:Sfn The Spanish Franciscan missionary and linguist Felipe 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 1977Template:Sfn which to this day remains the only grammar 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.Template:Sfn

Phonology

Vowel and consonant phonemes are represented here with the descriptions and orthography of the English-Mutsun dictionary,Template:Sfn with additions from an earlier paper by Warner, Butler, and Luna-Costillas.Template:Sfn

Vowels

	Front		Back
Close	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Mid	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Open			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr

• is open-mid, whereas is close-mid.Template:Sfn
• Vowels and consonants are doubled to indicate longer pronunciation (ex: IPA for 'knee' is )

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar		Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			hard	soft
Nasal		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr
Stop		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Affricate			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Fricative			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Approximant		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr		Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Flap			Template:IPA link Template:Angbr

Alphabet

Unlike many Latin-script alphabets, Mutsun uses capital letters as separate sounds.Template:Sfn The following alphabet is based on the alphabetization of the Mutsun-English dictionary and includes an example word.Template:Sfn

Mutsun alphabet

Letter	Example word	Gloss
		pipe
		barn owl
		God
		iron (n)
		run away (v)
		bite (v)
		daughter
		rise (v)
		yearling calf
		close, cover (v)
		turnip
		be short
		send
		shell (v)
		name (n)
		gather pinenuts
		near, nearby (adv)
		river rat, kangaroo rat
		bring, carry to
		lie face up
		holly berry
		small needle
		scratch, sing slowly
		eat
		unknown meaning

Bibliography

• Template:Cite thesis

External links

• [1]
• Mutsun Language Talking phrasebook archived
• Amah-Mutsun Tribe Website
• Indian Canyon - recognized "Indian Country" in Hollister
• Mutsun language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages

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