Mutsun language

Mutsun
San Juan Bautista
Native to	United States
Region	California
Ethnicity	Ohlone
Extinct	1930, with the death of Ascencion Solórzano de Cervantes
Revival	early 2000s
Language family	Yok-Utian Utian Ohlone Southern Mutsun
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	(included in Southern Ohlone [css])
Glottolog	muts1243
Map of Ohlone varieties with   Mutsun

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. The Tamien Nation and Amah Mutsun band is currently working to restore the use of the language, using a modern alphabet.

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. 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 1977 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.

Phonology

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

Vowels

	Front		Back
Close	i ⟨i⟩	iː ⟨ii⟩	u ⟨u⟩	uː ⟨uu⟩
Mid	ɛ ⟨e⟩	ɛː ⟨ee⟩	o ⟨o⟩	oː ⟨oo⟩
Open			ɑ ⟨a⟩	ɑː ⟨aa⟩

• /ɛ/ is open-mid, whereas /o/ is close-mid.
• Vowels and consonants are doubled to indicate longer pronunciation (ex: IPA for toolos 'knee' is [toːlos])

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar		Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			hard	soft
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩	nʲ ⟨N⟩
Stop		p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩	tʲ ⟨tY⟩	ʈ ⟨T⟩		k ⟨k⟩	ʔ ⟨ʼ⟩
Affricate			ts ⟨ts⟩			tʃ ⟨c⟩
Fricative			s ⟨s⟩			ʃ ⟨S⟩		h ⟨h⟩
Approximant		w ⟨w⟩	l ⟨l⟩	lʲ ⟨L⟩		j ⟨y⟩
Flap			ɾ ⟨r⟩

Alphabet

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

Mutsun alphabet

Letter	Example word	Gloss
a	aacic	pipe
c	caahi	barn owl
d	diyos	God
e	eccer	iron (n)
h	haahe	run away (v)
i	icci	bite (v)
k	kaa	daughter
l	laake	rise (v)
L	Luohu	yearling calf
m	maahi	close, cover (v)
n	naaru	turnip
N	Notko	be short
o	oce	send
p	paaka	shell (v)
r	raakat	name (n)
s	saake	gather pinenuts
S	Saanay	near, nearby (adv)
t	taacin	river rat, kangaroo rat
T	Taakampi	bring, carry to
ts	tsayla	lie face up
tY	tYottYoni	holly berry
u	ucirmin	small needle
w	waaha	scratch, sing slowly
y	yaase	eat
ʼ	-ʼa	unknown meaning

Bibliography

• Okrand, Marc (1977). Mutsun Grammar (Ph.D. dissertation). Berkeley: University of California.
• Warner, N. (2006). "Making a Dictionary for Community Use in Language Revitalization: The Case of Mutsun". International Journal of Lexicography. 19 (3): 257–285. doi:10.1093/ijl/ecl014.
• Warner, Natasha; Luna, Quirina; Butler, Lynnika (2007). "Ethics and revitalization of Dormant languages: The Mutsun language". Language Documentation & Conservation. 1 (1): 58–76. Archived from the original on January 7, 2024.
• Warner, Natasha; Butler, Lynnika; Geary, Quirina (February 20, 2016). mutsun-inkiS inkiS-mutsun riica pappel [Mutsun-English English-Mutsun Dictionary]. University of Hawai'i Press. hdl:10125/24679. ISBN 978-0-9856211-8-6.
• Warner, Natasha; Butler, Lynnika; Luna-Costillas, Quirina (September 2006). "Making a Dictionary for Community Use in Language Revitalization: The Case of Mutsun". International Journal of Lexicography. 19 (3): 257–285. doi:10.1093/ijl/ecl014.
• Warner, Natasha; Luna, Quirina; Butler, Lynnika; van Volkinburg, Heather (July 2009). "Revitalization in a scattered language community: problems and methods from the perspective of Mutsun language revitalization". International Journal of the Sociology of Language (198): 135–148. doi:10.1515/IJSL.2009.031. hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-0012-CC69-A. ISSN 0165-2516.

Further reading

• Arroyo de la Cuesta, Felipe (1862). A vocabulary or phrase book of the Mutsun language of Alta California. New York: Cramoisy Press. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
• Arroyo de la Cuesta, Felipe (1861). Extracto de la gramática Mutsun, ó de la lengua de los naturales de la mision de San Juan Bautista. Trübner. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
• Ortiz, Beverly R. (1994). "Chocheño and Rumsen Narratives: A Comparison". The Ohlone: Past and Present. pp. 99–164. ISBN 9780879191290.
• Sitjar, Bonaventura (1861). Vocabulary of the language of San Antonio mission, California. Trübner. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
• Teixeira, Lauren S. (1997). The Costanoan/Ohlone Indians of the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Area—A Research Guide. Menlo Park, CA: Ballena Press. ISBN 9780879191405.

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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