Northern Pomo language

Northern Pomo
Native to	United States
Region	Northern California
Extinct	2005^[1]
Language family	Pomoan Western Northern Pomo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`pej`
Glottolog	`nort2966`
ELP	Northern Pomo
The seven Pomoan languages with an indication of their pre-contact distribution within California
Northern Pomo is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Northern Pomo is a critically endangered Pomoan language, formerly spoken by the indigenous Pomo people in what is now called California. The speakers of Northern Pomo were traditionally those who lived in the northern and largest area of the Pomoan territory. Other communities near to the Pomo were the Coast Yuki, the Huchnom, and the Athabascan.^[2]^[3] Ukiah High School first began offering Northern Pomo in the Fall 2020.^[4]

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Transcription

My name is Ras K'Dee, I'm the son of a Lorelei Elgin [assumed spelling] and Audrain Cunningham [assumed spelling] and my father is African, my mother is Pomo California native from the Dry Creek band of Pomo Indians, in our language [speaking in foreign language]. The community here is mixed. There's people that have been relocated in the sixties and the seventies from the Relocation Act, people that have been removed from their traditional tribal territories, Sioux Lakota, Dineh. You have various tribes that are here in the bay area. [ Music ] There is an experience here and so, like, it's not necessarily all about just being urban, all about, you know, getting your Latte and then, you know, going to work maybe at the Native American Health Center, the Friendship House and some of the larger Community Centers here, but there's also a community of people that are dedicated to not only their cultural experience of bringing the traditions and the culture to the city, but also, you know, just bringing the whole way of life, you know, the spiritual practice, the dance, the ceremony. [ Music ] In my culture, we believe that the soul is everywhere, it exists in everything and all beings at one interconnected time. And so, there's no, like, individual soul, it's like, your soul is connected to, you know, what's going on outside of you externally in the plants and the earth, in the trees and in all these different things. My mother, bringing me up on a lot of culture and traditional songs and my family being a family that prays and sings and dances together, also gave me, like, kind of a well rounded perspective. [ Music ] And then I have this whole alternative education from my mother and my grandmother and my great grandmother. One of the first ways that I learned about how songs can have power is through going to the ceremonies and going to see my grandmother heal people with songs. I didn't-- it took me a while to understand that those songs, not only did they sound good and they had meaning to them individually, but they also were meant for healing and they were meant for power, you know and that's one of the ways my community has helped me to utilize some of that energy into my music.

Classification

Northern Pomo falls under the Western branch of the Pomoan language family, and it is the only language categorized in this branch that is not part of the Southern group.

History

The earliest noted documentation of Native Americans in this area was by General Drake in 1579, but it cannot be certain that the people he encountered were what is now considered to be the Pomo.^[2] A census was delivered of the people in this area by Colonel Redick M'Kee during an expedition in 1851 putting the Pomo at roughly 1000-1200 people.^[2] The language was not documented during either encounter.

Later expeditions by John Wesley Powell^[5] in 1891 and Samuel Barrett^[2] in 1908 would record accounts of the language family and its branches.

Geographic Distribution

Northern Pomo was spoken in the United States of America in the northern coastal area of California. The Pomo inhabited a massive amount of territory north of the San Francisco Bay and surrounding Clear Lake in northern California, USA. According to the 2010 United States Census, there are 10,308 Pomo people in the United States. Of these, 8,578 reside in California. ^[2]^[6]

Related Languages

There are seven different Pomoan languages:

While these languages are related, "Pomo" is roughly equivalent to "Germanic" - while there may be similarities, these are all clearly distinct languages that are not mutually intelligible.

Grammar

Relational Terminology

Northern Pomo normally avoids the use of birth names in conversation, instead using relational terminology such as father, mother, sister, etc. This is especially present in the case of a deceased family member.^[7] The avoidance of names is why third person referencing is prevalent in Pomoan speech. If the deceased family member was close to the speaker, they will not speak their name even if a living relative shares that name. Any speaking partner is expected to avoid these names so that the speaker does not hear it. It is seen as a disrespect to their relationship with the deceased.^[7] More casual speakers may mention the names of the deceased in conversation that they are not related to.

Possessive Terminology

Northern Pomo switches between regular possession and possessor raising depending upon the term the speaker wants to focus upon. In a regular possession situation, the subject of the sentence remains the focus, whereas with possessor raising the object or person being possessed becomes the focus of the sentence.^[8] Depending on which construction is used in Northern Pomo the implications of a given sentence would change. Sentences with possessor raising constructions imply consequences in Northern Pomo, such as the consequences of a possessor affecting a body part or having a certain physical trait.^[8]

Phonology

Consonants
			Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	Voiced		b		d
	Voiceless	Plain	p	t̪	t			k	ʔ
		Aspirated	pʰ	t̪ʰ	tʰ			kʰ
		Ejective	pʼ	t̪ʼ	tʼ			kʼ
Affricate		Plain			t͡s	t͡ʃ
		Aspirated			t͡sʰ	t͡ʃʰ
		Ejective			t͡sʼ	t͡ʃʼ
Nasal			m		n
Fricative					s	ʃ			h
Approximant			w		l		j

Allophones of /kʰ, t͡sʼ/ include [x, sʼ].

Vowels
	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i	iː			u	uː
Mid	e	eː			o	oː
Open			a	aː

^[9]

References

^ Northern Pomo at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Barrett, Samuel A. (1908). The Ethno-Geography of the pomo and neighboring indians. University of California Publications: American Archaeology and Ethnology. Vol. 6. Berkerley: The University Press. Berkeley, California.
^ Powers, Stephen, Powell, John Wesley, and Heizer, Robert F. ed.. Letter. N.d. (orig.1875-1882). (pub.1975). Part II: letters of stephen powers to john wesley powell concerning tribes of california. Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility. Web. 4 Mar. 2017.
^ "Incoming Freshman UHS Course Planning Guide 2021-22". www.ukiahhigh.uusd.net. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
^ Powell, John Wesley. (1891). Indian Linguistic Families Of America, North Of Mexico. Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology 7:1-142. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
^ Kunkel, P. H. (1974). The Pomo Kin Group and the Political Unit in Aboriginal California. The journal of california anthropology: 7-18. Retrieved from: Kunkel.
^ ^a ^b O'Connor, Mary. (Jul., 1990) Third-Person Reference in Northern Pomo Conversation: The Indexing of Discourse Genre and Social Relations. International journal of american linguistics. Vol. 56, No. 3 , pp. 377-409. University of Chicago Press. Chicago, Illinois.
^ ^a ^b O’Connor, M. (1994). The Marking of Possession in Northern Pomo: Privative Opposition and Pragmatic Inference. Annual meeting of the berkeley linguistics society. (387-401). Berkeley Linguistics Society. Berkeley, California
^ O'Connor, Mary (1987). Topics in Northern Pomo Grammar. University of California, Berkeley.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

Vocabulary Words in Native American Languages: Pomo
Field recordings of Northern Pomo conducted by Eero Vihman with Edna Guerrero
Northern Pomo language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
Northern Pomo basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
OLAC resources in and about the Northern Pomo language
Northern Pomo Language Tools

Languages of California

Italics indicate extinct languages

Indigenous

Algic	Wiyot Yurok
Athabaskan	Tolowa Hupa Mattole Cahto Wailaki
Chumashan	Obispeño Cruzeño Purisimeño Ineseño Barbareño Ventureño
Ohlone	Karkin Chochenyo Ramaytush Tamyen Awaswas Mutsun Rumsen Chalon
Hokan	Chimariko Karuk Achomawi Atsugewi Northeastern Pomo Eastern Pomo Southeastern Pomo Northern Pomo Central Pomo Southern Pomo Kashaya Washo Mojave Kumeyaay Yana Yahi
Penutian	Klamath-Mudoc Yokuts Buena Vista Yokuts Gashowu Yokuts Kings River Yokuts Palewyami Tule-Kaweah Yokuts Valley Yokuts Wintu Bay Miwok Coast Miwok Lake Miwok Plains Miwok Central Sierra Miwok Northern Sierra Miwok Southern Sierra Miwok Valley Maidu Northeast Maidu Northwest Maidu Nisenan
Shastan	Konomihu New River Shasta Okwanuchu Shasta
Uto Aztecan	Cahuilla Cupeño Kawaiisu Kitanemuk Luiseño-Juaneño Mono Northern Paiute Panamint Serrano Tataviam Tongva Tübatulabal Ute
Wintuan	Nomlaki Patwin Southern Patwin Wintu
Yukian	Yuki, Wappo
Language isolates and unclassified	Esselen, Chimariko, Karuk, Salinan, Takelma Plains Sign Talk

Non-Indigenous

Indo-European	American English California English Chicano English Spanish Armenian Persian Punjabi Russian
Asian	Chinese Korean Tagalog Vietnamese
Francosign	American Sign Language