Barbareño is one of the

Chumashan Chumashan was a family of languages that were spoken on the southern California coast by Native American Chumash people, from the Coastal plains and valleys of San Luis Obispo to Malibu, neighboring inland and Transverse Ranges valleys and ca ...

languages, a group of Native American languages spoken almost exclusively in the area of

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

. The closely-related

Ineseño The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians is a federally recognized tribe of Chumash, an indigenous people of California, in Santa Barbara.Pritzker 122 Their name for themselves is Samala. The locality of Santa Ynez is referred to as ''� ...

may have been a dialect of the same language. A dialect of the Barbareño language was also "spoken at

San Emigdio San Emigdio () is a municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ...

near

Buena Vista Lake Buena Vista Lake was a fresh-water lake in Kern County, California, in the Tulare Lake Basin in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California. Buena Vista Lake was the second largest of several similar lakes in the Tulare Lake basin, and was fed ...

" in the southern Central Valley. This dialect, called Emigdiano, "was heavily influenced by

Buena Vista Yokuts Buena Vista was a Yokuts dialect of California. The dialect was "formerly spoken in at least two local varieties around Buena Vista Lake in Kern County, California," in the villages of Hometwoli, Loasau, Tuhohi, and Tulamni. Dialects Two doc ...

." Barbareño lost its last known

native speaker Native Speaker may refer to: * ''Native Speaker'' (novel), a 1995 novel by Chang-Rae Lee * ''Native Speaker'' (album), a 2011 album by Canadian band Braids * Native speaker Native Speaker may refer to: * ''Native Speaker'' (novel), a 1995 nov ...

in 1965 with the death of

Mary Yee Mary Joachina Yee (née Mary Joachina Ygnacio Rowe; 1897–1965) was a Barbareño Chumash linguist. She was the last first-language speaker of the Barbareño language, a member of the Chumashan languages that were once spoken in southern Califo ...

. Both Barbareño and Ineseño are currently undergoing processes of

language revitalization Language revitalization, also referred to as language revival or reversing language shift, is an attempt to halt or reverse the decline of a language or to revive an extinct one. Those involved can include linguists, cultural or community groups, o ...

Language revitalization

As of 2013, the Barbareno Chumash Council is engaged in ongoing efforts to revive the language. Two of its members are language apprentices and teachers. Wishtoyo Chumash Village, in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malibu ...

, announced the opening of its Šmuwič Language School in 2010.

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

References

External links

Barbareño language
overview at the

Survey of California and Other Indian Languages The Survey of California and Other Indian Languages (originally the Survey of California Indian Languages) at the University of California at Berkeley documents, catalogs, and archives the indigenous languages of the Americas. The survey also hosts ...

*
Chumash Barbareño
Smithsonian Archives

OLAC resources in and about the Barbareño language

OLAC resources in and about the Ineseño language

Ineseño basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbareno Language Chumashan languages Indigenous languages of California Extinct languages of North America Native American language revitalization History of Santa Barbara County, California Languages extinct in the 1960s 1960s disestablishments in California