Chochenyo (also called ''Chocheño'', ''Northern Ohlone'' and ''East Bay Costanoan'') is the spoken language of the
Chochenyo people. Chochenyo is one of the
Ohlone languages
The Ohlone languages, also known as Costanoan, form a small Indigenous language, Indigenous language family historically spoken in Northern California, both in the southern San Francisco Bay Area and northern Monterey Bay area, by the Ohlone peop ...
in the
Utian family.
Description and history
Linguistically, Chochenyo,
Tamyen and
Ramaytush are thought to have been dialects of a single language, but Tamyen and Ramaytush are very poorly attested. The speech of the last two native speakers of Chochenyo was documented in the 1920s in the unpublished fieldnotes of the
Bureau of American Ethnology
The Bureau of American Ethnology (or BAE, originally, Bureau of Ethnology) was established in 1879 by an act of Congress for the purpose of transferring archives, records and materials relating to the Indians of North America from the Departme ...
linguist
John Peabody Harrington
John Peabody Harrington (April 29, 1884 – October 21, 1961) was an American linguist and ethnologist and a specialist in the indigenous peoples of California. Harrington is noted for the massive volume of his documentary output, most of whic ...
. The final native speaker of the language was José Guzmán who died in 1934 in
Niles, California
Fremont () is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area, Fremont has a population of 230,504 as of 2020, making it the fourth most populous city in the Bay Area, behind San Jose, San Fr ...
.
The
Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, which (as of 2007) is petitioning for U.S. federal recognition, has made efforts to revive the language. As of 2004, "the Chochenyo database being developed by the tribe ...
ontainedfrom 1,000 to 2,000 basic words."
By 2009, many students were able to carry on conversations in the Chochenyo language. Through both successful word formation, as well as extending documented words, the Chochenyo dictionary has grown significantly throughout the early 21st century. During the
canonization
Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christianity, Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon ca ...
of
Saint Junípero Serra on September 23, 2015, the first reading at Mass was read in Chochenyo by
Vincent Medina.
Phonology
The vowels can be long or short. Prolongation is shown by repeating the vowel.
*oo is pronounced /oː/, not /uː/
References
External links
Chocheyno, California Language ArchiveChochenyo languageoverview 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 ...
Chochenyo revitalization – language at UCB "Faith in Words" 2004 rchived versionMuwekma Ohlone Tribe websiteThe Little Tribe That Could
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chochenyo Language
Ohlone languages
Extinct languages of North America
Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area
History of the San Francisco Bay Area
Chochenyo