The Tongva language (also known as Gabrielino or Gabrieleño) is an extinct

Uto-Aztecan language Uto-Aztecan, Uto-Aztekan or (rarely in English) Uto-Nahuatl is a family of indigenous languages of the Americas, consisting of over thirty languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico. The n ...

formerly spoken by the

Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...

, a Native American people who live in and around

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. It has not been a language of everyday conversation since the 1940s. The Gabrielino people now speak English but a few are attempting to revive their language by using it in everyday conversation and ceremonial contexts. Presently, Gabrielino is also being used in language revitalization classes and in some public discussion regarding religious and environmental issues. Tongva is closely related to Serrano. The last fluent native speakers of Tongva lived in the early 20th century. The language is primarily documented in the unpublished field notes of

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 which h ...

made during that time. The "J.P. Harrington Project", developed by the Smithsonian through UC Davis, approximately 6,000 pages of his notes on the Tongva language, were coded for documentation by a Tongva member, who took 3 years to accomplish the task. Alleged native speakers of Tongva who have died as late as in the 1970s have not been verified as having been fluent speakers. Evidence of the language also survives in modern

toponymy Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

, including

Pacoima Pacoima (Tongva: ''Pacoinga'') is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. Pacoima is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley region of LA. Geography Location Pacoima is bordered by the Los Angeles districts of Mission Hill ...

, Tujunga,

Topanga Topanga () (Tongva: ''Topaa'nga'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located in the Santa Monica Mountains, the community exists in Topanga Canyon and the surrounding hills. The narrow s ...

Azusa Azusa may refer to: Relating to California From a Native American language, likely Tongva language, Tongva ''Asuksagna:'' *Azusa, California, a city in the United States *Azusa Pacific University, a Christian-based institution in Azusa, California ...

, ''Cahuenga'' in

Cahuenga Pass The Cahuenga Pass (, ; Tongva: ''Kawé’nga'') is a low mountain pass through the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains in the Hollywood Hills district of the City of Los Angeles, California. It has an elevation of . The Cahuenga Pass connec ...

and ''Cucamonga'' in

Rancho Cucamonga Rancho Cucamonga was a Mexican land grant in present-day San Bernardino County, California, given in 1839 to the dedicated soldier, smuggler and politician Tiburcio Tapia by Mexican governor Juan Bautista Alvarado. The grant formed parts of pr ...

. Additionally, the

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...

50000 Quaoar was named after the Tongva creator god.

Language revitalization

The Gabrielino language is a subgroup of Takic, a subfamily of Uto-Aztecan, which is usually divided into three subgoups: Serrano-Kitanemuk, Gabrielino (including the Fernandeno dialect) and Cupan. As of 2012, members of the contemporary Tongva (Gabrieleño) tribal council are attempting to revive the language, by making use of written vocabularies, by comparison to better attested members of the

Takic The Takic languages are a putative group of Uto-Aztecan languages historically spoken by a number of Indigenous peoples of California, Indigenous peoples of Southern California. Takic is grouped with the Tübatulabal language, Tubatulabal, Hopi la ...

group to which Tongva belonged, and by offering classes. In 2004, Pamela Munro, now UCLA emeritus professor of linguistics, was asked to serve as a linguistic mentor to Tongva people who wanted to learn about their language at the Breath of Life Workshop, a biennial event in Berkeley staged by the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival. Since then, she has taught monthly Tongva language classes in which adults and children practice pronunciation, master the use of

grammatical particle In grammar, the term ''particle'' (abbreviated ) has a traditional meaning, as a part of speech that cannot be inflected, and a modern meaning, as a function word associated with another word or phrase, generally in order to impart meaning. Altho ...

s, sing songs and play word games. She calls her work "a reclamation effort" for the language. Munro has compiled a Tongva dictionary of over 1,000 words, and also maintains a Tongva language Facebook page to which she posts Tongva words, phrases and songs. Munro says there are no audio recordings of people speaking the Tongva language, but that there are a few scratched wax cylinder recordings of Tongva songs.

Phonology

Consonants

The following is a list of the consonants and vowels of the Tongva language as used by the Tongva Language Committee, based on linguist

Pamela Munro Pamela Munro (b. May 23, 1947) is an American linguist who specializes in Native American languages. She is a distinguished research professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she has held a position si ...

's interpretation of the fieldnotes of J. P. Harrington. In parentheses is the spelling of the specific sound. Note that there are multiple orthographies for the Tongva language. Consonants are used in loanwords.

Vowels

Morphology

Tongva is an

agglutinative In linguistics, agglutination is a morphological process in which words are formed by stringing together morphemes, each of which corresponds to a single syntactic feature. Languages that use agglutination widely are called agglutinative langu ...

language, where words use suffixes and multiple morphemes for a variety of purposes.

Vocabulary

The Lord's Prayer

The

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

is called Eyoonak'' in Tongva. The following text was derived from old Mission records.

Collected by C. Hart Merriam (1903)McCawley, William. The First Angelinos: The Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles. Malki Museum Press, 1996

(Merriam refers to them as the Tongvā) ;Numbers # Po-koo # Wěh-hā # Pah-hā # Wah-chah # Mah-har # Pah-vah-hā # Wah-chah-kav-e-ah # Wa-ha's-wah-chah # Mah-ha'hr-kav-e-ah # Wa-hās-mah-hah'r # Wa-hā's-mah-hah'r-koi-po-koo # Wa-hā's-mah-hah'r-koi-wěh-hā ;

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

:hoó-nahr :hoon-nah (subject) :hoon-rah (object) ;

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

:pí-yah-hó-naht

Collected by Alexander Taylor (1860)

;Numbers # po-koo # wa-hay # pa-hey # wat-sa # mahar # pawahe # wat-sa-kabiya # wa-hish-watchsa # mahar-cabearka # wa-hish-mar Taylor claims "they do not count farther than ten"

Collected by Dr. Oscar Loew (1875)

;Numbers # pu-gu' # ve-he' # pa'-hi # va-tcha' # maha'r # pa-va'he # vatcha'-kabya' # vehesh-vatcha' # mahar-kabya' # vehes-mahar # puku-hurura # vehe-hurura ;bear :unar

Collected by Charles Wilkes, USN (1838-1842)

;Numbers # pukū # wehē # pāhe # watsā ;bear :hundr

Other sources

*desert fox: ''erow''Native Languages of the Americas *Pacoima = from the root word ''Pako'' enter, meaning the entrance *Tujunga = from the root word old woman ''tux'uu'' Tujunga means Mountains of Health according to long-time residents. *Azusa = from the word -''shuuk 'Ashuuksanga'' = his grandmother

Toponymy

The table below gives the names of various missions in the Tongva language. Munro, Pamela, et al. ''Yaara' Shiraaw'ax 'Eyooshiraaw'a. Now You're Speaking Our Language: Gabrielino/Tongva/Fernandeño''. Lulu.com: 2008.

References

External links

Native-languages.org: Gabrieliño (Tongva) Language

Gabrielino language
— overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages.
The Limu Project
— active in Native California languages revitalization.
2002 Tongva speech
spoken at

Cal Poly Pomona California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona, CPP, or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo. See the ''name'' section of this article for more infor ...

during the opening of a Tongva ethnobotanic garden; speech begins at 35:10.
Keepers of Indigenous Ways: Tongva Language History & classes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tongva, Language *Language Indigenous languages of California

Takic languages History of Los Angeles County, California History of Orange County, California History of San Bernardino County, California History of the San Fernando Valley Native American language revitalization