Mattole, or Mattole–Bear River, is an extinct Athabaskan language once spoken by the Mattole and Bear River peoples of northern California. It is one of the four languages belonging to the ''California Athabaskan'' cluster of the

Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages Pacific Coast Athabaskan is a geographical and possibly genealogical grouping of the Athabaskan language family. California Athabaskan : 1. Hupa (dining'-xine:wh, a.k.a. Hoopa-Chilula) :: dialects: ::* Hupa ::* Tsnungwe ::: - tse:ning-xwe ::: - ...

. It was found in two locations: in the valley of the

Mattole River The Mattole River is a river on the north coast of California, that flows northerly, then westerly into the Pacific Ocean. The vast majority of its course is through southern Humboldt County, though a short section of the river flows through no ...

, immediately south of

Cape Mendocino Cape Mendocino (Spanish: ''Cabo Mendocino'', meaning "Cape of Mendoza"), which is located approximately north of San Francisco, is located on the Lost Coast entirely within Humboldt County, California, United States. At 124° 24' 34" W longitude ...

on the coast of northwest California, and a distinct dialect on Bear River, about 10 miles to the north. California-athabaskan

References

* * Goddard, Pliny Earle (1929). "The Bear River Dialect of Athapascan." ''University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology'' 24 (5):291-334, 1929. * Golla, Victor (2011). ''California Indian Languages''. Berkeley: University of California Press. . * * Yeadon, David, "California’s North Face", National Geographic, vol. 184, no. 1, p. 48-79, July 1993.

External links

A Survey of the Athabaskan Language Mattole

Mattole language
overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
Mattole
at native-languages.org
Mattole, World Atlas of Language Structures Online

OLAC resources in and about the Mattole language

Mattole basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
* "It is the desire of the Live Your Language Alliance to hear and speak the traditional languages of the

Tolowa The Tolowa people or Taa-laa-wa Dee-ni’ are a Native American people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethno-linguistic group. Two rancherias (Smith River and Elk Valley) still reside in their traditional territory in northwestern California. Tho ...

Karuk The Karuk people are an indigenous people of California, and the Karuk Tribe is one of the largest tribes in California. Karuks are also enrolled in two other federally recognized tribes, the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad ...

Yurok The Yurok (Karuk language: Yurúkvaarar / Yuru Kyara - "downriver Indian; i.e. Yurok Indian") are an Indigenous people from along the Klamath River and Pacific coast, whose homelands are located in present-day California stretching from Trinidad ...

, Hupa,

Tsnungwe The Tsnungwe (current Hupa-language orthography, own name: - "Tse:ning-din (Ironside Mountain) People") or ''Tsanunghwa'' are a Native American people indigenous to the modern areas of the lower South Fork Trinity River (), Willow Creek (), ...

, Wiyot, Mattole, and Wailaki." {{Athabaskan languages Indigenous languages of California Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages Mattole people Extinct languages of North America