Patwin (Patween) is a critically endangered Wintuan language of

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

. As of 2021, there was one documented first language speaker of Patwin. As of 2010, Patwin language classes were taught at the

Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation ( ) is a Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribe of Wintun people, specifically Patwin people or southern Wintun, in Yolo County, California. They were formerly known as the Rumsey Indian Rancheria of ...

(formerly Rumsey Rancheria) tribal school (Dubin 2010). Patwin has two (excl. Southern Patwin) or three (incl. Southern Patwin) dialects: "River Patwin (or Valley Patwin) was traditionally spoken along the Sacramento River in Colusa County ... Hill Patwin, was spoken in the plains and foothills to the west."

Southern Patwin The Patwin (also Patween, Southern Wintu) are a band of Wintun people native to the area of Northern California. The Patwin comprise the southern branch of the Wintun group, native inhabitants of California since approximately 500 AD. The Patwi ...

became extinct shortly after contact. It is very poorly attested, and may be a separate Southern Wintuan language (Mithun 1999). As of 2012, the Tewe Kewe Cultural Center of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation has "a California Indian Library Collection and an extensive Patwin language and history research section."

Phonemes

Consonants

Patwin has 25

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced ...

phonemes. In the table below, the

IPA IPA commonly refers to: * India pale ale, a style of beer * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA may also refer to: Organizations International * Insolvency Practitioner ...

form(s) of each consonant are given. This is followed by the form commonly used in Lawyer (2021)'s grammar, if this is different from the IPA form. * /ʔ/ is a marginal phoneme, occurring exclusively at morpheme boundaries. Its distribution is not entirely predictable, however. * Glottalized and aspirated consonants occur only syllable-initially. * Some or all of the "alveolar" consonants (both central and lateral) would be more accurately described as being retracted alveolar consonants.

Vowels

Patwin has 10 vowels: * Patwin vowels have a simple length distinction (short vs. long). * All vowels are voiced and oral.

References

External links

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 ...

California Language Archive: PatwinWorld Atlas of Language Structures: PatwinPatwin language bibliographyOLAC Patwin resources, on Wintu page
{{Penutian languages Patwin Wintuan languages Indigenous languages of California Endangered indigenous languages of the Americas Native American language revitalization

Phonemes

Consonants

Vowels

References

Further reading

External links