The Shastan (or Sastean) family consisted of four languages, spoken in present-day northern
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
and southern
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...
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Konomihu
Konomihu is an extinct Shastan language formerly spoken in northern California. There may have been only a few speakers even before contact, and they self-identified as Shasta by the turn of the 20th century.
Konomihu may have been the most div ...
''(†)''
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New River Shasta ''(†)''
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Okwanuchu ''(†)''
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Shasta (also known as Shastika) ''(†)''
Konomihu appears to have been the most divergent Shastan language. Okwanuchu may have been a dialect of Shasta proper, which is known to have had a number of dialects.
The entire Shastan family is now
extinct. Shasta was the last language that was spoken. Three elderly speakers were reported in the 1980s.
Shastan has often been considered to be in the hypothetical
Hokan stock.
References
*Mithun, Marianne, ed. ''The Languages of Native North America''. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer.
Cambr ...
, 1999.
External links
Native Tribes, Groups, Language Families and Dialects of California in 1770(after Kroeber)
Language families
Hokan languages
Indigenous languages of California
Indigenous languages of Oregon
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