UC Merced Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology Title Salinan Linguistic Materials Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8k75s574 Journal Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, 10(2) ISSN 0191-3557 Author Turner, Katherine Publication Date 1988-07-01 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California SALINAN LINGUISTIC MATERIALS 265 Marine Biological Consultants, and Philip Adams Macko, M. E. and Roger Seapy of California State University, 1983 Beads, Bones, Baptisms, and Sweat- Fullerton, provided valuable advice and assis­ lodges: Analysis of Collections from tance. This study was made possible through a "Elijman" (CA-SBa-485), A Late Period scientific permit granted by the California Ynezeno Chumash Village in the Central Department of Fish and Game. Santa Ynez Valley, California. Master's thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara. REFERENCES Merrill, A. S., J. A. Posgay, and F. E. Nichy 1965 Aimual Marks on Shell and Ligament of Barker, R. M. Sea Scallop (Placopecten magellanicus). 1964 Microtextural Variations in Pelecypod Fishery BuUetin 65:299-311. Shells. Malacologia 2:69-84. Ricketts, E. F., J. Calvin, J. W. Hedgpeth, and D. 1970 Constituency and Origins of Cyclic W. Phillips Layers in Pelecypod Shells. Ph.D. dis­ 1985 Between Pacific Tides. Stanford: Stan­ sertation. University of California, ford University Press. Berkeley. Ropes, J. W., and A. S. Merrill Coutts, P. F., and C. Higham 1970 Marking Surf Clams. Proceedings of 1971 The Seasonal Factor in Prehistoric New the National Shellfisheries Association Zealand. World Archaeology 2:266-277. 60:99-106. Drover, C. E. Weide, M. L. 1974 Seasonal Exploitation of Chione Clams 1969 Seasonality of Pismo Clam Collecting at on the Southern California Coast. The Ora-82. Los Angeles: University of Journal of California Anthropology 1:24- California Archaeological Survey Annual 32. Report 11:127-141. Kennish, M. J. 1985 Shell Microgrowth Analysis: Mercenaria mercenaria as a Type Example for Research in Population Dynamics. In: Skeletal Growth of Aquatic Organisms, D. C. Rhodes and R. A. Lutz, eds., pp. 255-294. New York: Plenum Press. Koerper, H. C. 1980 Comment on Drover's Proposed Season­ Salinan Linguistic Materials ality Method. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 2:137-140. KATHERINE TURNER, 5166 Patrick Creek Dr., McKinleyville, CA 95521. Koerper, H. C, R. Cerreto, and K. P. Reitz 1984 Cautionary Notes on the Use of a Statistical Method of Seasonality AT the time of European contact in the Determination from Chione undatella eighteenth century, Salinan was spoken along Shells. Pacific Coast Archaeological the south-central coast of California from Society Quarterly 20(3):67-75. just north of the present town of King City Lyons, E. south to Paso Robles and east to Coalinga. 1978 A Statistical Method of Seasonality Randall Milliken's work with the California Determination from Chione undatella mission registers and recent archaeological (Sowerby). Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 14(3):33-42. studies by Gibson (1975, 1982) and Breschini and Haversat (1980) have refined Kroeber's 1984 A Response to the "Cautionary Notes . ." Pacific Coast Archaeological (1925) geographic distribution of Salinan Society Quarterly 20(3):76-83. speakers. The most significant change from 266 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY Kroeber's boundaries is to move the southern ario" (sic), a paradigmatic noun vocabulary, coastal limit 40 miles north and to suggest a and a prayer board. These are now found in western-eastern, rather than a northern- widely separated locations: the original southern division between speakers of the Confesionario (Sitjar MS) is in Washington, two attested dialects: Antoniafio and DC, at the Georgetown University archives; Miguelino. The Salinans' neighbors at the the vocabulary with the noun paradigms, time of European contact were the Esselen partly composed by Fr. Sitjar and partly by (Hokan linguistic stock), the Soledad Cos- Frs. Cabot and Dumetz (Cabot and Dumetz tanoan (Penutian stock), the Yokuts (Penu- MS), is in the Boston Athenaeum; and the tian), and the Obispefio, or Northern, Chu­ prayer board (Pieras and Sitjar MS) is at the mash (Hokan). The Salinan language is con­ National History Museum of the Smithsonian ventionally designated a member of the Institution, Washington, DC. All of these Hokan linguistic stock. are, of course, glossed in the Spanish of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth cen­ OVERVIEW turies. The Salinan can be identified as the There are approximately twenty sources Antoniafio dialect, but it is written in ad of linguistic data on Salinan, dating from the hoc orthographies that are not even inter­ late eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century, nally consistent. The Spanish itself poses slightly more than 150 years during which some problems because these missionaries written records of Salinan were made. The were not educated academicians, and many majority are written in idiosyncratic ortho­ of the Spanish glosses reflect a local late graphies and eight are glossed in Spanish. eighteenth-century Spanish dialect from The last speaker died thirty years ago, but GaUcia in northwest Spain. the language nearly disappeared within 100 Also dating from the mission period, Fr. years after the establishment of the first Buenaventura Sitjar's "Vocabulario de la Franciscan mission in Salinan territory. Lengua de los Naturales de la misi6n San That mission, San Antonio de Padua, was Antonio, Alta California" was published in founded in 1771 by Fr. Junipero Serra, as 1861 as Volume 7 in Shea's Library of the third Franciscan mission established in American Linguistics, but it was compiled Alta California. Mission San Miguel, Arc- much earlier, because Fr. Sitjar died in 1808. angel, was founded in 1797 by Fr. Buenaven­ A. S. Taylor dated this at 1787. The tura Sitjar, the incumbent of Mission San original is in the Bancroft Library, Univer­ Antonio. In order to evaluate the progress sity of California, Berkeley. This document, of their efforts, the missionaries required too, is in an idiosyncratic orthography, but their Indian converts to speak Spanish the Spanish is much easier to understand. (Engelhardt 1929, 1972). The Franciscans' The published version is preceded by a proselytizing brought about the eventual grammatical sketch by Shea. eradication of Salinan aboriginal culture at During the last century, several visitors all levels, including their language. to California compiled short vocabularies of the two Salinan dialects, glossed in English SOURCES for the most part, but only eight are sources The missionaries made some attempts to of particular linguistic interest. The earliest communicate with the Indians in their native of these vocabularies consists of a list of language, attested by the surviving docu­ the numbers from "one" to "sixteen" taken ments of the mission period: a "Confession- down by Dr. Thomas Coulter, a Dublin physi- SALINAN LINGUISTIC MATERIALS 267 cian, in 1834 (Couher 1848). This was fol­ problems of working with Merriam's English- lowed by slightly fuller vocabularies by based orthography are well known. He did, Scouler (1841:247-251), Latham (1856), Tay­ however, have a "phonetic" key to his lor (1860), Gatschet (1877), Pinart (1878), spellings at the beginning of each of his and Henshaw (1884). Henshaw compiled the printed schedules: "Field Check Lists" longest of these vocabularies, completing (Merriam 1902a, 1933a) and "Vocabularies most of the extensive Bureau of American of North American Indians" (Merriam 1902b, Ethnology schedules for both dialects of the 1933b). If the philologist is already familiar language. Less useful sources include with the American Indian language Merriam Lap6rouse (1797), de la Cuesta (1821, 1833), was recording, his elicitations are quite Gallatin (1848), Yates and Gould (1887), and valuable, especially with reference to flora Pieras and Sitjar (MS). and fauna. Merriam was a biologist and All of these vocabularies are in idiosyn­ used specific Latin taxonomic terms for his cratic transcriptions based on English, glosses. With Salinan, however, one should French, and Spanish, except for those of be aware that Merriam was working through Henshaw, who had the directions of Powell a Spanish-speaking interpreter. (1880) for his orthography. In some cases J. Alden Mason, a student of Edward his transcriptions are helpful because he Sapir, began his work with Salinan in 1910 indicated syllable boundaries with hyphens. and published his dissertation "The Ethno­ The twentieth century saw the efforts of graphy of the Salinan Indians" in 1912. His Kroeber (1901, 1904), Merriam (1902, 1933), "Language of the Salinan Indians" was hur­ Mason (1912, 1916-1917, 1918), Harrington ried into print at the urging of Kroeber in (1922, 1932-1933; cf. CaUaghan 1975, Walsh 1918. Mason, too, worked with a Spanish 1976), Bright (1954), and Jacobsen (1954, interpreter but transcribed his elicitations 1955, 1958). These twentieth-century re­ phonetically, using the conventions of Boas cordings are more modern: they pose fewer et al. (1916). He, too, had problems with philological problems, and the majority are word-initial glottal stops and with glottaliza- glossed in English. tion in general. I have found it more useful Kroeber did a workmanlike job of to work with his notebooks (Mason 1916- compiling a short vocabulary of the Migu- 1917) rather than with the published version eleiio dialect and his notebook (Kroeber because of a few printing errors, but the 1901) currently is in the Survey of California chief caution one should exercise in working and Other American Indian Languages at the with his materials involves his mixing of the University of California, Berkeley. He dis­ two dialects. He also retranscribed his played some of the classic errors of an inex­ interpretations of Fr. Sitjar's (1861) "Vocab­ perienced field linguist: he did not record ulario ..." in his stem list. word-initial glottal stops and his Salinan Luckily, the language came to the atten­ glosses for body parts translate as "your tion of John Peabody Harrington.