Pre-contact distribution of Chimariko

Chimariko is an extinct language isolate formerly spoken in Trinity County in northwestern California by Chimariko peoples. Speakers lived mostly in a narrow canyon along the Trinity River (approximately a 20-mile section). An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ... A language isolate is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or genetic) relationship with other living languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common to any other language. ... Trinity County is a county located in northwestern California, along the Trinity River and among the Klamath Mountains. ... State nickname: The Golden State Official languages English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) Senators Dianne Feinstein (D) Barbara Boxer (D) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 3rd 410,000 km² 4. ... The Trinity River is the name of two rivers in the United States. ...

The Chimariko were profoundly affected by the destructive practices of gold seekers during California Gold Rush (during the 1850s). One of the major issues involved the disruption of the salmon populations which was the main food source of the Chimariko. In the 1860s, conflict between Chimariko and white miners led to almost total extinction of the entire population — the surviving Chimariko fled to live with the Hupa and Shasta. The language probably became extinct sometime in the 1930s. A California Gold Rush handbill The California Gold Rush was a period in American history marked by mass hysteria concerning a gold discovery in Northern California. ... In biology and ecology, extinction is the ceasing of existence of a species or group of taxa. ... A smoky day at the Sugar Bowl Edward Curtis, photographer The Hupa are an Athabaskan tribe which inhabit northwestern California. ... The Shasta (or Chasta) are an indigenous people of Northern California and Southern Oregon in the United States. ...

Genetic relations

Proposals linking Chimariko to other languages in various versions of the hypothetical Hokan family have been advanced. Roland Dixon suggested a relationship between Chimariko and the Shastan and Palaihnihan families. Edward Sapir's famous 1929 classification grouped Chimariko with Shastan, Palaihnihan, Pomoan, and the Karuk and Yana languages in a Hokan sub-grouping known as Northern Hokan. A Kahi family consisting of Chimariko, Shastan, Palaihnihan, and Karuk has been suggested (appearing also within Sapir's 1929 Northern Hokan). Most specialists currently find these relationships to be undemonstrated (and thus it remains an isolate). The Hokan languages are a group of languages spoken in North America by Native Americans. ... Pre-contact distribution of Shastan languages The Shastan (also Sastean) family consisted of four languages, spoken in present-day northern California and southern Oregon. ... Palaihnihan is a language family consisting of two languages: Atsugewi Achumawi The Palaihnihan family is often connected with the hypothetical Hokan stock. ... Edward Sapir. ... This article is a list of different language classification proposals developed for indigenous languages of the Americas. ... Karuk Karuk (also Karok) are an indigenous people of California in the United States. ... Yana is a Sanskrit word with a range of meanings including nouns such as vehicle, journey, and path; and verbs such as going, moving, riding, and marching. ...

Bibilography

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Goddard, Ives (Ed.). (1996). Languages. Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 17). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-1604-8774-9.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.