Esselen language

Esselen was the language of the Esselen (or self-designated Huelel) Nation, which aboriginally occupied the mountainous Central Coast of California, immediately south of Monterey (Shaul 1995). It was probably a language isolate, though has been included as a part of the hypothetical Hokan proposal.

Esselen
Huelel
Native toUnited States
RegionBig Sur (California)
EthnicityEsselen
Extinct19th century
Hokan ?
  • Esselen
Language codes
ISO 639-3esq
Glottologesse1238[1]

Names
Further information: Esselen § Etymology

The name Esselen was derived from a village name. The Esselen people referred to their own language as Huelel. The name was recorded by Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta on May 18, 1832 at Soledad Mission from his informant Eusebio (native name Sutasis) (cf. villel 'tongue' as recorded by Dionisio Alcalá Galiano) (Shaul 1995).

Historical background

French explorer Jean La Perouse, who visited Monterey in 1786, reported:[2]

The country of the Ecclemachs [Esselen] extends above 20 leagues to the [south]eastward of Monterey. Their language is totally different from all those of their neighbors, and has even more resemblance to the languages of Europe than to those of the Americas. This grammatical phenomenon, the most curious in this respect ever observed on the continent, will, perhaps, be interesting to those of the learned, who seek, in the analogy of languages, the history and genealogy of transplanted nations.

Esselen may have been the first Californian language to become extinct. Although it was spoken by many of the early converts at Mission Carmel, its use rapidly declined during the Hispanic period. Very little information on the vocabulary and grammar of Esselen was preserved. About 350 words and phrases and a few complete sentences have been preserved in literature, [2] including a short bilingual catechism (for a summary see Mithun 1999:411–413 and Golla 2011:114). By the beginning of the 20th century the only data on Esselen that investigators such as Kroeber and Harrington could collect were a few words remembered by speakers of other Indian languages in the area.

Classification

H. W. Henshaw thought that Esselen represented a monotypic linguistic family. Others have assigned the language to the Hokan family. While it is likely that much of Dixon & Kroeber's Hokan-Penutian model will stand the test of time, the subject matter is both complex and poorly understood, and is thus subject to revision.

Phonology
Labial Dental/
alveolar		 Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
hard soft
Nasal m m n n
Plosive p p t t ʈ ṭ k k ʔ '
Affricate ts ts tʃ č
Fricative f f s s ʃ š x x h h
Approximant w w l l j y
Flap ɾ r
Vowels
Front Back
Close i   u  
Close-mid e   o  
Open-mid
Open a

Pronouns

Subject pronouns in Esselen (Shaul 1995):

sgpl
1 enileṭ
2 nemenomeṭ
3 laṭ, lawis

Syntax

Word order is primarily SVO, although SOV and VSO also occur (Shaul 1995).

Lexicon

Shaul (1995) reconstitutes Esselen vocabulary, synthesized from various historical sources, as follows.[3] Forms from Alfred L. Kroeber are marked by (Kr).

glossEsselen
adult-nVč
allkomVnam
arrowlóto-s
bearkoltála
bowpaxu-nax
child/sonpana
crysiawa
dancemepV, mef-
darktumas (Kr)
dayasátsa
diemoho
dogšošo
drinketse, eše
eartus-usp (Kr)
earthmaṭa, matsa
eightkxulef-walanai
eyes-ikxpa
fatherhaya
femaleta-
fivepemakxa-la
footkxéle
fourkxamakxu-s
friend-efe
girlsoléta
givetoxésa
good/wellsale-
grandfathermeči
ground squirrelmexe
hairhaka
headkxáta-sVx
largeputú-ki; yakí-s-ki
manexe-
motheratsia
mountainpolomo
mountain lionxeke-s
mouthiši
nailsuluxV
nighttomani-s
nosexoši
onepek
personefexe
pinoleamúxe
plainyala-x
quailkumul (Kr)
rabbit (cottontail)čiši, čis-
salmonkilí-
sealopopa-pas
sevenkxula-walanai
sixpek-walanai
skyimi-
smallukxu-s-ki
speakal-pa
sunaši
teethawur
tentomóila
threekxulep
twokxulax
waterasa-nax
wherekéya-
whokíni
wildcattoloma
woodi'i
yesíke
gollark: He was active?
gollark: Which active and nice member?
gollark: Well, I think I maybe won quo10?
gollark: Yes, explicate.
gollark: The secret orchestrators of the VOTE GIBSON project.

References
  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Esselen". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. "DCQ Fall Equinox 1999 -- The Caves Ranch". www.ventanawild.org. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  3. Shaul, David L. 1995. "The Huelel (Esselen) Language." International Journal of American Linguistics 61:191-239.

Bibliography
  • Golla, Victor. 2011. California Indian Languages. University of California Press.
  • Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge University Press.
  • Shaul, David L. 1995. "The Huelel (Esselen) Language." International Journal of American Linguistics 61:191-239.
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