Central Pomo language
| Central Pomo | |
|---|---|
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Northern California |
|
Native speakers
|
8 (1996) |
|
Pomoan
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | cent2138 |
The seven Pomoan languages with an indication of their pre-contact distribution within California
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Central Pomo is one of the seven Pomoan languages spoken in Northern California. It is currently an endangered language, with fewer than 10 speakers. Pre-contact speakers of all the Pomoan languages have been estimated at 8,000 altogether. This estimation was from the American anthropologist Alfred Kroeber.
"The Central Pomo language was traditionally spoken from the Russian River southwest of Clear Lake to the Pacific coast. There were settlements along the Russian River (in the southern Ukiah Valley, in Hopland Valley, and further south near the Sonoma County line), in the coastal region (at Manchester, Point Arena, and at the mouth of the Gualala River), and in the region between the two (around Yorkville and in Anderson Valley)."
It has a consonant inventory that is identical to the related Southern Pomo language with the following exceptions:
Central Pomo distinguishes velar /k/, /kʰ/, /kʼ/ from uvular /q/, /qʰ/, /qʼ/. It lacks a non-ejective alveolar affricate (i.e., it does not have /ts/ as a phoneme), and does not have length, in the form of geminate root consonants, as found in Southern Pomo.
As of 2013, a transcription project of Central Pomo materials collected by J.P. Harrington is underway.
The Pomo people are scattered into six different geographical areas. There are the Northeastern Pomos, Northern Pomos, Central Pomos, Southern Pomos, Southeastern Pomos, and Eastern Pomos. They mostly surround the area outside of Lake Sonoma which was one of the main resources of the central Pomo people. Timber is also found surrounding the area where the Pomo people reside. Mountains next to the shore are covered for most of the way from Mount Tamalpais, on the northern shore of San Francisco Bay, towards the north with a dense forest of redwood, Sequoia sempervirens. Pseudotsuga taxifolia is significantly abundant in the mountain of the region the Douglas spruce and the redwood belt.
The area of land occupied by the Pomo people is divided: the main area extends from west to east in northern California, from the Californian coast to the main range of the Coast Range mountains. The space from north to south is between the vicinity of Santa Rosa to Sherwood valley. The second area is the smaller of the two, only being from the headwaters of stony creek in Colusa and Glenn counties. Both of theses areas are populated by Pomo people, but the latter area is populated by tribes that speak a different dialect of the language. Thus Pomo people occupy all of Russian River Valley except for two areas, the first being between Geyserville and Healdsburg, and the second at the extreme head of Potter valley. To the west of the Pomo population is the Pacific Ocean; to the east the Yukian-Wappo and Wintun people are located; to the north are the Yuki and Athatpascan Kato people; and to the south the Moquelumnan people. The Yuki and Athatpascan Kato people who are located at the northern point are separated from the Pomo people by the watershed between Cahto and Sherwood valleys. Throughout northern California, true Pomo tribes no longer exist. The largest geographical and political divisions are villages and bodies of power surrounding them.
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