The Geography and Dialects of the Miwok Indians
S.A. Barrett
Of the many linguistic families in California most are confined to single areas, but the large Moquelumnan or Miwok family is one of the few exceptions, in that the people speaking its various dialects occupy three distinct areas. These three areas, while actually quite near together, are at considerable distances from one another as compared with the areas occupied by any of the other linguistic families that are separated.
The northern of the three Miwok areas, which may for convenience be called the Northern Coast or Lake area, is situated in the southern extremity of Lake county and just touches, at its northern boundary, the southernmost end of Clear lake.
The second of the three areas lies on the northern shore of San Francisco bay, and comprises Marin county together with a small portion of the southern part of Sonoma and a very small part of Napa counties. Within this area are two dialectic divisions. The·smaller, which may be conveniently termed the Western Coast or Bodega dialectic area, comprises a very small territory immediately about the shores of Bodega bay. The larger division may be termed the Southern Coast or Marin dialectic area, and occupies the remainder of the area.
The third or main area occupied by people belonging to the Moquelumnan or Miwok stock comprises, generally speaking, that portion of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains which extends from Cosumnes river on the north to Fresno river on the south (adapted from the introduction).
Contents: Introduction. Territorial Boundaries. Dialects. Dialectic Relations (Lexical. Phonetic). Alphabet. Vocabularies (Originally published 1908 in Berkeley).
ISBN 9783969392232. LINCOM Americana 34. 42pp. 2024.
