Awaswas language

Awaswas
Santa Cruz
Native toUnited States
RegionCalifornia
Extinct19th century[1]
Yok-Utian
Dialectsfour varieties[2]
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3(included in Northern Ohlone [cst])
Glottologsant1428
Map of Ohlone varieties with   Awaswas
Chapel of the Mission Santa Cruz, reconstruction.

Awaswas, or Santa Cruz, is one of eight Ohlone languages. It was historically spoken by the Awaswas people, an indigenous people of California. The last speaker of Awaswas died in the 19th century, and the language has been extinct ever since.[1]

Linguists originally called the language Santa Cruz after the mission in the area, but it was renamed to Awaswas as part of a move in the late 1960s and early 1970s by graduate students at the University of California Berkeley to use native names for the Ohlone languages.[3] 'Awaswas' is derived from the term ʔawas-was, meaning 'north-people from there'.[4]

Area where the Utian languages were spoken
  1. ^ a b "Awaswas". California Language Archive. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Milliken, Randall; Shoup, Laurence H.; Oritz, Beverly R. (2009). "Ohlone/Costanoan Indians of the San Francisco Peninsula and their Neighbors, Yesterday and Today". Government Documents and Publications: 17–36.
  4. ^ Golla, Victor (2011). California Indian languages. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26667-4. OCLC 668191602.

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