Patwin language
Endangered indigenous language of northern California
title: "Patwin language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["patwin", "wintuan-languages", "indigenous-languages-of-california", "endangered-indigenous-languages-of-the-americas", "native-american-language-revitalization"] description: "Endangered indigenous language of northern California" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patwin_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Endangered indigenous language of northern California ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Patwin |
| nativename | Southern Wintun |
| states | United States |
| region | Colusa, Lake, Napa, Solano, and Yolo Counties, northern California |
| ethnicity | Patwin |
| speakers | 1 |
| date | 2021 |
| ref | |
| revived | Being taught in schools and learned by adults |
| familycolor | penutian |
| fam1 | Wintuan |
| fam2 | Southern |
| dia1 | Hill Patwin |
| dia2 | River Patwin |
| dia3 | ?Southern Patwin |
| iso3 | pwi |
| glotto | patw1250 |
| glottorefname | Patwin |
| map | patwin_map.svg |
| mapcaption | Map of Patwin people and language |
| map2 | Lang Status 20-CR.svg |
| mapcaption2 | |
| :: |
| name = Patwin | nativename = Southern Wintun | states = United States | region = Colusa, Lake, Napa, Solano, and Yolo Counties, northern California | ethnicity = Patwin | speakers = 1 | date = 2021 | ref = | revived = Being taught in schools and learned by adults | familycolor = penutian | fam1 = Wintuan | fam2 = Southern | dia1 = Hill Patwin | dia2 = River Patwin | dia3 = ?Southern Patwin | iso3 = pwi | glotto = patw1250 | glottorefname = Patwin | map = patwin_map.svg | mapcaption = Map of Patwin people and language | map2 = Lang Status 20-CR.svg | mapcaption2 =
Patwin (Patween) is a critically endangered Wintuan language of Northern California. As of 2021, there was one documented first language speaker of Patwin. | title = Patwin – Survey of California and Other Indian Languages | access-date = 2012-08-30 | url = http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~survey/languages/patwin.php
Patwin has two (excl. Southern Patwin) or three (incl. Southern Patwin) dialects: "River Patwin (or Valley Patwin) was traditionally spoken along the Sacramento River in Colusa County ... Hill Patwin, was spoken in the plains and foothills to the west." | title = Quail Ridge Reserve - Human History Patwin | access-date = 2012-08-30 | url = http://nrs.ucdavis.edu/Quail/Natural/Human_Patwin.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081116102918/http://nrs.ucdavis.edu/quail/Natural/Human_Patwin.htm | archive-date = 2008-11-16 | url-status = dead
Southern Patwin became extinct shortly after contact. It is very poorly attested, and may be a separate Southern Wintuan language (Mithun 1999).
As of 2012, the Tewe Kewe Cultural Center of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation has "a California Indian Library Collection and an extensive Patwin language and history research section."{{Cite web | title = Cultural Resources – Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation | access-date = 2012-08-30 | url = http://yochadehe.org/cultural-resources | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120825201110/http://www.yochadehe.org/cultural-resources | archive-date = 2012-08-25 | url-status = dead
Phonemes
Consonants
Patwin has 25 consonant phonemes. In the table below, the IPA form(s) of each consonant are given. This is followed by the form commonly used in Lawyer (2021)'s grammar, if this is different from the IPA form.
::data[format=table] | Bilabial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | median | lateral | Plosive | voiceless | aspirated | glottalized | voiced | Nasal | Fricative | Affricate | voiceless | glottalized | Trill/Flap | Approximant | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | | () | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ~ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::
- /ʔ/ is a marginal phoneme, occurring exclusively at morpheme boundaries. Its distribution is not entirely predictable, however.
- Glottalized and aspirated consonants occur only syllable-initially.
- Some or all of the "alveolar" consonants (both central and lateral) would be more accurately described as being retracted alveolar consonants.
Vowels
Patwin has 10 vowels:
::data[format=table]
| Short | Long | Front | Back | Front | Back | High (close) | Mid | Low (open) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
- Patwin vowels have a simple length distinction (short vs. long).
- All vowels are voiced and oral.
Orthography
::data[format=table title="Patwin Alphabet"]
| a | a· | b | č | č’ | d | e | e· | h | i | i· | k | kʰ | k’ | l | ɬ | ƛ | ƛ’ | m | n | o | o· | p | pʰ | p’ | r | s | t | tʰ | t’ | u | u· | w | y | ʔ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
References
References
- Lawyer, Lewis C.. (2021). "A Grammar of Patwin". University of Nebraska Press.
- Golla, Victor (2011). ''California Indian languages''. Berkeley: University of California Press. {{ISBN. 978-0-520-26667-4.
- Lawyer, Lewis C.. (25 June 2012). "Request for New Language Code Element in ISO 639-3". ISO 639-3 Registration Authority.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::