Endangered Languages Project

ALSO KNOWN AS		Russian River, Pomo, Southern, Gallinoméro, South Pomo
CLASSIFICATION		Pomoan
CODE AUTHORITY		ISO 639-3
LANGUAGE CODE		peq
VARIANTS & DIALECTS		West Creek Salmonhole
DOWNLOAD		As csv
MORE RESOURCES		OLAC search

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Information from: “A Grammar of Southern Pomo” (438) . Walker, Neil Alexander (2020) University of Nebraska Press

Dormant
0
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
Southern Pomo is no longer a spoken language. It has not been a language of daily use during this century, and there are no fluent speakers now living.

MORE ON VITALITY

Though no one under 90 is fluent, there are scores of tribal members who learned dozens of words as children, and a subset of these words have been passed down to subsequent generations. (p. 17)

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

English

PLACES: USA, California

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Southern Pomo speakers lived in villages from as far south as present-day Santa Rosa and Sebastopol north to the greater Cloverdale area. To the west of Cloverdale, speakers lived along Dry Creek, and a small number lived along the highlands west of the Russian River valley and in the redwood forests and coastal land along the Pacific between the Kashaya and the Central Pomo speakers.

Critically endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
3
Native speakers worldwide

PLACES: USA, California

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
Speaker number data: (L. Hinton 1994)
(Speakers in the Cloverdale and Geyserville areas [2016].)

DATE OF INFO: 1994

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS
TRANSMISSION

PLACES: USA;

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: California

Critically endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1
Native speakers worldwide

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available
a few
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
Southern Pomo is spoken by very few elderly people along the lower course of the Russian River in Sonoma County, California.

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS
TRANSMISSION

PLACES: USA

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Along the lower course of the Russian River in Sonoma County, California.

PLACES: USA, California

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available
1
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
Southern Pomo is moribund. No child born after 1920 has learned the language, and as of 2012 there is only one confirmed fluent speaker and another speaker who maintains native phonology and spoke the language as a young man. The remaining speakers do not know each other, and Southern Pomo has therefore not been used as a medium of communication for decades. Though no one under 90 is fluent, there are scores of tribal members who learned dozens of words as children, and a subset of these words have been passed down to subsequent generations. (pp. 28-29.)

DATE OF INFO: 2013

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS
TRANSMISSION
OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

PLACES: USA, California

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Southern Pomo speakers lived in villages from as far south as present-day Santa Rosa and Sebastopol north to the greater Cloverdale area. To the west of Cloverdale, speakers lived along Dry Creek, and a small number lived along the highlands west of the Russian River valley and in the redwood forests and coastal land along the Pacific between the Kashaya and the Central Pomo speakers.

	16	2009	Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)			M. Paul Lewis	SIL International	Dallas, TX			http://www.ethnologue.com/		Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16 edn. http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp. (15 February, 2011.)	ll_pub	1	1994	1-9	Speaker number data: (L. Hinton 1994) (Speakers in the Cloverdale and Geyserville areas [2016].)		Critically Endangered (80 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	15		15	USA;	California
9781496217653 (cloth)		2020	A Grammar of Southern Pomo	A Grammar of Southern Pomo	438		University of Nebraska Press					Walker, Neil Alexander			0			Southern Pomo is no longer a spoken language. It has not been a language of daily use during this century, and there are no fluent speakers now living.	English	Dormant ()		Though no one under 90 is fluent, there are scores of tribal members who learned dozens of words as children, and a subset of these words have been passed down to subsequent generations. (p. 17)		USA, California	Southern Pomo speakers lived in villages from as far south as present-day Santa Rosa and Sebastopol north to the greater Cloverdale area. To the west of Cloverdale, speakers lived along Dry Creek, and a small number lived along the highlands west of the Russian River valley and in the redwood forests and coastal land along the Pacific between the Kashaya and the Central Pomo speakers.
	3rd	2010	Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger				UNESCO Publishing	Paris			http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas	Christopher Moseley (ed.)	Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas. (03 June, 2011.)	ll_pub	3		1-9			Critically Endangered (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)				USA, California		38.7048,-122.8971
		2008	North America	Atlas of the World's Languages	7-41	Chris Moseley and Ron Asher	Routledge	London				Victor Golla and Ives Goddard and Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun and Mauricio Mixco	Victor Golla, Ives Goddard, Lyle Campbell, Marianne Mithun and Mauricio Mixco. 2008. "North America." In Atlas of the World's Languages, edited by Chris Moseley and Ron Asher. 7-41. Routledge.		a few		1-9	Southern Pomo is spoken by very few elderly people along the lower course of the Russian River in Sonoma County, California.		Critically Endangered (80 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	15		15	USA	Along the lower course of the Russian River in Sonoma County, California.
	2nd edition	2010	Endangered Languages of the United States	Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing	108-130	Christopher Moseley	UNESCO	Paris				Christopher Rogers, Naomi Palosaari and Lyle Campbell	Christopher Rogers, Naomi Palosaari and Lyle Campbell. 2010. "Endangered Languages of the United States." In Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing, edited by Christopher Moseley. 108-130. UNESCO.											USA, California		38.7048,-122.8971
			World Oral Literature Project								http://www.oralliterature.org		"World Oral Literature Project." Online: http://www.oralliterature.org.		1		1-9			Critically Endangered (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)
		2013	A Grammar of Southern Pomo: An Indigenous Language of California						University of California Santa Barbara	University of California Santa Barbara	http://wieldoc.org/wp_temp/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/N_A_Walker_Diss_2013_1-13.pdf	Walker, Neil Alexander	Walker, Neil Alexander. 2013. A Grammar of Southern Pomo An Indigenous Language of California. University of California Santa Barbara PhD dissertation.		1	2013	1-9	Southern Pomo is moribund. No child born after 1920 has learned the language, and as of 2012 there is only one confirmed fluent speaker and another speaker who maintains native phonology and spoke the language as a young man. The remaining speakers do not know each other, and Southern Pomo has therefore not been used as a medium of communication for decades. Though no one under 90 is fluent, there are scores of tribal members who learned dozens of words as children, and a subset of these words have been passed down to subsequent generations. (pp. 28-29.)	English	Critically Endangered (80 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	15		15	USA, California	Southern Pomo speakers lived in villages from as far south as present-day Santa Rosa and Sebastopol north to the greater Cloverdale area. To the west of Cloverdale, speakers lived along Dry Creek, and a small number lived along the highlands west of the Russian River valley and in the redwood forests and coastal land along the Pacific between the Kashaya and the Central Pomo speakers.

Southern Pomo

Language metadata

Language information by source

Dormant

0

Critically endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

3

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1

Critically endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

a few

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1

Discussion

Southern Pomo

Language metadata

Language information by source

Dormant

0

Critically endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

3

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1

Critically endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

a few

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

1

Discussion

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