Esselen is the now-extinct language of the Esselen (or self-designated ) Nation, which aboriginally occupied the mountainous Central Coast of California, immediately south of Monterey (Shaul 1995). It was probably a language isolate, though has been included as a part of the hypothetical Hokan proposal.
Names
The name Esselen was derived from a village name. The Esselen people referred to their own language as . The name was recorded by Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta on May 18, 1832, at Soledad Mission from his informant Eusebio (native name ) (cf. 'tongue' as recorded by Dionisio Alcalá Galiano) (Shaul 1995).
Historical background French explorer Lapérouse, who visited Monterey in 1786, reported:
Esselen may have been the first Californian language to become extinct. Although it was spoken by many of the early converts at Mission Carmel, its use rapidly declined during the Hispanic period. Very little information on the vocabulary and grammar of Esselen was preserved. About 350 words and phrases and a few complete sentences have been preserved in literature, including a short bilingual catechism (for a summary see Mithun 1999:411–413 and Golla 2011:114). By the beginning of the 20th century the only data on Esselen that investigators such as Kroeber and Harrington could collect were a few words remembered by speakers of other Indian languages in the area.
Classification H. W. Henshaw thought that Esselen represented a monotypic linguistic family. Others, such as Shaul (2019), have assigned the language to the proposed Hokan family.
Shaul (2019) also notes that Esselen has had extensive contact with the Chumashan languages, with Esselen and Chumashan sharing many common lexical items.
Dialects The Esselen language consisted of the Western and Eastern dialects. Documentation of Western Esselen was based on data collected at Mission Carmel. It was spoken by the Excelen local tribe, and likely also the Ecgeajan local tribes to the south along the Big Sur coast, although the Ecgeajan subdialect is unattested. Eastern Esselen was documented by Arroyo, and was based on data collected at Mission Soledad, which hosted Arroyo Seco local tribes. Eastern Esselen was spoken by the Eslenajan local tribe, and probably also by the Aspasniajan and Imunajan local tribes.
The Esselen language was spoken by five local tribes. Each of the five local tribes spoke a separate subdialect.
Esselen Western Excelen: upper Carmel Valley Ecgeajan: along the Big Sur coast Eastern Imunajan: along the Arroyo Seco, just south of Mission Soledad Eslenajan (or Eslen): north of Mission Soledad Aspasniajan: just south of the present day town of Greenfield
The Santa Lucia Mountains formed the heart of the Esselen homeland.
Each Esselen district consisted of a local tribe with their own patrilineal clans. Members of the clans were exogamous, marrying members of other clans but within the local tribe.
Local Esselen tribes and their demographics are surveyed in Milliken (1990: 59).Millikan, Randal. 1990. Ethnography and Ethnohistory of the Big Sur District, California State Park System, During the 1770-1780 Time Period. Submitted to Department of Parks and Recreation, Sacramento.
Breschini and Haversat (1994: 82–88) give the following numbers of villages and population estimates for each of the five Esselen tribes. Population estimates are calculated by multiplying the number of villages by either 30 or 40 (i.e., the presumed number of individuals per village).Breschini, Gary and Trudy Haversat. 1994. An Overview of the Esselen Indians of Central Monterey County, California. Salinas, CA: Coyote Press.
District Villages Population (with 30 personsper village) Population (with 40 personsper village) Excelen 4 120 160 Eslen/Eslenajan 7 210 280 Aspaniajan 2 60 80 Imunajan 5 150 200 Ecgeajan 6 180 240 Totals 24 600 960
Phonological and lexical differences Sound correspondences between the Western and Eastern dialects:
+ Sound correspondences in Esselen dialects Western Eastern č ~ ts ṭ e a š s
+ Examples of Western č ~ ts : Eastern ṭ Gloss Western Eastern man father earth we you (pl.) they it is finished completive ~
+ Examples of Western e : Eastern a Gloss Western Eastern you (sg.) ném:e name your (sg.) nemi-š- nami-s- you (pl.) neme-x nome-
+ Examples of Western š : Eastern s Gloss Western Eastern my daughter ni-š-ta ni-s-ta sun aši asi cottontail rabbit čiši čis girl šoleta soleta-sis agentive marker -piši -pisi
Lexical differences between the Western and Eastern dialects:
+ Lexical variation in Esselen dialects Gloss Western Eastern head kxata-sax xis:i eyes hikpa ka mouth iši ~ iš:e katus-nex heart tika-s maša-nex river sana-x asum that one hainihi huiniki I eni ne
Phonology
+ConsonantsLabialAlveolarRetroflexPalatalVelarGlottal Plosive Affricate Fricative Nasal Rhotic Approximant has allophones of and . has an allophone of . + Vowels Front Back Close Close-mid Open
Pronouns Subject pronouns in Western Esselen (Shaul 2019: 89):
{| class="wikitable" ! !! sg !! pl |- ! 1 | ene ~ eni || leč-s; lex |- ! 2 | nemi ~ nimi || nemič; nemux |- ! 3 | lal || lač; lax
Subject pronouns in Eastern Esselen (Shaul 2019: 89):
{| class="wikitable" ! !! sg !! pl |- ! 1 | ene ~ ne || leṭ; lex |- ! 2 | name || nomeṭ; nomux |- ! 3 | huiniki || laṭ; lax
Syntax Word order is primarily SOV (Shaul 2019).
Lexicon Shaul (1995) reconstitutes Esselen vocabulary, synthesized from various historical sources, as follows.Shaul, David L. 1995. "The Huelel (Esselen) Language." International Journal of American Linguistics 61:191-239. Forms from Alfred L. Kroeber are marked by (Kr).
gloss Esselen adult -nVč all komVnam arrow lóto-s bear koltála bow paxu-nax child/son pana cry siawa dance mepV, mef- dark tumas (Kr) day asátsa die moho dog šošo drink etse, eše ear tus-usp (Kr) earth maṭa, matsa eyes -ikxpa father haya female ta- foot kxéle friend -efe girl soléta give toxésa good/well sale- grandfather meči ground squirrel mexe hair haka head kxáta-sVx large putú-ki; yakí-s-ki man exe- mother atsia mountain polomo mountain lion xeke-s mouth iši nails uluxV night tomani-s nose xoši person efexe pinole amúxe plain yala-x quail kumul (Kr) rabbit (cottontail) čiši, čis- salmon kilí- seal opopa-pas sky imi- small ukxu-s-ki speak al-pa sun aši teeth awur water asa-nax where kéya- who kíni wildcat toloma wood i'i yes íke
Numbers gloss Esselen one pek two kxulax three kxulep four kxamakxu-s five pemakxa-la six pek-walanai seven kxula-walanai eight kxulef-walanai ten tomóila
References
Bibliography Golla, Victor. 2011. California Indian Languages. University of California Press. Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge University Press.
External links
Esselen language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages Spanish-Rumsen-Esselen Glossary, 1802 Salinan-Esselen vocabulary, p. 73 Esselen at the California Language Archive OLAC resources in and about the Esselen language Esselen, The World Atlas of Language Structures