Eastern Pomo language facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Eastern Pomo
Bahtssal
Native to	United States
Region	Northern California
Extinct	No known L1 speakers
Language family	Pomoan Eastern Pomo
The seven Pomoan languages with an indication of their pre-contact distribution within California
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Eastern Pomo, also known as Clear Lake Pomo, is a language that is almost gone. It was spoken by the Pomo people around Clear Lake in Lake County, California. It is one of the Pomoan languages.

This language is very different from other Pomoan languages, so speakers of Eastern Pomo could not understand speakers of other Pomoan languages. Before Europeans arrived, Eastern Pomo was spoken along the northern and southern shores of Clear Lake, which is north of San Francisco. It was also spoken in the coast mountains west of the Sacramento Valley. Eastern Pomo shared borders with other languages like Patwin, Yuki, Lake Wappo, Wappo, Southeastern Pomo, Southern Pomo, Central Pomo, Northern Pomo, and Lake Miwok.

The areas where Eastern Pomo was spoken were separated by geography. This meant there were slightly different ways of speaking the language, called dialects. These dialects had small differences in words and sounds. Today, people who speak Eastern Pomo call the northern dialect area Upper Lake and the southern dialect area Big Valley.

Saving the Eastern Pomo Language

A special project began in 2003 at the Big Valley Rancheria to write down and record the Eastern Pomo language. Before this, it had not been written down.

In 2006, Loretta Kelsey, who was 59 years old at the time, was the only person known to speak Elem Pomo fluently. She was called the "language keeper." There is a podcast where you can hear Loretta Kelsey speaking the language. Even though she is teaching younger people, it's hard to know if the language can be fully brought back based on just her knowledge. You can find documents about Elem Pomo from the electronic library of the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center.

Sounds of Eastern Pomo

Every language has its own special sounds. Eastern Pomo has interesting vowels and consonants.

Vowel Sounds

Eastern Pomo has five main vowel sounds. Each of these vowels can be either short or long.

• The vowels /i/, /e/, and /a/ are made without rounding your lips.
• The vowels /u/ and /o/ are made by rounding your lips.

In Eastern Pomo, you won't find two vowels right next to each other in the same part of a word (called a syllable). Also, words in Eastern Pomo never start with a vowel sound.

Consonant Sounds

Eastern Pomo has many consonant sounds, 38 in total! Some of these sounds are made in special ways:

• Some sounds are made with a puff of air (aspirated).
• Some sounds are made by pushing air out quickly (ejective).
• Some sounds are made by vibrating your vocal cords (voiced).

The way you say some consonants can change depending on where they are in a word. For example, the sound /tʃ/ (like "ch" in "church") is said differently at the beginning of a word compared to the middle of a word.

How Words are Built

Eastern Pomo words are often built in a specific way, like building blocks.

Syllable Structure

The most common way words are built in Eastern Pomo is with two syllables. A syllable is a part of a word that has one vowel sound. For example, in the word "water," "wa" is one syllable and "ter" is another.

In Eastern Pomo, a common pattern is CV:CV(:)(C)(C).

• "C" stands for a consonant.
• "V" stands for a vowel.
• ":" means the vowel sound is long.
• ( ) means that part is optional.

This means a word might have a consonant, then a long vowel, then a consonant, then another long vowel, and maybe some more consonants at the end. The main stress (the loudest part) is usually on the second syllable.

Here are some simple examples of how syllables can be shaped in Eastern Pomo words:

• CV : /ká/ meaning 'house'
• CV: : /káː/ meaning 'for one to sit'
• CVC : /kál/ meaning 'to the house'
• CV:C : /káːm/ meaning 'stay, remain sitting!'

You won't find two vowels together in one syllable. Also, groups of two or more consonants only appear at the end of a syllable, not at the beginning.

Word Stress

In Eastern Pomo, the main stress (the part of the word you say loudest) usually falls on the second syllable of most words. This is true even for longer words where it's hard to find the basic "root" part of the word.

Sometimes, a word can have a "secondary stress." This happens when a word has more than one main stressed syllable, and all but one become secondary. Some word endings (suffixes) also always have a secondary stress.

Sound Changes in Words

The sounds in Eastern Pomo words can change depending on the sounds around them. This is called a "phonological process." Here are a few ways sounds can change:

• Vowel Harmony: High vowels like /u/ and /i/ can change to mid vowels like /o/ and /e/ in certain situations. For example, /u/ might become /o/ in prefixes that show how something was done.
• Consonant Changes: Some consonants, especially those with a puff of air (aspirated stops), can lose that puff of air when they are at the end of a word part (morpheme) and are followed by a vowel.
• Deletion: Sometimes, a vowel or a consonant at the beginning of a word ending (suffix) can disappear if the word part before it ends in a vowel or consonant.

How Words are Formed

Eastern Pomo uses different ways to build words, like adding parts to the beginning or end of words.

Adding Prefixes and Suffixes

The most important ways to form words in Eastern Pomo are by adding:

• Suffixes: These are parts added to the end of a word. There are many different suffixes.
• Prefixes: These are parts added to the beginning of a word. There are fewer prefixes than suffixes.

Other ways to form words include repeating parts of a word (reduplication) or combining two words (compounding).

Verbs

Verbs are "doing" words (like "run" or "jump"). In Eastern Pomo, verbs are the most important words in a sentence and can be changed in many ways. You can add suffixes, prefixes, or even repeat parts of the verb to change its meaning. These changes can show things like when something happened, how it happened, or if it happened to many people.

Animates

This group includes pronouns (like "he" or "she") and words for family members (kinship terms). They change their form to show if they are the subject of a sentence, the object, or if they show possession (like "his" or "hers").

Substantives

This group includes nouns (like "house" or "tree"), adjectives (like "big" or "small"), and numbers. They can change their form to show things like possession or if there is more than one of something (plural).

Unchanged Words

Some words in Eastern Pomo don't change their form. These include proper names (like "John"), interjections (like "ouch!"), and small words that connect parts of a sentence.

Instrumental Prefixes

Eastern Pomo has about 18 common prefixes that show how something was done, often related to a body part. For example, the prefix {da} means 'with or affecting the hand'. So, da·kʰó· means 'grab something with the hand'.

Repeating Parts of Words

Repeating part of a word is called "stem reduplication." This shows that an action affects many things or creates many results. For example, if you repeat a part of the word for "kick," it might mean 'kick something along, a little bit at a time', suggesting many small kicks.

How Sentences Work

The order of words in Eastern Pomo sentences is not always fixed, but it usually follows a pattern.

Word Order

Verbs are usually the last word in a sentence. Before the verb, you might find words that tell you where or when something happened, then the subject (who did it), the object (what it was done to), and how it was done.

Showing Relationships Between Words

Eastern Pomo uses special endings (suffixes) to show how words are connected in a sentence.

• For example, suffixes like {-là·} can show who is doing the action. So, "bear-AGENT me bite" means "I got bit by a bear."
• Other suffixes show possession, like {-bax}. So, bó·bax ká·wkʰ means "people from Ukiah."

Evidentials: How You Know Something

Eastern Pomo has a cool feature called "evidentials." These are suffixes added to verbs that tell you how the speaker knows the information. It's like saying "I saw it," "I heard it," or "I figured it out."

Example Words

Here are a few examples of words in Eastern Pomo:

• la·bi’tʰ 'flash on and off'
• qa·léy 'eaten up, eat up'
• xá ku·ṭʰi’ski· 'splash water (with side of palm)'
• ba·q’ál 'finish talking, going to school, or job of cutting fish or apricots'
• da·q’áṭ’ki· 'scratch off'
• da·q’á·s 'scratch with nails'