Tiipai language facts for kids

Tiipay (also spelled Tipay) is a special language spoken by some Kumeyaay tribes. These tribes live in northern Baja California in Mexico and southern San Diego County in the United States. It's also sometimes called Southern Diegueño.

In the early 1990s, about 200 people spoke Tiipay. Sadly, the number of speakers has gone down since then. This means it's an endangered language, and efforts are being made to keep it alive.

Tiipay is part of a bigger group of languages called the Yuman language family. It belongs to a specific branch of this family called Delta–California. In the past, people thought Tiipay and its neighboring languages, Kumeyaay and Ipai, were just different ways of speaking one language. However, experts who study languages now know they are actually three different languages.

Scientists have written down a lot about the Tiipay language. This includes a book explaining its grammar and a dictionary that compares Tiipay words to other languages. There are also lists of words and stories written in Tiipay. These documents help people learn and understand this unique language.

See also

In Spanish: Idioma cochimí para niños