Language family ChumashanSouthernCentralBarbareño ISO 639-3 Either:boi – Barbareñoinz – Ineseño Glottolog barb1263 (Barbareno)ines1240 (Ineseno) | ||
Barbareño is one of the extinct Chumashan languages, a group of Native American languages, which was spoken in the area of Santa Barbara, California. The closely related Ineseño may have been a dialect of the same language. Barbareño became extinct in 1965 with the death of Mary Yee.
Language revitalization
As of 2013, the Barbareno Chumash Council is engaged in ongoing efforts to revive the language. Two of its members are language apprentices and teachers. Wishtoyo Chumash Village, in Malibu, California, announced the opening of its Šmuwič Language School in 2010.
The Ineseño community now call their language Samala. In 2008 Richard Applegate compiled a grammar and dictionary of Ineseño based on Harrington's work in the early 1900s with one of the last fluent speakers, Maria Solares. Applegate and Nakia Zavalla, Cultural Director for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash and a descendant of Solares, have begun an effort to revitalize the language. Applegate began teaching Ineseño in 2003, and Zavalla has started an immersion-based language apprentice program. As of 2008, Applegate had five students, though none had reached fluency.