Kumeyaay People - Language

Language

Nomenclature and tribal distinctions are not widely agreed upon. The general scholarly consensus recognizes three separate languages: Ipai, Kumeyaay proper (including the Kamia), and Tipai in northern Baja California (e.g., Langdon 1990). However, this notion is not supported by speakers of the language (actual Kumeyaay people) who contend that within their territory, all Kumeyaay (Ipai/Tipai) can understand and speak to each other, at least after a brief acclimatization period. All three languages belong to the Delta–California branch of the Yuman family, to which several other linguistically distinct but related groups also belong, including the Cocopa, Quechan, Paipai, and Kiliwa.

The meaning of the term Kumeyaay is unknown, but Ipai or Tipai both mean "people." Some Kumeyaay in the southern areas also refer to themselves as MuttTipi, which means "people of the earth."

Read more about this topic:  Kumeyaay People

Famous quotes containing the word language:

    No language is rude that can boast polite writers.
    Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898)

    Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.
    Ezra Pound (1885–1972)

    Theoretically, I grant you, there is no possibility of error in necessary reasoning. But to speak thus “theoretically,” is to use language in a Pickwickian sense. In practice, and in fact, mathematics is not exempt from that liability to error that affects everything that man does.
    Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)