Kashaya (kju) Database and Dictionary

FAIN: PD-50019-12

University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA 19104-6205)
Eugene Buckley (Project Director: December 2011 to October 2015)

Funding details:
Original grant (2012) $203,738.00
Supplement (2012) ($737.24)
Supplement (2014) $12,960.00

the creation of an online database, dictionary, and grammatical sketch of Kashaya, a Pomoan language spoken in northern California, based on archival resources and new fieldwork and analysis.

(edited by staff) Kashaya is a critically endangered Native American language of the Pomoan family in northern California. The goal of this project is to develop an electronic database of lexical information, and a grammatical sketch, derived from the notes of Robert Oswalt, a linguist who worked with native speakers in the late 1950s, and from new field research and analysis. The database will be used to generate a complete published dictionary of Kashaya for use by scholars and other researchers, and to create a pedagogical dictionary and targeted word lists and other materials for use in teaching. The published dictionary will serve as a comprehensive reference for language learners, and a grammatical sketch will be written to be accessible to more advanced learners. The lexical database will be used to produce the pedagogical dictionary along with a variety of word lists by semantic area (such as kinship terms, plant names, or verbs of movement), according to the needs of instructors and language learners. The data collected-recordings of interviews with speakers, and the electronic database that is developed-will be archived at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages at University of California, Berkeley, to ensure their long-term preservation as well as access by scholars and community members.

Media Coverage

A partnership to preserve Kashaya (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Michele W. Berger
Publication: Penn Today
Date: 11/5/2021
Abstract: Since the 1980s, linguist Eugene Buckley has studied this Native American language, now spoken by just a dozen or so people. In collaboration with members and descendants of the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians, he’s built a database of Kashaya words, sounds, and stories.
URL: https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/Penn-linguistics-partnership-preserve-kashaya

Associated Products

Kashaya Language (Web Resource)
Title: Kashaya Language
Author: Eugene Buckley
Abstract: Online resource for hearing audio recordings of Kashaya. Includes individual words and phrases (many with associated images) as well as full sentences drawn from fieldwork; these can be filtered by meaning and by speaker identity. In addition, all published texts with suitable audio available can be heard sentence-by-sentence, alongside transcriptions and translations.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://kashaya.ling.upenn.edu/#/
Primary URL Description: Online resource for hearing audio recordings of Kashaya. Includes individual words and phrases (many with associated images) as well as full sentences drawn from fieldwork; these can be filtered by meaning and by speaker identity. In addition, all published texts with suitable audio available can be heard sentence-by-sentence, alongside transcriptions and translations.

Kashaya Webonary (Web Resource)
Title: Kashaya Webonary
Author: Eugene Buckley
Abstract: This online dictionary is being developed by Gene Buckley, based largely on materials collected by Robert Oswalt, especially with Essie Parrish. Oswalt's manuscript dictionary was converted to database form and further edited; that is the source of the entries here.
Year: 2018
Primary URL: https://www.webonary.org/kashaya/
Primary URL Description: An online dictionary based on a database of Kashaya lexical information.

Kashaya language resources (Web Resource)
Title: Kashaya language resources
Author: Eugene Buckley
Abstract: This page has short descriptions of a wide range of resources that exist for Kashaya, and links to reach them. Some of these resources, especially the audio recordings of vocabulary, have been superceded by the "Kashaya Language" page.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~gene/kashaya.html
Primary URL Description: An annotated list of Kashaya resources.

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