Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 3, 2026

Karkin language

The Karkin language is an extinct Ohlone language. It was formerly spoken in north central California, but by the 1850s there were no more native speakers. The language was historically spoken by the Karkin people, who lived in the Carquinez Strait region in the northeast portion of the San Francisco Bay estuary. The name 'Karkin' means 'trader' in some varieties of Ohlone.

Last revised
Jun 3, 2026
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Karkin
Carquin
Native toUnited States
RegionCalifornia
EthnicityKarkin people
Extinct1850s1
Language codes
ISO 639-3krb
Glottologkark1259
Map of Ohlone varieties with   Karkin

The Karkin language (also called Los Carquines in Spanish) is an extinct Ohlone language. It was formerly spoken in north central California, but by the 1850s there were no more native speakers.1 The language was historically spoken by the Karkin people, who lived in the Carquinez Strait region in the northeast portion of the San Francisco Bay estuary.2 The name 'Karkin' means 'trader' in some varieties of Ohlone.3

Karkin's only documentation is a single vocabulary obtained by linguist-missionary Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta at Mission Dolores in 1821.2 Although meager, the records of Karkin show that it constituted a distinct branch of Ohlone, strikingly different from the neighboring Chochenyo Ohlone language and other Ohlone languages spoken farther south.4

Vocabulary

Numerals

5
Numeral Karkin
1 nisthrjan
2 othsjin
3 capjan
4 cathrahuas
5 misuru
6 tanipos
7 kenetis
8 othronacantumus
9 talan
10 tagthreithris
Notes

Notes

  1. Karkin at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009) Closed access icon
  2. Milliken 1995, p. 238.
  3. Golla, Victor (2011). California Indian languages. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26667-4. OCLC 668191602.
  4. Beeler 1961.
  5. Callaghan 1988, p. 440.
References

References

  • Beeler, M. S. (July 1961). "Northern Costanoan". International Journal of American Linguistics. 27 (3): 191–197. doi:10.1086/464632. ISSN 0020-7071.
  • Callaghan, Catherine A. (January 1997). "Evidence for Yok-Utian". International Journal of American Linguistics. 63 (1): 18–64. doi:10.1086/466313. ISSN 0020-7071.
  • Golla, Victor (2007). "Linguistic Prehistory". In Jones, Terry L.; Klar, Kathryn A. (eds.). California prehistory: colonization, culture, and complexity. Society for California archaeology. Lanham (Md.): AltaMira Press. ISBN 978-0-7591-0872-1.
  • Milliken, Randall (1995). A time of little choice: the disintegration of tribal culture in the San Francisco Bay area, 1769-1810. Ballena Press anthropological papers. Menlo Park, CA : Novato, CA: Ballena Press ; Orders, Ballena Press Publishers' Services. ISBN 978-0-87919-132-0.
  • Milliken, Randall T. (2008). Native Americans at Mission San Jose. Banning, CA: Malki-Ballena Press. ISBN 978-0879191481.
Further reading

Further reading

External links