Roscinda Nolasquez (1892 – February 4, 1987)[1] was a Cupeño, and the last speaker of the Cupeño language of Southern California. She grew up speaking Cupeño and Spanish. It was not until she was forcefully sent to Sherman Indian School, previously Perris Indian School, in her early teens that she learned English.[2] In 1903, the Cupeño people had to relocate to the Pala Indian Reservation where Nolasquez lived much of rest of her life.[1] In the early 1960s, she continued to speak Cupeño with several elderly residents in Pala.[2]

Nolasquez made a serious effort late in her life to help document and preserve the Cupeño language, working among others with linguists Jane Hill and Roderick Jacobs.[1] Together with Hill she edited a collection of bilingual Cupeño-English oral histories.[3]

Works

References

  1. ^ a b c Brigandi, P. (2009). "Roscinda Nolasquez Remembered". The Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology. 9 (1): 3.
  2. ^ a b Nancy Dorian (ed) (1992): Investigating Obsolescence: Studies in Language Contraction and Death. Cambridge University Press.
  3. ^ Hill, J. H; Nolasquez, R. (1973). Mulu'wetam: the First People: Cupeño Oral History and Language. Malki Museum Press.

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