As of 2014, Marie Wilcox (1933–2021) was the last remaining native speaker of the language. There are efforts at revitalization, and Wilcox completed a comprehensive Wukchumni dictionary;[2][3] at her death there were at least three fluent speakers.[1][4]
Phonology
The following tables are based on Gamble (1978).[5]
In the early 2000s, Marie Wilcox, aided by her daughter Jennifer Malone, began compiling a Wukchumni dictionary. The work was copyrighted in 2019, but has not been published.[8] Wilcox and Malone held classes teaching beginner and intermediate Wukchumni to interested tribal members;[9][10] Malone continues this teaching at Owens Valley Career Development Center.[1][8]
Due to Wilcox's efforts, at least three people are fluent in the language.[1] Destiny Treglown, Marie Wilcox's great-granddaughter, is raising her child, Oliver, as a Wukchumni speaker. If he reaches fluency, he will become the first native speaker of the language in four generations.[11][12]
References
^ abcde"Marie Wilcox, who saved her tribe's language, dies". Washington Post. Associated Press. October 8, 2021. ISSN0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-10-10. Wilcox was once the last fluent speaker of Wukchumni but she worked for more than 20 years to produce a dictionary of the language spoken by her tribe in California's San Joaquin Valley and taught her family. Now there are at least three fluent speakers of the language, including her daughter.
^"Recording a Dying Language" (with video, 9 min, 36 sec). National Geographic Society. 2017-06-23. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
