Tubatulabal

The traditional Tubatulabal language area is along the upper Kern River, northeast of Bakersfield. In pre-contact times, there may have been as many as 1,000 speakers of Tubatulabal (Kroeber 1925). In the 21st century, there are less than a dozen first-language speakers (Hinton 1993).

Tubatulabal (also written “Tübatulabal” and called “Pahkanapul” or “Paka’anil”) is a Uto-Aztecan language. The other languages in this family spoken in California include Numic languages (Chemehuevi-Southern Paiute-Ute, Kawaiisu, Mono, Northern Paiute, and Panamint) and the Takic languages (Cahuilla, Cupeño, Gabrielino, Juaneño, Kitanemuk, Luiseño, Serrano, and Tataviam).

Grammatical information

Thumbnail sketch of Tubatulabal by Mary R. Haas, based on an oral report by C. F. Voegelin [PDF] (Haas.063)

Selected archival materials at Berkeley

Selected materials in other archives

Further reading

  • Marean, Lindsay, Michael Ahland, Bethany Lycan, Sergio Sandoval Sanchez, and Nicholas Sinetos. 2021. Pahka’anil (Tübatulabal): Two Texts. International Journal of American Linguistics, 87:51-81. [PDF - may not be publicly available]
  • Smith, Charles R. 1978. Tubatulabal. In Robert F. Heizer (ed.), California, 437-445. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
  • Voegelin, Charles F. 1935. Tübatulabal grammar. University of California Publications in American Anthropology and Ethnology 34: 55-190. [PDF]
  • Voegelin, Charles F. 1935. Tübatulabal texts. University of California Publications in American Anthropology and Ethnology 34: 191-246. [PDF]
  • Voegelin, C. F. 1958. Working dictionary of Tübatulabal. International Journal of American Linguistics 24: 221-228. [PDF]