This Timeline is a living document (if you have knowledge to help us fill in the Gaps, we would very much appreciate your help. We wish to acknowledge everyone who has helped us reclaim our language) 

Pipiimar/Tongva/Gabrielino Language Timeline
We have been speaking our ancestral language since time immemorial

1771 –The Decline of our language begins-  Mission San Gabriel founded
at Isankanga and begins the process of  “conversion”. Conflict with local Tongva
forces the church to move to present location at the village of Sibanga (1775-1776).
Pipiimar (Tongva- more likely a village name near S.G) name changed to “Gabrieliño/Gabrieleño”
and missionization process begins. Non converts integrate into social economic life,
but not religious life.

1838-1842- Horatio Hale –Ethnology & Philology by Philologist of the Expedition
United States Exploring Expedition - Under the command of Charles Wilkes, U.S.N.
(Collect a small word list)

1856- Alexander Taylor- The Indianology of California by; Vol. XIII No. 12, May 11th 1860/ No. 9 Indians of the Mission of San Gabriel, etc.
    Vocabulary of the Indians living near the Mission of San Gabriel, in Los Angeles county, taken by the Author, in November, 1856.
    The vocabulary of San Gabriel was taken from an old Christian-Indian about sixty years old, and his appearance and features similar to our other Indians.  He says, San Gabriel was the first built by Padre Miguel Cruzado, and he was born near the mission.
    The Indians of San Fernando spoke nearly the same language as those of San Gabriel. The site of San Fernando was a rancheria called Pasheckna, and was more populous than any other rancheria of the Fernandinos. Other clans were Okowvin-jha, Kowanga, and Saway Yanga. The Ahapchingas were clan or rancheria between Los Angeles and San Juan Capistrano, and enemies of the Gabrielenos, or those of San Gabriel.

1884- H.W. Henshaw (Family: Shoshonean / Language: San Gabriel Mission/Place of Record: Near Banning, Calif./ Date of Record Dec.24, 1884) Vocabulary taken from a very old and decrepit Indian now living in an Indian Rancheria near the town of Banning. He formerly lived at the San Gabriel Mission. His wife and children speak Serrano (“Mountaineer”) language. His granddaughter, a school girl, understands English and she acted as interpreter. (Collect a small word list)

1875- Dr. Oscar Loew – Vocabulary of the Tobikhar Indians of San Gabriel (was recorded by Dr. Loew in June,1875 and published in Gatschet (1879:401-475) Orthography by George Gibbs. (Collected approx. 200 words)
When Dr. O. Loew visited the country around San Gabriel Mission in June, 1875, he was told that only two old men able to speak their paternal language were living, the rest of the Indians having exchanged their vernacular for Spanish. He visited  them both, and from one of them, Fernando Quinto, a nonagenarian chief, who seem to be near  his dissolution, he obtained vocabulary with additions. This old man remembered having seen one of Colonel J.C. Frémont’s expeditions.


1900’s- Who was the Last fluent speaker ???

1903- C. Hart Merriam – Indian Vocabularies by C.Hart Merriam
(Name of the tribe: Tong-va / Home of the tribe: San Gabriel Valley, Calif. Vocabulary Obtained from: Mrs. J.V. Rosemyre at (place): Bakersfield, Calif./ Date: Oct. 1903)

1901- J.W. Hudson – interviewed Mrs. James Rosemyre, a Gabrielino consultant living in Tejón.

1907-1909- Alfred L. Krober – worked with two Gabrielino consultants

1914-1933 – J.P.Harrington- worked with 11 Gabrielino consultants
John Peabody Harrington (1884–1961),hired in 1915 by the Bureau of American Ethnography as a research ethnologist,devoted over 50 years to field work on Native American languages. The men and women he interviewed were often among the last remaining speakers of their languages.

1900’s- Who was the Last fluent speaker ???

(When did Liguistics begin? Historical timeline)

1976-2008- to present –Pam Munro – “Our Mentor”- Professor, Linguistics, UCLA. Working with the Gabrielino Language off and on for over 30years ? Study & interpreting our Language. Creating a real Dictionary and 19 gammar lessons.

1998??-L. Frank & Leanne Hinton start “Breath of Life” ???

19??- Mark Acuña – tries to start a language study group (last two sessions???)
Who attends ?

19?? Others who worked on the notes ?? include Geraldine Anderson, William Bright, and Kenneth Hill, but none of them had any extended contact with Tongva people to Pam Munro's knowledge. However, she learned from their previous work.

2000???- J. P. Harrington Database Project-Martha J. Macri UC Davis, Principal Investigator
Victor Golla Humboldt State University, Lisa Woodward, Pechanga Cultural Center, Co-Principal Investigators
The J. P. Harrington Database Project,
administered through the Native American
Language Center at the University of
California, Davis, received initial funding
from the National Science Foundation in
August of 2001 (BCS01-11487). The database
will provide a continuous text of the notes in
an easily readable form, and will be used to
generate lists of words and phrases. It can be
searched for specific words, or by
categories, such as plants, animals, personal
names, place names, and cultural items.  

The goal of the J. P. Harrington Project is to increase access to the linguistic and ethnographic notes on American Indian languages collected by J. P. Harrington during the first half of the twentieth century. The men and women he interviewed were often among the last remaining speakers of their languages. His notes are a treasure of indigenous knowledge that otherwise would have been lost. Well over half of an estimated 500,000 pages are on California Indian languages. It is with these materials that we have begun.
   The project is funded by National Science Foundation grants BCS01-11487, BCS04-18584, and BCS06-42463, the Native American Language Center, and the Office of Research at the University of California, Davis.

2004 – Language Committee Created we met at "Breath of Life"- Pam Munro-becomes our Mentor, Sutimiv-Pa'alat/Jacob Gutierrez as host & facilitator, and Virginia Carmelo. We meet L. Frank our motivator. Grammar Lessons Begin. First year Sutimiv begins to record Pam's Dictionary onto DVD's, CD's, copies dictionary and mails out Dictionary to the Nation, begins a Map of Tongva Villages. 

2005 - Language Committee Sutimiv records Pam Munro, the entire dictionary. Pam receives Heritage Award for her contribution-revitalization of our Tongva Language.

2006 - Language Committee- goes to "Breath of Life"-attending Mentor Pam Munro, Sutimiv, Carol Ramirez. Grammar Lessons (Lessons#??-#??) Sutimiv begins coding the "Gabrieliño" JPHarrington notes in August, starts making flash cards, updates Map.