Yana language

Yana
Yana Texts
Native toUnited States
RegionCalifornia
EthnicityYana
Extinct1916, with the death of Ishi
Hokan?
  • Yana
DialectsNorthern
Central
Southern
Yahi
Language codes
ISO 639-3ynn
ynn
Glottologyana1271
Pre-contact distribution of the Yana language

The Yana language (also Yanan) is an extinct language that was formerly spoken by the Yana people, who lived in north-central California between the Feather and Pit rivers in what is now the Shasta and Tehama counties. The last speaker of the southernmost dialect, which is called Yahi, was Ishi, who died in 1916. When the last fluent speaker(s) of the other dialects died is not recorded. Yana is fairly well documented, mostly by Edward Sapir.

The names Yana and Yahi are derived from ya "people" plus an obligatory suffix, -na in the northern two dialects and -hi or -xi in the southern two dialects.