In what is now California, close to 100 indigenous languages were spoken before Europeans arrived.  According to UNESCO, most of the languages native to the Americas are critically endangered — many others are entirely extinct.

Linguist Lewis Lawyer, a UC Davis alumnus, has compiled the first-ever published description of one of those languages, Patwin — originally spoken in hundreds of communities in Northern California.

In this episode, Lawyer discusses the history of the language, how he came to publish “A Grammar of Patwin,” and how the language is making a comeback.