Language

Ramaytush is a dialect of the San Francisco Bay Costanoan language. Only about 200 words and a few phrases of the Ramaytush dialect remain. The Ramaytush Tribe is working with linguists at UC Berkeley to restore the Ramaytush dialect as much as is possible within ethical boundaries. Restoration involves 1) systematic analysis of the San Francisco Bay Costanoan dialects, 2) accurate historical information, and 3) observing ethical boundaries when "borrowing" from other dialects and other related concerns. The Ramaytush Tribe does not condone the borrowing of another tribe's language or dialect and then calling it our own, especially when our known word list comprises only a small portion of the total so-called reconstructed dialect. That kind of action constitutes cultural appropriation--it is both unethical and inaccurate.