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Boontling is a dialect spoken in Northern California’s Anderson Valley, with origins dating back to the late 1800s. It contains trick words and legends, and is at risk of disappearing due to its aging speakers. The dialect has been featured in media and cultural works.
Boontling is a popular language native to Northern California’s Anderson Valley. Like many regional dialects, it is spoken by a small number of speakers, and some speakers worry that it will “snap for the dusty ones,” a way of saying it will disappear. The language attracted brief attention when it was featured on National Public Radio in the late 1990s, shortly before the death of its best-known ambassador, Bobbly Glover, but like most popular languages, Boontling isn’t widely known. outside its home region.
“Boontling” translates as “Boonville Language,” a reference to the largest city in Anderson Valley. Speakers of the language can also be found in nearby Anderson Valley towns such as Yorkville, Navarro, and Philo. This complex dialect is essentially incomprehensible to non-speakers, as there are trick words for a wide variety of situations, and the dialect has its own legends, folk songs, and so on that have been passed down from generation to generation.
Boontling’s origins date back to the late 1800’s when settlers descended on the Anderson Valley to log, farm and fish. Some historians have suggested that it probably began as a private language spoken by children so they could discuss sensitive topics in front of their elders, and that as children continued to speak it as they grew older, it slowly spread through the community. In addition to Boontling, Anderson Valley natives also spoke English, of course, but many English speakers peppered their conversations with phrases and terms from the dialect, which itself contains a sprinkling of Pomo Indian, Gaelic, and Spanish, reflecting the different settlers of the community.
Most speakers today are codgy, or “old” Kimmers, leading area residents to fear that the language may vanish altogether, although some attempts have been made to create a comprehensive dictionary. A few references to Boontling can be seen dotted around Anderson Valley; for example, the coffee shop in Boonville is called “Horn of Zeese”, which means “coffee cup” in Boontling. Pay phones in Anderson Valley also carry a Boontling title, “Bucky Walter,” meaning “nickel phone,” although users might be dismayed to learn that a Bucky Walter costs significantly more than a nickel to use today.
The dialect returned to public consciousness in 2007 when Eisa Davis’ play Bulrusher was selected for the Pulitzer Play. Bulrusher was set in Anderson Valley and the play contained a number of Boontling references and phrases; the title roughly translates as “foundling.”
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