Editing Washo language (section)

==Classification==

Washo is usually considered a [[language isolate]].<ref>Lyle Campbell. ''American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America''. (1997, Oxford, pg. 125).<br />[[Marianne Mithun]]. ''The Languages of Native North America'' (1999, Cambridge, pg. 557)</ref> That is, it shares no demonstrated link with any other language, including its three direct neighboring languages, [[Northern Paiute]] (a [[Numic]] language of [[Uto-Aztecan]]), [[Maidu language|Maidu]] ([[Maiduan]]), and [[Miwok languages|Sierra Miwok]] ([[Utian]]). It is sometimes classified as a [[Hokan languages|Hokan]] language, but this language family is not universally accepted among specialists, nor is Washo's connection to it.<ref name="washoetribe.us">[https://web.archive.org/web/20230512124140/https://washoetribe.us/images/washoe_tribe_history_v2.pdf WA SHE SHU: "The Washoe People", Past and Present]. The Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California</ref>

The language was first described in ''A Grammar of the Washo Language'' by William H. Jacobsen, Jr., in a [[University of California, Berkeley]], PhD dissertation and this remains the sole complete description of the language. There is no significant dialect variation. (Jacobsen's lifelong work with Washo is described at the University of Nevada Oral History Program.)<ref>{{Cite web |title=William Jacobson Jr. |url=http://oralhistory.unr.edu/research_jacobsen.asp |access-date=2013-01-26 |work=University of Nevada Oral History Program}}</ref>