Like their neighbors the Achumawi, the Atsugewi's language falls within the Palaihnihan branch of the Hokan linguistic stock (Hinton 83). Even though the Achumawi and Atsugewi spoke similar languages, they were not mutually intelligible. All meetings between the two tribes were conducted in Achumawi, as many Atsugewi also spoke Achumawi (Angulo, The Achomawi Language 78). Today, there are no Atsugewi speakers but attempts are being made to revive the language using ethnographic records (Hinton 28-29).
Hinton has conservatively estimated that, today, there are only six Wintu speakers left (32).
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