The nisenan language has 13 dialects
BUT: When I was a teenager, I was told by a well-meaning family friend that the Nisenan language was extinct. He told me it would never again be spoken in conversation. The weight of this changed my life. I heard my grandma and grandpa speaking and singing songs in Nisenan. I heard them tell tales in the language. But, in the academic world and the "people who were in the know" who produced written materials sited by others, said that the language was gone. They also said that the Nisenan people of our watersheds were extinct.
TRUTH: We are working very hard to revitalize this language within our Native Nisenan Communities. We believe that we deserve the right to speak the language of our land and the language of our ancestors. This is not something we take lightly and we want the opportunity to engage the gathering of, and production of, our individual dialects. We guide the process and we set the protocols around language within our family and Tribal groups. This is not to say that help from well-meaning allies is unwelcome. . . it is just that . . . we desire inclusion and dialog around any Nisenan language projects.