Editing Edward Sapir (section)

====Work with Ishi====
[[File:Ishi.jpg|thumb|[[Alfred L. Kroeber|Alfred Kroeber]] and [[Ishi]]]]

In 1915 Sapir returned to California, where his expertise on the Yana language made him urgently needed. Kroeber had come into contact with [[Ishi]], the last native speaker of the [[Yahi language]], closely related to Yana, and needed someone to document the language urgently. [[Ishi]], who had grown up without contact with European-Americans, was monolingual in Yahi and was the last surviving member of his people. He had been adopted by the Kroebers, but had fallen ill with [[tuberculosis]], and was not expected to live long. Sam Batwi, the speaker of Yana who had worked with Sapir, was unable to understand the Yahi variety, and Krober was convinced that only Sapir would be able to communicate with Ishi. Sapir traveled to [[San Francisco]] and worked with Ishi over the summer of 1915, having to invent new methods for working with a monolingual speaker. The information from Ishi was invaluable for understanding the relation between the different dialects of Yana. Ishi died of his illness in early 1916, and Kroeber partly blamed the exacting nature of working with Sapir for his failure to recover. Sapir described the work: "I think I may safely say that my work with Ishi is by far the most time-consuming and nerve-racking that I have ever undertaken. Ishi's imperturbable good humor alone made the work possible, though it also at times added to my exasperation".<ref>Darnell 1990:81</ref>