9 9 4 : 2 8 ) ▁provided ▁a ▁" con serv ative ▁estimate " ▁of ▁ 2 0 0 ▁T ip ai ▁speak ers ▁in ▁the ▁early ▁ 1 9 9 0 s ; ▁the ▁number ▁of ▁speak ers ▁has ▁decl ined ▁stead ily ▁since ▁that ▁time . ▁ ▁T ip ai ▁belongs ▁to ▁the ▁Y uman ▁language ▁family ▁and ▁to ▁the ▁D elta – Cal iforn ia ▁branch ▁of ▁that ▁family . ▁ ▁In ▁the ▁past , ▁T ip ai ▁and ▁its ▁neighb ors ▁to ▁the ▁north , ▁K um ey a ay ▁and ▁I p ai , ▁have ▁been ▁considered ▁dialect s ▁of ▁a ▁single ▁Die gue ño ▁language , ▁but ▁lingu ists ▁now ▁recognize ▁that ▁they ▁represent ▁at ▁least ▁three ▁distinct ▁languages ▁( for ▁discussion , ▁see ▁Lang don ▁ 1 9 9 0 ). ▁T ip ai ▁itself ▁is ▁not ▁a ▁uniform ▁speech ▁variety , ▁and ▁some ▁suggest ▁that ▁it ▁might ▁be ▁possible ▁to ▁recognize ▁multiple ▁languages ▁within ▁T ip ai ▁( L ay land er ▁ 1 9 8 5 : 3 3 ; ▁M ith un ▁ 1 9 9 9 : 5 7 7 ). ▁ ▁Pub lished ▁documentation ▁of ▁the ▁T ip ai ▁language ▁includes ▁a ▁descript ive ▁grammar ▁( M iller ▁ 2 0 0 1 ), ▁a ▁compar ative ▁dictionary ▁( M iller ▁and ▁Lang don ▁ 2 0 0 8 ), ▁a ▁word ▁list ▁( Me za ▁and ▁Meyer ▁ 2 0 0 8 ), ▁and ▁texts ▁( H inton ▁