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Bah, I hate bad science. There isn't a single speaker of the original language among the Tongva (Gabralieno) people, and every word currently known comes from a pamphlet book sold on Catalina Island. No one knows if these words are original or not, it is hotly debated as to if these words were simply made up by someone who wanted to sell the culture to tourists.

As to the Chumash, again, most have adapted words from that same 'Coastal Indian Language' pamphlet, with only a single inlander knowing any of the original language and none of it has to do with the ocean.

And what likely sparked the interest in these vaunted linguists was the recreation of the ocean going canoes that the Chumash supposedly used to populate the Channel Islands (as well as the endearing memories of folks who loved the book, Island of the Blue Dolphins.) That recreation was done in cooperation with Achimen (Juaneno) Indians from the Dana Point area who are the last known ocean going tribal people in the greater Southern California region... Their design, however, might have been borrowed from a person who married into the family from ... Polynesia.

Finally, if there was such a link between Southern California and Polynesia, the likely link would be local indians here traveling to Polynesia, not the other way around. Ocean and wind currents wouldn't lend it to happening in any other fashion.

The only reason why junk like this continues to be spewed into the journals is that no one wants to bother to counter it.