Uto-aztecan_languages

Pre-contact distribution of Northern Uto-Aztecan languages (note: this map does not show the total distribution in Mexico)

Uto-Aztecan (also Uto-Aztekan) is a Native American language family. It is one of the largest (both in geographical extension and number of languages) and most well-established linguistic families of the Americas. The Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the Western United States (Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, California, Nevada, Arizona), through Mexico. Utah is named after the indigenous Uto-Aztecan Ute people. Classical Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and its modern relatives are part of the Uto-Aztecan family.

Contents 1 History of classification 2 Geographical extension and Homeland 2.1 Original locations of living and extinct Uto-Aztecan languages in the USA and Mexico 2.2 Locations of living Uto-Aztecan languages in Mexico and Mesoamerica 3 The proto-Uto-Aztecan language 3.1 Vowels 3.2 Consonants 4 Genealogy of Uto-Aztecan languages 4.1 Northern Uto-Aztecan Many recent linguists have not accepted the validity of the division between Northern and Southern Uto-Aztecan as a genuine genetic branching. They have either recognized seven to nine independent branches of Uto-Aztecan or accepted Southern Uto-Aztecan but recognized four independent branches in the place of Northern Uto-Aztecan (Goddard 1996:7; Miller 1983:118; Mithun 1999:539-540). 4.2 Southern Uto-Aztecan 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

History of classification

The similarities between the Uto-Aztecan languages were noted as early as 1859 by J.C.E. Buschmann. However, Buschmann failed to recognize the genetic affiliation between the Aztecan branch and the Northern Uto-Aztecan languages, instead ascribing the similarities between the two groups to Aztec contact influence. Brinton included the Aztecan languages in the linguistic family 1891 and coined the term Uto-Aztecan. The idea nonetheless remained controversial, and was rejected in Powell\'s 1891 classification.

The Uto-Aztecan family was established through systematic work in the early 1900s by linguists such as Alfred L. Kroeber, who established the relations between the Shoshonean languages, and especially Edward Sapir, who proved the unity between Powell\'s Sonoran and Shoshonean languages in a series of groundbreaking applications of the comparative method to unwritten Native American languages.

Most issues related to Uto-Aztecan subgrouping are uncontroversial. Six groupings are universally accepted as valid--the Numic, Takic, Pimic, Taracahitic, Corachol, and Aztecan branches--along with two ungrouped languages--Tübatulabal and Hopi. Higher level relations between these groups remain controversial. The Sonoran branch (including Pimic, Taracahitic and Corachol) and Shoshonean branch (including Numic, Takic, Tübatulabal and Hopi) first postulated in the 19th century, in particular, are not accepted by a number of scholars.

Uto-Aztecan has been included in some long range proposals of linguistic super-families. A hypothesis proposed by Benjamin Lee Whorf relating Uto-Aztecan to Kiowa-Tanoan, in an Aztec-Tanoan family formerly had modest support, but Lyle Campbell (1997) and the great majority of modern specialists consider this hypothesis possible, but unproven (Mithun 1999). Joseph Greenberg included Uto-Aztecan in his widely criticized and highly controversial Amerind macro-family along with all Native American linguistic families except for Na-Dene.

Geographical extension and Homeland

The proto-Uto-Aztecan homeland is generally thought to have been somewhere in the Southwestern United States - Arizona, New Mexico or northern Mexico where the first split between Northern and Southern branches took place. The homeland of the Numic branch has been placed near Death Valley, California and the Southern Uto-Aztecan languages are thought to have spread out from a place in north-western Mexico in southern Sonora or northern Sinaloa.

Original locations of living and extinct Uto-Aztecan languages in the USA and Mexico

Locations of living Uto-Aztecan languages in Mexico and Mesoamerica

The proto-Uto-Aztecan language

Main article: Proto-Uto-Aztecan language

Vowels

Proto-Uto-Aztecan is reconstructed as having an unusual five-vowel system: *i *a *u *o *ɨ. Langacker (1970) demonstrated that the fifth vowel should be reconstructed as *ɨ as opposed to *e—there had been a long-running dispute over the proper reconstruction (Campbell 1997:136).

Consonants

	Bilabial	Coronal	Palatal	Velar	Labialized velar	Glottal
Stop	*p	*t		*k	*kʷ	*ʔ
Affricate		*c
Fricative		*s				*h
Nasal	*m	*n		*ŋ
Rhotic		*r
Semivowel			*y		*w

Note that in Americanist phonetic notation, and are equivalent to IPA /t͡s/ and /j/, respectively. *n and *ŋ may have actually been *l and *n, respectively.

Genealogy of Uto-Aztecan languages

Uto-Aztecan has long been accepted as a genuine linguistic family, and there is general agreement on the eight primary groups into which it is divided. Disagreement arises as to the question of which varieties are separate languages and which are dialects of a single language; and higher-level groupings. Below is a consensus classification based on Campbell (1997), Mithun (1999), and Goddard (1999). The notes discuss divergent interpretations proposed by other recent authorities, such as Goddard (1996), Miller (1983), and Mithun (1999). Among the differences are the larger level subgroupings called Northern and Southern Uto-Aztecan. Some linguists have argued for a grouping including Takic, Numic, Hopi, and Tübatulabal and have grouped them together as "Northern Uto-Aztecan." In the southern branch, some linguists formerly grouped the Pimic, Taracahitan, and Corachol languages into a larger level group called "Sonoran", but this grouping has also not gained wide acceptance. Many scholars instead see a closer connection between Pimic, Taracahitan, Corachol, and Aztecan and group the four into a common group called "Southern Uto-Aztecan", but this also has its critics. Ties between Corachol and Aztecan have been recognized by Kaufman (2001Kaufman, Terrence, (2001) Nawa linguistic prehistory, published at website of the Mesoamerican Language Documentation Project ), who argues that they are best understood as the result of a period of close contact and linguistic diffusion between the Nahuan and Coracholan groups. Most scholars recognize an increasing need to look at the breakup of Proto-Uto-Aztecan as a case of the gradual disintegration of a dialect continuum (Mithun 1999).

Northern Uto-Aztecan Many recent linguists have not accepted the validity of the division between Northern and Southern Uto-Aztecan as a genuine genetic branching. They have either recognized seven to nine independent branches of Uto-Aztecan or accepted Southern Uto-Aztecan but recognized four independent branches in the place of Northern Uto-Aztecan (Goddard 1996:7; Miller 1983:118; Mithun 1999:539-540).

Hopi Benjamin Lee Whorf. 1946. "The Hopi Language, Toreva Dialect," Linguistic Structures of Native America. Ed. Cornelius Osgood. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology 6. New York: Wenner-Gren Foundation. Pages 158-183.
LaVerne Masayesva Jeanne. 1978. "Aspects of Hopi grammar," Massachusetts Institute of Technology PhD dissertation.
Hopi Dictionary Project. 1998. Hopi Dictionary : Hopìikwa Lavàytutuveni: A Hopi-English Dictionary of the Third Mesa Dialect With an English-Hopi Finder List and a Sketch of Hopi Grammar. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

Tübatulabal C.F. Voegelin. 1935. Tübatulabal Grammar. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 34/2. Berkeley: University of California Press.
C.F. Voegelin. 1958. "Working Dictionary of Tubatulabal," International Journal of American Linguistics 24:221-228.

Numic David Iannucci. 1972. "Numic historical phonology," Cornell University PhD dissertation.
Michael Nichols. 1973. "Northern Paiute historical grammar," University of California, Berkeley PhD dissertation
Wick R. Miller. 1986. "Numic Languages," Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11, Great Basin. Ed. by Warren L. d’Azevedo. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. Pages 98-106.

• Central Numic languages
  • Comanche Lila Wistrand Robinson & James Armagost. 1990. Comanche Dictionary and Grammar. Summer Institute of Linguistics and The University of Texas at Arlington Publications in Linguistics Publication 92. Dallas, Texas: The Summer Institute of Linguistics and The University of Texas at Arlington.
    Jean O. Charney. 1993. A Grammar of Comanche. Studies in the Anthropology of North American Indians. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.
  • Timbisha (a dialect chain with main regional varieties being Western, Central Jon P. Dayley. 1989. Tümpisa (Panamint) Shoshone Grammar. University of California Publications in Linguistics Volume 115. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
    Jon P. Dayley. 1989. Tümpisa (Panamint) Shoshone Dictionary. University of California Publications in Linguistics Volume 116. Berkeley, California: University of California Press., and Eastern John E. McLaughlin. 2006. Timbisha (Panamint). Languages of the World/Materials 453. Muenchen: LINCOM Europa.)
  • Shoshone (a dialect chain with main regional varieties being Western Richley H. Crapo. 1976. Big Smokey Valley Shoshoni. Desert Research Institute Publications in the Social Sciences 10. Reno: University of Nevada Press.
    Beverly Crum & Jon Dayley. 1993. Western Shoshoni Grammar. Boise State University Occasional Papers and Monographs in Cultural Anthropology and Linguistics Volume No. 1. Boise, Idaho: Department of Anthropology, Boise State University., Gosiute Wick R. Miller. 1972. Newe Natekwinappeh: Shoshoni Stories and Dictionary. University of Utah Anthropological Papers 94. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
    Wick R. Miller. 1996. "Sketch of Shoshone, a Uto-Aztecan Language," Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 17, Languages. Ed. Ives Goddard. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Pages 693-720., Northern Drusilla Gould & Christopher Loether. 2002. An Introduction to the Shoshoni Language: Dammen Daigwape. Salt Lake City, Utah: The University of Utah Press., and Eastern D.B. Shimkin. 1949. "Shoshone, I: Linguistic Sketch and Text," International Journal of American Linguistics 15:175-188.
    D. B. Shimkin. 1949. "Shoshone II: Morpheme List," International Journal of American Linguistics 15.203-212.
    Malinda Tidzump. 1970. Shoshone Thesaurus. Grand Forks, North Dakota.)
• Southern Numic languages
  • Kawaiisu Maurice L. Zigmond, Curtis G. Booth, & Pamela Munro. 1991. Kawaiisu, A Grammar and Dictionary with Texts. Ed. Pamela Munro. University of California Publications in Linguistics Volume 119. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
  • Colorado River (a dialect chain with main regional varieties being Chemehuevi Margaret L. Press. 1979. Chemehuevi, A Grammar and Lexicon. University of California Publications in Linguistics Volume 92. Berkeley, California. University of California Press.
    Laird, Carobeth. 1976. The Chemehuevis. Malki Museum Press, Banning, California., Southern Paiute Edward Sapir. 1930. Southern Paiute, a Shoshonean Language. Reprinted in 1992 in: The Collected Works of Edward Sapir, X, Southern Paiute and Ute Linguistics and Ethnography. Ed. William Bright. Berlin: Mouton deGruyter.
    Edward Sapir. 1931. Southern Paiute Dictionary. Reprinted in 1992 in: The Collected Works of Edward Sapir, X, Southern Paiute and Ute Linguistics and Ethnography. Ed. William Bright. Berlin: Mouton deGruyter.
    Pamela A. Bunte. 1979. "Problems in Southern Paiute Syntax and Semantics," Indiana University Ph.D. dissertation., and Ute Talmy Givón. 1980. Ute Reference Grammar. 1st edition. Ignacio, Colorado: Ute Press.
    Jean O. Charney. 1996. A Dictionary of the Southern Ute Language. Ignacio, Colorado: Ute Press.)
• Western Numic languages
  • Mono (two main dialects: Eastern Sidney M. Lamb. 1957. "Mono Grammar," University of California, Berkeley Ph.D. dissertation.
    Rosalie Bethel, Paul V. Kroskrity, Christopher Loether, & Gregory A. Reinhardt. 1993. A Dictionary of Western Mono. 2nd edition. and Western Evan J. Norris. 1986. "A Grammar Sketch and Comparative Study of Eastern Mono," University of California, San Diego Ph.D. dissertation.)
  • Northern Paiute (a dialect chain with main regional varieties being Southern Nevada Anonymous. 1987. Yerington Paiute Grammar. Anchorage, Alaska: Bilingual Education Services.
    Arie Poldevaart. 1987. Paiute-English English-Paiute Dictionary. Yerington, Nevada: Yerington Paiute Tribe., Northern Nevada Allen Snapp, John Anderson, & Joy Anderson. 1982. "Northern Paiute," Studies in Uto-Aztecan Grammar, Volume 3, Uto-Aztecan Grammatical Sketches. Ed. Ronald W. Langacker. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics Publication Number 57, Volume III. Dallas, Texas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and The University of Texas at Arlington. Pages 1-92., Oregon Timothy John Thornes. 2003. "A Northern Paiute Grammar with Texts," University of Oregon Ph.D. dissertation., and Bannock Sven Liljeblad. 1966-1967. "Northern Paiute Lessons," manuscript.
    Sven Liljeblad. 1950. "Bannack I: Phonemes," International Journal of American Linguistics 16:126-131)

Takic In addition to the Takic languages considered by Campbell, Tataviam has been recognized as a separate Takic language (Goddard 1996:7; Mithun 1999:539). Tataviam has sometimes been called by a Chumash name, Alliklik, although other scholars have reserved that name for a Chumash dialect or language (cf. Campbell 1997:135; Mithun 1999:544)

Serrano-Gabrielino

Serran

Serrano Kenneth C. Hill. 1967. "A Grammar of the Serrano Language," University of California, Los Angeles PhD dissertation.

Kitanemuk ^† Alice J. Anderton. 1988. "The Language of the Kitanemuks of California," University of California, Los Angeles PhD dissertation.

Gabrielino-Fernandeño ^†

Cupan

Cahuilla-Cupeño

Cahuilla Hansjakob Seiler. 1977. Cahuilla Grammar. Banning, California: Malki Museum Press.
Hansjakob Seiler and Kojiro Hioki. 1979. Cahuilla Dictionary. Banning, California: Malki Museum Press.

Cupeño Jane H. Hill & Rosinda Nolasquez. 1973. Mulu\'wetam, the First People: Cupeno Oral History and Language. Banning, California: Malki Museum Press.
Jane H. Hill. 2005. A Grammar of Cupeño. University of California Publications in Linguistics. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Luiseño-Juaneño Most authorities have agreed with Campbell in considering Juaneño (now extinct) a dialect of Luiseño, but Mithun (1999:539) classified it as a separate language.
Alfred L. Kroeber & George William Grace. 1960. The Sparkman Grammar of Luiseño. University of California Publications in Linguistics 16. Berkeley: The University of California Press.
William Bright. 1968. A Luiseno Dictionary. University of California Publications in Linguistics 51. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Villiana Hyde. 1971. An Introduction to the Luiseño Language. Banning, California: Malki Museum Press.
Eric Bryant Elliott. 1999. "Dictionary of Rincon Luiseno," University of California, San Diego PhD dissertation.

Southern Uto-Aztecan

Pimic (Tepiman)

Pima-Papago Ofelia Zepeda. 1983 . A Tohono O\'odham Grammar. Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona Press.
Dean Saxton, Lucile Saxton, & Susie Enos. 1998. Dictionary: Tohono O\'Odham/Pima to English, English to Tohono O\'Odham/Pima. 2nd edition. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press. (Upper Piman)

Pima Bajo Roberto Escalante H. & Zarina Estrada Fernandez. 1993. Textos y gramatica del pima bajo. Sonora: Departamento de Letra y Linguistica, Universidad de Mexico. (Lower Piman)

Tepehuán languages (Northern Burton W. Bascom. 1982. "Northern Tepehuan," Studies in Uto-Aztecan Grammar, Volume 3, Uto-Aztecan Grammatical Sketches. Ed. by Ronald W. Langacker. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington. Pages 267-393. and Southern T. Willett. 1991. A reference grammar of southeastern Tepehuan. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and University of Texas at Arlington.)

Tepecano J. Alden Mason. 1916. "Tepecano, A Piman language of western Mexico," Annals of the New York Academy of Science 25:309-416. ^†

Taracahitic

Tarahumaran

Tarahumara Donald H. Burgess. 1984. "Western Tarahumara,"‭ Studies in Uto-Aztecan grammar 4: Southern Uto-Aztecan grammatical sketches. Ed. Ronald W. Langacker. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics 56. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington. Pages 1-149.

Guarijío Wick R. Miller. 1996. La lengua guarijio: gramatica, vocabulario y textos. Mexico City: Instituto de Investigaciones Antropologicas, UNAM. (Varihio)

Tubar Andrés Lionnet. 1978. El idioma tubar y los tubares. Segun documentos ineditos de C. S. Lumholtz y C. V. Hartman. Mexico, D. F: Universidad Iberoamericana. ^†

Cahita Andrés Lionnet. 1978. Elementos de la lengua cahita (yaqui-mayo). México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. (Yaqui John M. Dedrick & Eugene H. Casad, ed. 1999. Yaqui Language Structures. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
David L. Shaul. 1999. Yoeme-English English-Yoeme Standard Dictionary. New York: Hippocrene Books.-Mayo Howard Collard & E. Collard. 1962. Vocabulario Mayo. Vocabularios Indígenas No. 6. México: ILV.
Jeff Burnham. 1984. Una gramática de la Lengua Mayo. Hermosillo, Sonora: Universidad de Sonora.-Cahita)

Opatan

Ópata Natal Lombardo. 1702. Arte de la Lengua Teguima vulgarmente llamada Opata. Mexico: Miguel de Ribera. ^†

Eudeve Andrés Lionnet. 1986. El eudeve, un idioma extinto de Sonora (Study based on materials of J. Johnson, Loaysa, Bartlett, and Smith). Mexico: Instituto de Investigaciones Antropologicas, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
David L. Shaul. 1991. "Eudeve morphosyntax: an overview," International Journal of American Linguistics 57:70-107. ^†? (Heve, Dohema)

Corachol-Aztecan

Cora-Huichol

Cora Eugene H. Casad. 1984. "Cora,"‭ Studies in Uto-Aztecan grammar 4: Southern Uto-Aztecan grammatical sketches. Ed. Ronald W. Langacker. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics 56. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington. Pages 153-149.

Huichol José Luis Iturrioz Leza y Julio Ramírez de la Cruz, et al. 2001. Gramática Didáctica del Huichol: Vol. I. Estructura Fonológica y Sistema de Escritura. Departamento de Estudios en Lenguas Indígenas-Universidad de Guadalajara – Secretaria de Educación Pública.

Nahuan Yolanda Lastra de Suárez. 1986. Las áreas dialectales del náhuatl moderno. Mexico: Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. (Aztecan, Nahua, Nahuatlan)

Pochutec Franz Boas. 1917. "El dialecto mexicano de Pochutla, Oaxaca," International Journal of American Linguistics 1:9-44. ^†

Core Nahua

Pipil (Nahuate, Nawat) Lyle Campbell. 1985. The Pipil language of El Salvador. Mouton grammar library No. 1. Berlin: Mouton Publishers.)

Nahuatl Fray Alonso de Molina. 1555. Vocabulario en Lengua Castellana y Mexicana y Mexicana y Castellana. Reprinted, Porrúa México, 1992.
Horacio Carochi. 1645. Arte de la lengua mexicana: con la declaración de los adverbios della. Reprinted, México D.F.: Porrúa, 1983. (Mexicano, Aztec )

In addition to the above languages for which linguistic evidence exists, there were several dozen extinct languages with little or no documentation in Northern Mexico, many of which were probably Uto-Aztecan (Campbell 1997).

^† = extinct

Notes

References

• Campbell, Lyle. 1979. Middle American languages. In The Languages of Native America: Historical and Comparative Assessment, edited by Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun, pp. 902-1000. University of Texas Press, Austin.
• Campbell, Lyle. 1997. American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford University Press.
• Goddard, Ives. 1996. Introduction. In Languages, edited by Ives Goddard, pp. 1-16. Handbook of North American Indians, William C. Sturtevant, general editor, Vol. 17. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
• Goddard, Ives. 1999. "Native Languages and Language Families of North America." Wall Map. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press.
• Miller, Wick R. 1983. Uto-Aztecan languages. In Southwest, edited by Alfonso Ortiz, pp. 113-124. Handbook of North American Indians. William C. Sturtevant, general editor, Vol. 10. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.
• Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Steele, Susan. 1979. Uto-Aztecan: An assessment for historical and comparative linguistics. In The Languages of Native America: Historical and Comparative Assessment, edited by Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun, pp. 444-544. University of Texas Press, Austin.
• Súarez, Jorge. 1983. The Mesoamerican Indian Languages. Cambridge University Press.

External links

• Ethnologue:Uto-Aztecan

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