Hokan languages

The name Hokan is loosely based on the word for "two" in the various Hokan languages: *xwak in Proto-Yuman, {{lang|sei|c-oocj}} (pronounced {{IPA|sei|koːkx|}}) in Seri, {{lang|acv|ha'k}} in Achumawi, etc. Compare similar construction of the term "Penutian".

The "Hokan hypothesis" was first proposed in 1913 by Roland B. Dixon and Alfred L. Kroeber,Dixon, Roland R.; Kroeber, Alfred L. (1913a). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1638067 "Relationship of the Indian languages of California."] Science, 37, 225Dixon, Roland R.; Kroeber, Alfred L. (1913b) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/659723 "New linguistic families in California."] American Anthropologist, 15, 647–655 and further elaborated by Edward Sapir. Initial follow-up research found little additional evidence that these language families were related to each other. But since about 1950, increased efforts to document Hokan languages and to establish sound correspondences in proposed lexical resemblance sets have added weight to the Hokan hypothesis, leading to its acceptance by many specialists in the languages of California, Oregon, and Mesoamerica. However, some skepticism remains among scholars.{{Cite book |last=Kaufmann |first=Terrence |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&pg=PA504 |chapter=Hokan |editor-last1=Brown |editor-first1=E. K.|editor-last2=Ogilvie|editor-first2=Sarah |title=Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world |year=2009 |publisher=Elsevier|isbn=9780080877754|edition= 1st|location=Amsterdam, Netherlands|pages=504–510|oclc=318247422}}

Linguist Paul Rivet claimed the Yurumanguí language of Colombia was part of the Hokan family.Paul Rivet, 1942 This claim has not been accepted by historical linguists. Terrence Kaufman wondered if Hokan might be related to Oto-Mangean of Central America.{{Cite book |last=Kaufmann |first=Terrence |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340925787 |title=Tlapaneko-Sutiaba, OtoMangean, and Hokan: where Greenberg went wrong |year=1990}}

An automated computational analysis (ASJP 4) by Müller et al. (2013)Müller, André, Viveka Velupillai, Søren Wichmann, Cecil H. Brown, Eric W. Holman, Sebastian Sauppe, Pamela Brown, Harald Hammarström, Oleg Belyaev, Johann-Mattis List, Dik Bakker, Dmitri Egorov, Matthias Urban, Robert Mailhammer, Matthew S. Dryer, Evgenia Korovina, David Beck, Helen Geyer, Pattie Epps, Anthony Grant, and Pilar Valenzuela. 2013. [https://asjp.clld.org/static/WorldLanguageTree-004.zip ASJP World Language Trees of Lexical Similarity: Version 4 (October 2013)]. found lexical similarities among Seri, Yuman and Tequistlatecan. However, since the analysis was automatically generated, the grouping could be either due to mutual lexical borrowing or genetic inheritance.

The geographic distribution of the Hokan languages suggests that they became separated around the Central Valley of California by the influx of later-arriving Penutian and other peoples; archaeological evidence for this is summarized in Chase-Dunn & Mann (1998). These languages are spoken by Native American communities around and east of Mount Shasta, others near Lake Tahoe, the Pomo on the California coast, and the Yuman peoples along the lower Colorado River. Some linguists also include Chumash, between San Luis Obispo and Los Angeles, and other families, but the evidence is insubstantial, and most now restrict Hokan to some or all of the languages listed below.

Linguists have suggested that Coahuilteco and Comecrudan spoken in southern Texas and northern Mexico belong to the Hokan language family. These languages are extinct and confirmation of the relationship is lacking.Newcomb, Jr., W. W. The people/Indians of Texas: From Prehistoric to Modern Times. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1961, pp. 32–33.

The Hokan languages retained by Kaufman (1988) due to regular sound correspondences and common core vocabulary are as follows. (The data on which these conclusions were drawn have not been published or evaluated by anyone else.) Apart from Shasta–Palaihnihan and Yuman, all branches are single languages or shallow families.Golla (2011) California Indian Languages

{{tree list}}

• Hokan
• Chimariko
• Yana/Yahi
• Karuk
• Shasta–Palaihnihan
• Shastan (4)
• Palaihnihan (2)
• Pomoan (7)
• Washo
• Esselen
• Salinan
• Yuman (12)
• Seri
• Coahuilteco
• Comecrudan (3)
• Tequistlatecan (3)
• Jicaquean (Tolan, 2)

{{tree list/end}}

Marlett (2008) reevaluated the evidence and concluded that the evidence for Seri and Salinan has not been systematically or convincingly presented. The inclusion of the Tequistlatecan languages has also not received much support.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} The Chumash languages were once included, but that position has been almost universally abandoned.

A lexicostatistical classification of the Hokan languages by Zhivlov (2013) is roughly presented as follows.Zhivlov, Mikhail. 2013. [https://starling.rinet.ru/confer/07_Zhivlov.pdf The Hokan family and lexicostatistics]. Comparative-Historical Linguistics of the XXIst Century: Issues and Perspectives. Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, Russian State University for the Humanities. Moscow, March 20–22, 2013. (Accessed 2021-10-07)

{{tree list}}

• Hokan
• Northern
• {{tree list/branching}}
• Chimariko
• {{tree list/branching}}
• Karuk
• {{tree list/branching}}
• Shasta
• {{tree list/branching}}
• Achumawi
• Atsugewi
• Southern
• {{tree list/branching}}
• Yana
• {{tree list/branching}}
• Seri
• {{tree list/branching}}
• Highland Chontal
• Yuman
• {{tree list/branching}}
• Salinan
• Pomoan

{{tree list/end}}

Zhivlov (2013) does not consider Jicaquean (Tol) and Washo to be Hokan languages.

Some Hokan lexical correspondences from Mary R. Haas (1963) are provided below.Haas, Mary R. (1963): "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/410761 Shasta and Proto-hokan]." Language, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Jan. – Mar., 1963), pp. 40–59. {{doi|10.2307/410761}}

:

Similar forms for 'tongue' include:

• Chumash elʔew, elew < *ipariwa
• Washo alŋ < *ipariwa
• Salinan épal, ipaL < *ipari
• Seri apɬ < *ipari
• Chontal pala, peɬ- < *ipari

Shaul (2019) notes the following similarities between Proto-Hokan (based on Kaufman 2015Kaufman, Terrence. 2015. [https://www.albany.edu/ims/pdlma/2015%20Publications/Kaufman-reconstructing%20protoHokan-first%20gropings-revd2015.pdf A research program for reconstructing proto-Hokan: first gropings]. [https://www.albany.edu/ims/PDLMA_publications_new.html Project for the Documentation of the Languages of Mesoamerica].) and Proto-Uto-Aztecan.{{cite book |last=Shaul |first=David |title=Esselen studies: language, culture, and prehistory |publisher=Lincom Europa |publication-place=Muenchen |year=2019 |isbn=978-3-86288-986-0 |oclc=1132875180}}

:

• Chumashan languages
• Penutian languages

{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal |last=Bright |first=William |author-link=William Bright |year=1956 |title=Glottochronologic counts of Hokaltecan materials |journal=Language |volume=32 |pages=42–48 |doi=10.2307/410651 |issue=1 |jstor=410651}}
• {{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Lyle |author-link=Lyle Campbell |year=1997 |title=American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford}}
• {{cite book | last=Chase-Dunn |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Chase-Dunn |author2=Kelly M. Mann|year=1998 |title=The Wintu and Their Neighbors: A Small World-System in Northern California | url=https://archive.org/details/wintutheirneighb00chas | url-access=registration |publisher=University of Arizona Press |location=Tucson|isbn=9780816518005 }}
• Golla, Victor. (2011). California Indian Languages. Berkeley: University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-5202-6667-4}}.
• Kaufman, Terrence. 1988. "A Research Program for Reconstructing Proto-Hokan: First Gropings." In Scott DeLancey, ed. Papers from the 1988 Hokan–Penutian Languages Workshop, pp. 50–168. Eugene, Oregon: Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon. (University of Oregon Papers in Linguistics. Publications of the Center for Amerindian Linguistics and Ethnography 1.)
• Kaufman, Terrence. 2015a. [https://www.albany.edu/ims/pdlma/2015%20Publications/Kaufman-reconstructing%20protoHokan-first%20gropings-revd2015.pdf A research program for reconstructing proto-Hokan: first gropings]. [https://www.albany.edu/ims/PDLMA_publications_new.html Project for the Documentation of the Languages of Mesoamerica].
• Kaufman, Terrence. 2015b. [https://www.albany.edu/ims/pdlma/2015%20Publications/Kaufman-some%20hypotheses%20regarding%20protoHokan%20grammar-revd2015.pdf Some hypotheses regarding proto-Hokan grammar]. [https://www.albany.edu/ims/PDLMA_publications_new.html Project for the Documentation of the Languages of Mesoamerica].
• Marlett, Stephen A. 2007. Las relaciones entre las lenguas “hokanas” en México: ¿Cuál es la evidencia?. In Cristina Buenrostro & others (eds.), Memorias del III Coloquio Internacional de Lingüística Mauricio Swadesh, 165–192. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México & Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas.
• Marlett, Stephen A (2008). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/590087 The Seri and Salinan connection revisited.] International Journal of American Linguistics 74.3: 393–99.
• {{cite journal |last=Rivet |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Rivet |year=1942 |title=Un dialecte Hoka Colombien: le Yurumangí |journal=Journal de la Société des Américanistes de Paris|volume=34 |pages=1–59 |doi=10.3406/jsa.1942.2334|url=http://www.persee.fr/doc/jsa_0037-9174_1942_num_34_1_2334 }}

{{sister project |project=wiktionary |text=Wiktionary has a list of reconstructed forms at Appendix:Proto-Hokan reconstructions}}

• {{in lang|es}} (PDF) [http://lengamer.org/admin/language_folders/seri/user_uploaded_files/links/File/Marlett-Hokan.pdf Las relaciones entre las lenguas “hokanas” en México: ¿Cuál es la evidencia?] (prepublication version)
• {{in lang|en}} [http://www.native-languages.org/famhok_words.htm Vocabulary Words in the Hokan Language Family]

{{Hokan languages}}

{{language families}}

{{North American languages}}

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Category:Indigenous languages of California

Category:Indigenous languages of Mexico

Category:Indigenous languages of the North American Great Basin

Category:Indigenous languages of the North American Southwest

Category:Indigenous languages of the Southwestern United States

Category:Mesoamerican languages

Category:Indigenous languages of North America

Category:Proposed language families