Hokan Language Family
The Hokan language family is a proposed classification of several Indigenous languages primarily spoken in California and parts of Mexico. This classification, which includes languages such as Karok, Chimariko, Shastan, Yuman, and others, has been a subject of considerable debate among linguists regarding its validity and the relationships between its subfamilies. The term "Hokan" was first introduced in the early 20th century by linguists Alfred Kroeber and R. B. Dixon, who identified connections among various languages. Over time, additional scholars, such as Edward Sapir, contributed to the classification by proposing further relationships and adding more languages, leading to a division into multiple subgroups.
Currently, some linguists favor a grouping that includes eight distinct subfamilies, while others advocate for more conservative classifications. Despite this ongoing debate, the Hokan languages have retained cultural significance, with an estimated fifteen thousand speakers in the 1970s, the largest segment being Tequistlatec speakers in Mexico who were often bilingual in Spanish. As the classification continues to evolve, it highlights the rich linguistic heritage of Indigenous languages in North America and the complexities inherent in categorizing them.
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Hokan Language Family
- CULTURE AREA: California, Southwest
- TRIBES AFFECTED: Achumawi (Pit River), Atsugewi, Chimariko, Chumash, Esselen, Karuk, Pomo, Salinan, Seri, Shasta, Tequistlatec, Washoe, Yana, Yuman
There is an extraordinary amount of controversy regarding the Hokan language classification, including whether it should even exist. Unlike closely related families such as the Algonquian language family or the Iroquoian language family, Hokan comprises several subfamilies whose relationships are not recognized by all linguists.
The Hokan classification was first proposed in New Linguistic Families in California (1913) by Alfred Kroeber and R. B. Dixon, who saw a relationship among Karuk, Chimariko, Shastan, Yuman, Esselen, Pomo, and Yan'an; they named this new family Hokan. Kroeber and Dixon also linked Salinan and Chumash as a new family called Iskoman. J. P. Harrington (in American Anthropologist, vol. 15, 1913) suggested a link between Chumash and Yuman, effectively joining the Hokan and Iskoman families. In 1917, Edward Sapir, in The Position of Yana in the Hokan Stock, confirmed Hokan’s relationships and added Seri and Chontal to the grouping. In Linguistic Families of California (1919), Kroeber and Dixon added Washoe to the list.
A more recent grouping of Hokan divides the family into eight groups: Northern (which includes Karuk, Shasta, Chimariko, Palahnihan, Yan'an, and Pomo), Washoe, Salinan-Chumash, Seri-Yuman (which includes Seri, Hualapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Paipai, Mojave, Maricopa, Quechan, Diegueño, Cocopah, and Kiliwa), Waicuri-Quiniqua, Coahuiltecan, Tequistlatecan, and Southern (which includes Tlapanec, Jicaque, and Jurimaugui). This is the grouping favored by Joseph H. Greenberg in Language in the Americas (1987).
A more conservative approach is advised in The Languages of North America by Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun (1979). These groupings are Northern (as described above), Esselen-Yuman, Salinan-Seri (including Chumash, Salinan, and Seri), Washoe, and Tequistlatec. Following the more conservative grouping, there were approximately fifteen thousand speakers of Hokan languages in the 1970s. The largest number of these speakers (approximately ten thousand) were speakers of Tequistlatec in Mexico, and the majority of them were bilingual in Spanish. In the twenty-first century, the number of speakers of the Hokan languages decreased as more Hokan languages faced extinction even with language revitalization programs.
Bibliography
“California Indian Languages: Hokan Tribes.” California State Parks, www.parks.ca.gov/?page‗id=23732. Accessed 28 Dec. 2024.
Jany, Carmen. "Hokan Languages." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Oxford University Press, 5 Aug. 2016, oxfordre.com/linguistics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.001.0001/acrefore-9780199384655-e-19. Accessed 28 Dec. 2024.
Poser, William J. “Binary Comparison and the History of Hokan Comparative Studies.” International Journal of American Linguistics, vol. 61, no. 1, 1995, pp. 135–44. The University of Chicago Press Journals, doi.org/10.1086/466247. Accessed 28 Dec. 2024.