Karankawa Language
The Karankawa language is believed to be an isolated linguistic entity, although some scholars propose that it may belong to the Cariban language family. Historically, the language was spoken along the western coast of the Gulf of Mexico, stretching from West Galveston Bay to Laguna Madre in Mexico. During the early modern period, Spanish missions were established in the region to serve the Karankawa people, leading to significant cultural interactions. Documentation of the Karankawa language primarily comes from late 19th-century collections by Albert S. Gatschet and others, as well as earlier word lists from French observers.
Linguistic comparisons reveal that Karankawa exhibits significant differences from other regional languages, suggesting its classification as an independent language family. However, there is ongoing debate about possible connections to nearby dialects, with some suggesting that Karankawan could align with Coahuiltecan, Tamaulipecan, and Janambrian as dialects of a larger language stock. The language's vocabulary includes terms like "hama'la," meaning "pretty," and "ka'hawan," meaning "to make," illustrating its unique linguistic characteristics. Overall, the complexity and historical context surrounding the Karankawa language highlight its importance in understanding the cultural heritage of the region.
Subject Terms
Karankawa Language
Culture area: Southeast
Tribe affected: Karankawa
The Karankawan language is thought to be an isolated one. There is revisionist thought put forward by Herbet Landar, however, that Karankawa should be classified as a Cariban language. The language’s area in the early modern era (1500 through 1840) was the extreme western coast of the Gulf of Mexico, reaching from West Galveston Bay south to Laguna Madre in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Spanish missions were sent to the region to minister to the Karankawa. These included the mission of Espiritu Santa de Zuniga and the Nuestra Señora del Refugio, as well as a number of Franciscan missions south of the Rio Grande or Rio Bravo del Norte. After the Austin Colony of Anglo-Americans settled in the valley of the Brazos, the remaining Karankawa were driven south into Tamaulipas, where they lived in association with the missions for American Indians along with the remaining speakers of Coahuiltecan, Tamaulipecan, and Janambrian.
Knowledge of the language stems from materials collected by Albert S. Gatschet from Old Simon and Sally Washington, both Tonkawa, and Alice W. Oliver in the late nineteenth century. Word lists were also collected by a few French observers in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
An adequate comparison of the languages that existed along the western coast of the Gulf of Mexico between Galveston Bay and the Laguna Madre is extremely difficult. Reasons for this difficulty include divergent methods of recording the languages by the various collectors and investigators as well as their different nationalities and the fragmented character of the materials. Nevertheless, it is plain to see that Karankawa differs widely from the other languages of the region in forms of speech and vocabulary. Inspection of the languages indicates that Karankawa is rightly assigned to an independent family. Yet it should be understood that the categories of Coahuiltecan, Tamaulipecan, Janambrian, and possibly Karankawan could also be considered widely separated dialects of a single stock. As the dialects of a single stock may vary widely, the lexical resemblances are more divergent than the resemblances exhibited by the verb complex, the affixes, and the structural codes. The material collected tends to exaggerate differences and conceal the more fundamental resemblances. It is also possible that a greater degree of relationship may be found to extend to Tonkawa, spoken northeast of the Coahuiltecan and Karankawan territories.
Examples from the various word lists provide a sense of the character of the language. For example: hama’la is used as a translation for “pretty” or “handsome” in the Oliver list. This is used in the sense of Ta’l a’kwini hama’la (“This tree is pretty”) or hama’la kwa’n ko’do (“pretty little sparrow”). Another example from the Oliver list is ka’hawan for “to make,” “to produce,” or “to manufacture.” A complete idea is Na’-i demo’a ka’hawan, or “I make arrows.” The Talon brothers recorded tecoyu as “man,” kahamkeami as the Spanish, or literally “people of the earth” because they reached them overland, and kalbasska as the French or “people who come from the sea.”