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Hokage

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Hokan languages

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The Hokan language family is a hypothetical grouping of a dozen small language families spoken in California and Mexico. In nearly a century since the "Hokan" hypothesis first proposed these families were related to each other, little additional evidence has been found. Although some Hokan families may indeed be related, especially in northern California, few linguists today expect Hokan as a whole to prove to be valid, and the term is often used as a convenient label to simplify one of the most linguistically diverse areas of the world.

The name Hokan is loosely based on the word for "two" in the various Hokan languages: *xwak in Proto-Yuman, c-oocj in Seri, hak in Achumawi, etc.

Hokan languages are spoken by the Pomo on the California coast, as well as by other Native American nations around Mount Shasta, Lake Tahoe, and the Yuman peoples along the lower Colorado River. Some linguists also include Chumash or other families, but the evidence is insubstantial, and most now restrict Hokan to some or all of the languages listed below.

The Yurumanguí language of Colombia was claimed to be Hokan by Rivet (1942). This claim has not been accepted by historical linguists.

Family outline

Hokan languages (28):

Esselen-Yuman languages (10)

Northern Hokan languages (13)

Chimariko language
Karok-Shasta languages (4)

Karuk language
Shasta-Palaihnihan languages (3)

Pomoan languages (7)
Yana language

Salinan-Seri languages (2)

The relationship between Salinan and Seri was proposed by Edward Sapir at a time when the information about Seri was very scanty and when hypotheses about genetic relationships were being proposed on the basis of such. Bright (1956) provided a small amount of data which might have been developed as supporting evidence, but never was. The relationship is now considered doubtful and is certainly not at the level of a close-knit linguistic family. Langdon (1974) only reported the proposal in her historical review, and suggested instead (in a short paragraph) that perhaps a relationship between Seri and some other languages (Chumash, and Chontal of Oaxaca) might be possible. Both Seri and Salinan are currently considered language isolates since evidence relating them to the putative Hokan family has not been systematically or convincingly presented.

Tequistlatecan languages (2)

Washo language

Bibliography

Bright, William (1956). "Glottochronologic counts of Hokaltecan materials". Language 32 42–48.
Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Langdon, Margaret (1974). Comparative Hokan-Coahuiltecan studies. The Hague: Mouton.
Rivet, Paul (1942). "Un dialecte Hoka Colombien: le Yurumangí". Journal de la Société des Américanistes de Paris 34 1–59.