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. Indigenous languages of the Americas (or Amerindian Languages are spoken by indigenous peoples from the southern tip of South America to Alaska and List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family It is one of the largest (both in geographical extension and number of languages) and most well-established linguistic families of the Americas. Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the Western United States (Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, California, Nevada, Arizona), through western, central and southern Mexico (incl. The Great Basin is a large arid region of the western United States. The Western United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American West or simply the West &mdashtraditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost Oregon ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The State of Idaho ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America. Montana ( is a state in the Western United States. One-third of the state in the western part contains numerous mountain ranges (approximately 77 named of the northern The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Nevada ( is a state located in the western region of the United States of America. The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Sonora, Chihuahua, Nayarit, Durango, Zacatecas, Jalisco, Michoacán, Guerrero, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz, Morelos, Estado de México, and the Federal District), and into parts of Central America (Pipil in El Salvador; extinct varieties in Guatemala and Honduras). Sonora is one of the 31 federal states of Mexico and is located in the northwest of the country Nayarit is one of Mexico’s 31 states and is located on the central west coast bordering the Pacific Ocean. Durango (duˈɾaŋgo is one of the constituent States of Mexico. Zacatecas is one of the 31 constituent states of Mexico. It is located in the north-central region and it is bounded to the northwest by Durango Jalisco is a state in Mexico. The capital of Jalisco is the city of Guadalajara. Michoacán formally Michoacán de Ocampo (from Nahuatl Michhuacān "place of the fishermen" is one of the 31 constituent states The State of Guerrero is a state in the southern meridional region of Mexico. San Luis Potosí is the name of both a state in Mexico and that state's capital city Is a Mexican state located in the center east of the country to the east of Mexico City. Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave is one of the 31 states that constitute the republic of Mexico. Morelos is one of the constituent States of Mexico. Morelos has an area of about, making it the second-smallest of the country's states Mexico State or State of Mexico (often abbreviated to " Edomex " from Estado de México in Spanish) is a state in the Mexico City (in Spanish: Ciudad de México, México DF, México or simply Méjico) is the Capital city of Mexico Pipil or Nawat is the language originally spoken by the Pipils of western El Salvador and still remembered by some of them mostly elderly El Salvador ( República de El Salvador,) is a country in Central America. Guatemala (República de Guatemala) is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west the Pacific Ocean to the southwest Honduras in Spanish, República de Honduras) is a democratic republic in Central America. Utah is named after the indigenous Uto-Aztecan Ute people. The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. The Utes (/juːts/ " yoots " are an ethnically related group of American Indians now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. Classical Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and its modern relatives are part of the Uto-Aztecan family. Nahuatl ( is a group of related languages and dialects of the Aztecan or Nahuan branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who achieved political The Uto Aztecan Nahuatl language can be grouped into two rough dialect continua, labelled the central and the peripheral dialects

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. Alfred Louis Kroeber (June 11 1876&ndashOctober 5 1960 was one of the most influential figures in American Anthropology in the first half of the twentieth Edward Sapir (səˈpɪər ( January 26 1884 &ndash February 4 1939) was a Jewish German - American Historical linguistics (also called diachronic linguistics) is the study of language change

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. Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin 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). Kiowa-Tanoan (also Tanoan-Kiowa) is a family of languages spoken in New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Aztec-Tanoan is a hypothetical and undemonstrated language family that proposes a genealogical relation to the Kiowa-Tanoan and the Uto-Aztecan families Joseph Greenberg included Uto-Aztecan in his widely criticized and highly controversial Amerind macro-family along with all Native American linguistic families except for Eskimo-Aleut and Na-Dene. Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28 1915 – May 7 2001 was a prominent and controversial linguist and Africanist anthropologist known for his work in both typology Amerind is a putative higher-level language family proposed by Joseph Greenberg in his 1987 book Language in the Americas. Eskimo-Aleut is a Language family native to Greenland, the Canadian Arctic, Alaska, and parts of Siberia.

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 Southwestern area of the United States could be defined as the states west of the Mississippi River, with the qualification of a certain northern limit such as the 37 The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. 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. Death Valley is the lowest driest and hottest Valley in the United States. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Sonora is one of the 31 federal states of Mexico and is located in the northwest of the country Sinaloa is one of the 31 states of Mexico. Geography Sinaloa is bordered to the north by Sonora and Chihuahua; to the south

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. The Proto-Uto-Aztecan language (abbreviated PUA; also sometimes Uto-Aztekan, Utoaztekan) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Uto-Aztecan languages 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

Note that in Americanist phonetic notation, <c> and <y> are equivalent to IPA /t͡s/ and /j/, respectively. In Phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a Consonant articulated with both Lips The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet Coronal consonants are articulated with the flexible front part of the Tongue. Palatal consonants are Consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the Hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth "Lip rounding" redirects here See Roundedness for the lip rounding of vowels Glottal consonants are Consonants articulated with the Glottis. A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. Affricate Consonants begin as stops (most often an alveolar, such as or) but release as a fricative (such as or or occasionally into Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the Semivowels — also known as glides or non-syllabic vowels —are Vowels that form Diphthongs with full syllabic vowels Americanist phonetic notation (variously called American Phonetic Alphabet or APA is a system of phonetic notation originally developed by European and Euro-American The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA is a system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic *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 (2001^[1] ), 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. Terrence Kaufman is an American linguist specializing in documentation of Unwritten languages Mesoamerican Historical linguistics and 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 ^[2]

Hopi ^[3]

Tübatulabal ^[4]

Numic ^[5]

• Central Numic languages
  • Comanche ^[6]
  • Timbisha (a dialect chain with main regional varieties being Western, Central ^[7], and Eastern ^[8])
  • Shoshone (a dialect chain with main regional varieties being Western ^[9], Gosiute ^[10], Northern ^[11], and Eastern ^[12])
• Southern Numic languages
  • Kawaiisu ^[13]
  • Colorado River (a dialect chain with main regional varieties being Chemehuevi ^[14], Southern Paiute ^[15], and Ute ^[16])
• Western Numic languages
  • Mono (two main dialects: Eastern ^[17] and Western ^[18])
  • Northern Paiute (a dialect chain with main regional varieties being Southern Nevada ^[19], Northern Nevada ^[20], Oregon ^[21], and Bannock ^[22])

Takic ^[23]

Serrano-Gabrielino

Serran

Serrano ^[24]

Kitanemuk ^{† [25]}

Gabrielino-Fernandeño ^†

Cupan

Cahuilla-Cupeño

Cahuilla ^[26]

Cupeño ^[27]

Luiseño-Juaneño ^[28]

Southern Uto-Aztecan ^[2]

Pimic (Tepiman)

Pima-Papago ^[29] (Upper Piman)

Pima Bajo ^[30] (Lower Piman)

Tepehuán languages (Northern ^[31] and Southern ^[32])

Tepecano ^{[33] †}

Taracahitic

Tarahumaran

Tarahumara ^[34]

Guarijío ^[35] (Varihio)

Tubar ^{[36] †}

Cahita ^[37] (Yaqui ^[38]-Mayo ^[39]-Cahita)

Opatan

Ópata ^{[40] †}

Eudeve ^{[41] †}? (Heve, Dohema)

Corachol-Aztecan

Cora-Huichol

Cora ^[42]

Huichol ^[43]

Nahuan ^[44] (Aztecan, Nahua, Nahuatlan)

Pochutec ^{[45] †}

Core Nahua

Pipil (Nahuate, Nawat) ^[46])

Nahuatl ^[47] (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). Hopi is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Hopi people (a Pueblo group of northeastern Arizona, USA although today some Hopi are monolingual Tübatulabal ( IPA: təˈbɑtələˌbɑl) is a Uto-Aztecan language, traditionally spoken in Kern County, California. Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin Comanche is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Comanche people. The Timbisha language (also called Panamint and spelled Tümpisa) is the language of the Native American people who have inhabited the region in and Shoshone is a Native American language spoken by the Shoshone people The Kawaiisu language is an Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Kawaiisu people of California. The Ute language (also Southern Paiute and Colorado River) of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family is actually a Dialect Mono is a Native American language of the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages. Northern Paiute (Northern Paiute Numu, also known as Paviotso) is a Western Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family which according to Marianne The Serrano language is a language in the Takic branch of the Uto-Aztecan family spoken by the Serrano people of Southern California. Kitanemuk was a Northern Uto-Aztecan language of the Takic branch. The Tongva language (also known as the Gabrieliño language) is an Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Tongva, a Native American people who live The Cahuilla are a tribe of Native Americans that have inhabited the U The Cupeño ( Kuupangaxwichem in the Cupeño language are a Native American tribe that historically lived about 40 miles (65 km inland and 50 miles The Luiseño language is an Uto-Aztecan language of California spoken by the Luiseño, a Native American people who at the time of the first Piman (or Tepiman) refers a group of languages within the Uto-Aztecan family that are spoken by ethnic groups (including the Pima) spanning from Arizona O'odham (/ɔʔɔdham/ is an Uto-Aztecan language of southern Arizona and northern Sonora where the Tohono O'odham and Pima reside Pima Bajo is a Mexican indigenous language of the Piman branch of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family spoken by around 1000 speakers in northern Mexico Tepehuán is the name of three closely related languages of the Piman branch of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family both spoken in northern Mexico. Tepehuán is the name of three closely related languages of the Piman branch of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family both spoken in northern Mexico. The Tarahumara language is a Mexican indigenous language of the Uto-Aztecan language family spoken by around 70000 Tarahumara or Raramúri people in the state Guarijio (properly spelled Guarijío in Spanish also spelled Huarijío, Varihío, and Warihío) is an Uto-Aztecan language of the Tubar or Tubare, is an extinct language of Mexico that belonged to the Uto-Aztecan language family Cáhita is a group of North American Indians, belonging to the Piman family and numbering some 40000 Yaqui ( Yoem Noki) or Yoeme, is a Native American language of the Uto-Aztecan family Mayo is an Uto-Aztecan language It is spoken by about 40000 people the Mexican Mayo or Yoreme Indians who live in the South of the Mexican Òpata (Also Eudeve, Heve, Dohema) is the name of the Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Opata people of northern central Sonora The Cora language is an indigenous language of Mexico of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family. The Huichol language is an Indigenous language of Mexico, belonging to the Uto-Aztecan Language family. Proto-Nahuan is the hypothetical daughter language of the Proto-Uto-Aztecan language which is the common ancestor from which the modern Nahuan languages have developed Pochutec is an extinct Uto-Aztecan language of the Aztecan branch which was spoken in around the town of Pochutla on the pacific coast of Oaxaca The Uto Aztecan Nahuatl language can be grouped into two rough dialect continua, labelled the central and the peripheral dialects Pipil or Nawat is the language originally spoken by the Pipils of western El Salvador and still remembered by some of them mostly elderly Nahuatl ( is a group of related languages and dialects of the Aztecan or Nahuan branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family

^† = 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