The Cupan languages is a branch of the

Uto-Aztecan language family Uto-Aztecan, Uto-Aztekan or (rarely in English) Uto-Nahuatl is a family of indigenous languages of the Americas, consisting of over thirty languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico. The na ...

that comprises

Cupeño The Cupeño (or Kuupangaxwichem) are a Native American tribe of Southern California. They traditionally lived about inland and north of the modern day Mexico–United States border in the Peninsular Range of Southern California. Today their ...

Ivilyuat Cahuilla , or Ivilyuat (''ʔívil̃uʔat'' or ''Ivil̃uɂat'' ), is an endangered Uto-Aztecan language, spoken by the various tribes of the Cahuilla Nation, living in the Coachella Valley, San Gorgonio Pass and San Jacinto Mountains region of s ...

(Cahuilla), Luiseño-Juaneño, and perhaps

Nicoleño The Nicoleño were an Uto-Aztecan people who lived on San Nicolas Island in California. Its population was "left devastated by a massacre in 1811 by sea otter hunters". Its last surviving member was given the name Juana Maria, who was born befor ...

, all historically spoken in

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. The branch had long been considered to be part of the Takic subgroup, but there is doubt about the validity of Takic as a genetic unit, the similarities between the languages classed as Takic possibly being due primarily to borrowing.

Languages and dialects

* Luiseño-Juaneño language ** Luiseño

dialect cluster A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...

** Juaneño dialect † * Ivilyuat (also known as Cahuilla) ** Mountain Cahuilla dialect ** Pass Cahuilla dialect (also known as Wanikik) † ** Desert Cahuilla dialect * Cupeño † ** Cupa dialect † ** Wilaqalpa dialect † ** Paluqla dialect † ''(†)'' –

Extinct language An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers, especially if the language has no living descendants. In contrast, a dead language is one that is no longer the native language of any community, even if it is still in use, li ...

References

{{reflist Northern Uto-Aztecan languages Indigenous languages of California