The Pakawan languages were a small language family spoken in what is today northern Mexico and southern Texas. All Pakawan languages are today extinct.
Classification
Five clear Pakawan languages are attested:
Coahuilteco
Coahuilteco was one of the Pakawan languages that was spoken in southern Texas (United States) and northeastern Coahuila (Mexico). It is now extinct.
Classification
Coahuilteco was grouped in an eponymous Coahuiltecan family by John Wesley Po ...
,
Cotoname
Cotoname was a Pakawan language spoken by Native Americans indigenous to the lower Rio Grande Valley of northeastern Mexico and extreme southern Texas (United States). Today it is extinct.
Vocabulary
The following vocabulary list of Cotoname ...
,
Comecrudo,
Garza and
Mamulique. The first three were first proposed to be related by
John Wesley Powell
John Wesley Powell (March 24, 1834 – September 23, 1902) was an American geologist, U.S. Army soldier, explorer of the American West, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions. He ...
in 1891, in a grouping then called Coahuiltecan. Goddard (1979) groups the latter three in a
Comecrudan family while considering the others
language isolates. The current composition and the present name "Pakawan" are due to Manaster Ramer (1996).
The term
Coahuiltecan languages today refers to a slightly expanded and less securely established grouping. Most Pakawan languages have at times been included also in the much larger and highly hypothetical
Hokan
The Hokan language family is a hypothetical grouping of a dozen small language families that were spoken mainly in California, Arizona and Baja California.
Etymology
The name ''Hokan'' is loosely based on the word for "two" in the various Hokan ...
"stock".
Common vocabulary
The following word comparisons are given by Manaster Ramer (1996):
The following
sound changes and
correspondences
Correspondence may refer to:
*In general usage, non-concurrent, remote communication between people, including letters, email, newsgroups, Internet forums, blogs.
Science
* Correspondence principle (physics): quantum physics theories must agree ...
should be noted:
* Vocalization of word-final *l in Cotoname: 'sun', 'straw', red'
* Lenition of *p to /xw/ in Coahuilteco between vowels: #apel', #mapi
* Syncope of
* Apocope of final ''e'' (perhaps ) in Comecrudo: 'man', 'low
ater Ater (Hebrew אֲתַר) is an Old Testament male name.
#A descendant of Hezekiah, who returned from Babylon ;
#An Israelite, who subscribed to Nehemiah
Nehemiah is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in r ...
, 'to kneel'.
* /k/, /kw/ in other languages correspond to /x/, /xw/ in Cotoname, when before /a/ ('man', 'low
ater Ater (Hebrew אֲתַר) is an Old Testament male name.
#A descendant of Hezekiah, who returned from Babylon ;
#An Israelite, who subscribed to Nehemiah
Nehemiah is the central figure of the Book of Nehemiah, which describes his work in r ...
, 'to eat', 'to suck', 'to write'), as well as in Coahuilteco, when before any low vowel (__examples).
* /kiV/ in Comecrudo corresponds to /kuV/ in Coahuilteco: 'blood', 'to go'
* ''s ~ l'' (perhaps indicating a lateral fricative ) in Comecrudo corresponds to ''s'' in Coahuilteco: Comecrudo 'blood', 'devil', 'to fall'.
* Initial ''y'' in Comecrudo corresponds to /ts/ in Coahuilteco: ''I'', ''chest'', ''to hear''
References
Further reading
* Manaster Ramer, Alexis. 1996. Sapir's Classifications: Coahuiltecan. ''Anthropological Linguistics'' ''38/1'', 1–38.
* Sapir, Edward. 1920. The Hokan and Coahuiltecan languages. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''1'' (4), 280-290.
* Swanton, John R. (1915). Linguistic position of the tribes of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. ''American Anthropologist'', ''17'', 17–40.
{{North American languages
Coahuiltecan languages
Proposed language families
Indigenous languages of Mexico
Indigenous languages of the Southwestern United States
Indigenous languages of the North American Southwest