Amerind languages - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Amerind is a higher-level language family

Macrofamily

In historical linguistics, a macro-family, also called a superfamily or phylum, is defined as a proposed genetic relationship grouping together language families in a larger scale clasification.However, Campbell regards this term as superfluous, preferring language family for those clasifications...

proposed by Joseph Greenberg

Joseph Greenberg

Joseph Harold Greenberg was a prominent and controversial American linguist, principally known for his work in two areas, linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages.- Early life and career :...

in 1960. Greenberg proposed that all of the indigenous languages of the Americas

Indigenous languages of the Americas

Indigenous languages of the Americas are spoken by indigenous peoples from Alaska and Greenland to the southern tip of South America, encompassing the land masses which constitute the Americas. These indigenous languages consist of dozens of distinct language families as well as many language...

belong to one of three language families, the previously established Eskimo–Aleut and Na–Dene

Na-Dené languages

Na-Dene is a Native American language family which includes at least the Athabaskan languages, Eyak, and Tlingit languages. An inclusion of Haida is controversial....

, and with everything else—almost universally believed to belong to dozens of independent families—as Amerind. Due to a large number of methodological flaws in the analysis he published 27 years later in his book Language in the Americas, the relationships he proposed between these languages have been roundly rejected by the large majority of historical linguists.

The term Amerind is also occasionally used to refer broadly to the various indigenous languages of the Americas

Indigenous languages of the Americas

without necessarily that they are a genealogical group. To avoid ambiguity, the term Amerindian is often used for the latter meaning.

Background

The idea that all the languages of the Americas are related goes back to the 19th century when early linguists such as Peter Stephen DuPonceau

Peter Stephen DuPonceau

Peter Stephen Du Ponceau or DuPonceau, born Pierre-Étienne Du Ponceau, was a French linguist, philosopher, and jurist...

and Wilhelm von Humboldt

Wilhelm von Humboldt

Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand Freiherr von Humboldt was a German philosopher, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of Humboldt Universität. He is especially remembered as a linguist who made important contributions to the philosophy of language and to the theory and practice...

noticed that the languages of the Americas seemed to be very different from the better known European languages, yet seemingly also quite similar to each other. When studies of American Indian languages began in earnest in the early 20th century linguists quickly realized that the indigenous languages were in fact not all that similar, but had a diversity much greater than among the languages of Europe. After a period of uncertainty about whether indigenous languages could be described and investigated by the methods applied to European languages the first linguists began the daunting task of trying to classify the languages of the Americas by using the comparative method

Historical linguistics

Historical linguistics is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:* to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages...

.

Among the most prolific and gifted linguists of his times was Edward Sapir

Edward Sapir

Edward Sapir was an American anthropologist-linguist, widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the early development of the discipline of linguistics....

, who was among the first to apply the comparative method to native American languages. However, contrary to current practice in historical linguistics Sapir also often relied on "hunches" and "gut feeling" when proposing new linguistic groupings. Some of these suggestions have been proven correct while others have not. Sapir entertained the idea that ultimately all languages of the Americas might turn out to be provably related and such a phenomenon as the apparent Pan-American tendency to have first person forms with a prefixed n- was suggestive for this line of thought.

Since Sapir's death in 1939 linguists have spent their time researching his proposals, and generally there have been two opposing camps in this endeavour: the so-called "lumpers" who are generally favorably inclined towards notions of genetic relationships, and the "splitters" who are generally critical of such proposals expecting successful family relations to be proven by the most rigorous standards of scholarship. Joseph Greenberg worked in the tradition of "lumpers" and following Sapir he accepted kinds of evidence that are not generally acceptable to those who hold that only the most rigorous application of the comparative method can yield reliable proof of genetic relationships between languages. In elaborating his classification of the Amerind languages Greenberg relied heavily on Sapir's early work on the North American languages and the highly impressionist classification of South American languages by Paul Rivet

Paul Rivet

Paul Rivet was a French ethnologist, who founded the Musée de l'Homme in 1937. He was also one of the founders of the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes, an antifascist organization created in the wake of the February 6, 1934 far right riots.Rivet proposed a theory according to...

Amerind pronouns

The main argument for the genetic unity of most native American languages is an observed pronominal pattern in many native American languages that have first person forms with n- and second person forms with m-. This pattern was first noted by Alfredo Trombetti in 1905. This pattern was also noted by Sapir which caused him to suggest that ultimately all native American languages would turn out to be related. In a personal letter to A. L. Kroeber he wrote (Sapir 1918):
The supposed "n/m – I/you" pattern among Native American languages has attracted attention even from those linguists who are normally critical of such proposals. Johanna Nichols

Johanna Nichols

Linguist Johanna Nichols is a professor emerita on active duty in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests include the Slavic languages, the linguistic prehistory of northern Eurasia, language typology, ancient linguistic...

has investigated the distribution of the languages that have the n/m contrast and found that they are mostly confined to the western coast of the Americas, and that similarly they exist in East Asia and Oceania. This caused her to suggest that they had spread through diffusion. This notion was rejected by Lyle Campbell who argued that in fact the n/m pattern was not statistically significant in either area compared to the rest of the world. Campbell also showed that several of the languages that had the contrast today had not had it historically and that largely the pattern was consistent with chance resemblances, especially when taking into consideration the statistic prevalence of nasal consonants in all the pronominal systems of the world.

Below is a selection of singular Amerind pronouns from various languages, each of which are from separate well-attested families.

Language Indigenous languages of the Americas Indigenous languages of the Americas are spoken by indigenous peoples from Alaska and Greenland to the southern tip of South America, encompassing the land masses which constitute the Americas. These indigenous languages consist of dozens of distinct language families as well as many language...	Family	I	you	he
Nahuatl	Uto-Aztecan Uto-Aztecan languages Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family consisting of over 30 languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the Western United States , through western, central and southern Mexico Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family...	no-	mo-	i-
Kiliwa Kiliwa language Kiliwa is a Yuman language spoken in Baja California, in the far northwest of Mexico, by the Kiliwa people. It may form part of the hypothetical Hokan linguistic phylum. Kiliwa is the southernmost representative of the family, and the one that is most distinct from the remaining Yuman languages,...	Yuman	ñap	may	ñipáa
Karok	(isolate)	na	'im	'um
Quechua	Quechuan	ñuqa	qam	pay
Aymara Aymara language Aymara is an Aymaran language spoken by the Aymara people of the Andes. It is one of only a handful of Native American languages with over three million speakers. Aymara, along with Quechua and Spanish, is an official language of Peru and Bolivia...	Aymaran Aymaran languages Aymaran is one of the two dominant language families of the central Andes, along with Quechuan....	naya	juma	jupa
Mapudungun	(isolate)	iñche	eymi	fey
Wichí	Matacoan Matacoan languages Matacoan is a language family of northern Argentina, western Paraguay, and southeastern Bolivia.-Family division:...	n’lham	am	lham
Yine Yine language Yine is a Maipurean language spoken in Brazil and Peru. Formerly referred to as Piro, it belongs to the Piro group which also includes Inapari, Kanamaré, and Apurinã. The name Mashco has sometimes been incorrectly applied to the Yine...	Maipurean	-no	pɨ-	wal'a
Hup Hup language The Hup language is one of the four Nadahup languages. It is spoken by the Hupda and Yohup, indigenous Amazonian peoples who live in Brazil and Colombia...	Makú	'ãh	'ám	tɨ́h
Muisca	Chibchan Chibchan languages The Chibchan languages make up a language family indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian area, which extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia and includes populations of these countries as well as Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama...	hycha	mue	asy
Toba	Guaicuruan Guaicuruan languages Guaicuruan is a language family spoken in northern Argentina, western Paraguay, and Brazil .-Family division:...	ayim	'am	-maji
Siona Siona language The Siona language is a Tukanoan language of Columbia and Ecuador.- Phonology :Vowels...	Tucanoan Tucanoan languages Tucanoan is a language family of Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru.-Family division:There are two dozen Tucanoan languages:Western TucanoanCorreguaje Tama *Macaguaje ...	yɨ'ɨ	mɨ̃'ɨ̃	p'ak'o
Chácobo Chácobo language Chácobo is a Panoan language spoken by about 550 of 860 ethnic tribal Chácobo people of the Beni department of northwest of Magdalena, Bolivia. Chácobo children are learning the language as a first language.-Numerals:-Pronouns:-Vocabulary:...	Panoan Panoan languages Panoan is a family of languages spoken in Peru, western Brazil, and Bolivia. It is a branch of the larger Pano–Tacanan family.-Family division:Panoan consists of some two dozen languages:...	ɨa	mi-a	ha-a
Tacana	Tacanan Tacanan languages Tacanan is a family of languages spoken in Bolivia, with Ese’ejja also spoken in Peru.-Family division:Ese’ejja Araona–TacanaAraona Cavineña–Tacana*Cavineña Tacana proper*Tacana **Reyesano...	yama	miada	toaweda
Selknam Ona language Ona , also known as Selk'nam , is a language that was once spoken by the Selknam people in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego in southernmost South America. there were 1-3 speakers left. 2000 estimates place it as "probably extinct."...	Chon Chon languages -External links:*Alain Fabre, 2005, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: CHON...	y-ah	m-ah	—
Yanomami	Yanomaman Yanomaman languages Yanomaman is a small language family of northwestern Brazil and southern Venezuela.-Language division:...	ya	wa	a

Classification

The 1960 proposal, in its outlines, was as follows:

Almosan–Keresiouan
Hokan
Penutian (incl. Macro-Mayan)
Aztec–Tanoan
Oto-Mangean
Tarascan
Macro-Chibchan
1. Chibchan
2. Paezan
Andean–Equatorial
1. Andean
2. Jivaroan
3. Macro-Tucanoan
4. Equatorial (with Macro-Arawakan and Tupian)
Ge–Pano–Carib
1. Macro-Ge
2. Macro-Panoan
3. Macro-Carib
4. Nambikwara
  Nambikwaran languages
  The Nambikwaran languages are a language family of half a dozen languages, all spoken in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil. They have traditionally been considered dialects of a single language, but at least three of them are mutually unintelligible...
5. Huarpe
6. Taruma
  Taruma language
  Taruma is a divergent language of northeastern Brazil that appears to be distantly related to Katembri. It was believed to be extinct, but Eithne Carlin discovered the last speakers, and is documenting the language....

This is the current state of Amerindian classification, as given in An Amerind Etymological Dictionary, by Joseph Greenberg and Merritt Ruhlen, Stanford University, 2007.

North–Central Amerind
1. Northern Amerind
  1. Almosan–Keresiouan
    1. Almosan
      1. Algic
        Algic languages
        The Algic languages are an indigenous language family of North America. Most Algic languages belong to the Algonquian family, dispersed over a broad area from the Rocky Mountains to Atlantic Canada...
      2. Kutenai
        Kutenai language
        The Kutenai language is named after and is spoken by some of the Kootenai Native American/First Nations people who are indigenous to the area of North America that is now Montana, Idaho, and British Columbia....
      3. Mosan
        
        Chimakuan
        Chimakuan languages
        The Chimakuan language family consists of two languages spoken in northwestern Washington, USA on the Olympic Peninsula. It is part of the Mosan sprachbund, and one of its languages is famous for having no nasal consonants...
        
        Salishan
        Salishan languages
        The Salishan languages are a group of languages of the Pacific Northwest...
        
        Wakashan
        Wakashan languages
        Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca....
    2. Keresiouan
      1. Caddoan
        Caddoan languages
        The Caddoan languages are a family of Native American languages. They are spoken by Native Americans in parts of the Great Plains of the central United States, from North Dakota south to Oklahoma.-Family division:...
      2. Iroquoian
        Iroquoian languages
        The Iroquoian languages are a First Nation and Native American language family.-Family division:*Ruttenber, Edward Manning. 1992 [1872]. History of the Indian tribes of Hudson's River. Hope Farm Press....
      3. Keresan
        Keresan languages
        Keresan , also Keres , is a group of seven related languages spoken by Keres Pueblo peoples in New Mexico, U.S.A.. Each is mutually intelligible with its closest neighbors...
      4. Siouan–Yuchi
        
        Siouan
        
        Yuchi
        Yuchi language
        The Yuchi language is the language of the Yuchi people living in the southeastern United States, including eastern Tennessee, western Carolinas, northern Georgia and Alabama, in the period of early European colonization. However, speakers of the Yuchi language were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma...
2. Penutian–Hokan
  1. Penutian
    Penutian languages
    Penutian is a proposed grouping of language families that includes many Native American languages of western North America, predominantly spoken at one time in Washington, Oregon, and California. The existence of a Penutian stock or phylum has been the subject of debate among specialists. Even the...
    1. Tsimshian
      Tsimshianic languages
      The Tsimshianic languages are a family of languages spoken in northwestern British Columbia and in southern Alaska on Annette Island and Ketchikan. About 2,170 people of the ethnic Tsimshian population in Canada still speak the Tsimshian languages; about 50 of the 1,300 Tsimshian people living in...
    2. Chinook
      Chinookan languages
      Chinookan is a small family of languages spoken in Oregon and Washington along the Columbia River by Chinook peoples.-Family division:Chinookan languages consists of three languages with multiple varieties. There is some dispute over classification, and there are two ISO 639-3 codes assigned: and...
    3. Oregon
      Oregon Penutian languages
      Oregon Penutian is a hypothetical language family in the Penutian language phylum comprising languages spoken at one time by several groups of Native Americans in present-day western Oregon and western Washington in the United States...
    4. Plateau
      Plateau Penutian languages
      -History:Plateau Penutian as originally proposed was one branch of the hypothetical Penutian phylum as proposed by Edward Sapir. The original proposal also included Cayuse ; however, this language has little documentation and that which is documented is inadequately recorded...
    5. California
      1. Maiduan
        Maiduan languages
        Maiduan is a small endangered language family of northeastern California.-Family division:The Maiduan consists of 4 languages:# Maidu # Chico † # Konkow # Nisenan...
      2. Miwok–Costanoan
        Utian languages
        Utian is a family of indigenous languages spoken in the central and north portion of California, United States. The Miwok and Ohlone peoples both spoke languages in the Utian linguistic group...
      3. Wintun
        Wintuan languages
        Wintuan is a family of languages spoken in the Sacramento Valley of central Northern California.All Wintuan languages are severely endangered.-Family division:...
      4. Yokutsan
        Yokutsan languages
        Yokutsan is an endangered language family spoken in the interior of Northern and Central California in and around the San Joaquin Valley by the Yokut people. The speakers of Yokutsan languages were severely affected by disease, missionaries, and the Gold Rush...
    6. Zuni
      Zuni language
      Zuni is a language of the Zuni people, indigenous to western New Mexico and eastern Arizona in the United States. It is spoken by around 9,500 people worldwide, especially in the vicinity of Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, and much smaller numbers in parts of Arizona.Unlike most indigenous languages in...
    7. Gulf
      Gulf languages
      Gulf is a proposed native North American language family composed of the Muskogean languages, along with four extinct language isolates: Natchez, Tunica, Atakapa, and Chitimacha....
      1. Atakapa
        Atakapa language
        Atakapa is an extinct language isolate native to southwestern Louisiana and nearby coastal eastern Texas. It was spoken by the Atakapa people .-Geographic variation:There were two varieties of Atakapa Atakapa is an extinct language isolate native to southwestern Louisiana and nearby coastal eastern...
      2. Chitimacha
        Chitimacha language
        The Chitimacha language is a language isolate historically spoken by the Chitimacha people of Louisiana, United States. It went extinct in 1940 with the death of the last fluent speaker, Delphine Ducloux....
      3. Muskogean
        Muskogean languages
        Muskogean is an indigenous language family of the Southeastern United States. Though there is an ongoing debate concerning their interrelationships, the Muskogean languages are generally divided into two branches, Eastern Muskogean and Western Muskogean...
      4. Natchez
        Natchez language
        Natchez was a language of Louisiana. Its two last fluent speakers, Watt Sam and Nancy Raven, died in the late 1930s. The Natchez nation is now working to revive it as a spoken language.-Classification:...
      5. Tunica
        Tunica language
        The Tunica language was a language isolate spoken in the Central and Lower Mississippi Valley by in the United States by Native American Tunica peoples. There are no known speakers of the Tunica language remaining.When the last known fluent speaker Sesostrie Youchigant died, the language became...
      6. Yukian
        
        Yuki
        Yuki language
        The Yuki language, also known as Yukian, Ukiah, Ukomno'm, was a language of California, spoken by the indigenous American Yuki people, formerly in the Eel River area, the Round Valley Reservation, northern California. It became extinct some time in the 20th century...
        
        Wappo
        Wappo language
        Wappo is an extinct language that was spoken in the Alexander Valley north of San Francisco by the Wappo Native Americans. The last fluent speaker, Laura Fish Somersal, died in 1990. Wappo's language death is attributed to the use of English in schools and economic situations such as the workplace...
    8. Mexican Penutian
      1. Huave
        Huave language
        Huave is a language isolate spoken by the indigenous Huave people on the Pacific coast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The language is spoken in four villages on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in the southeast of the state, by around 18,000 people...
      2. Mayan
        Mayan languages
        The Mayan languages form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million indigenous Maya, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras...
      3. Mixe–Zoque
      4. Totonac
        Totonacan languages
        The Totonacan languages are a family of closely related languages spoken by approximately 200,000 Totonac and Tepehua people in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo in Mexico...
  2. Hokan
    Hokan languages
    The Hokan language family is a hypothetical grouping of a dozen small language families spoken in California, Arizona and Mexico. In nearly a century since Edward Sapir first proposed the "Hokan" hypothesis, little additional evidence has been found that these families were related to each other...
    1. Northern Hokan
      1. Karok–Shasta
        
        Karok
        Karuk language
        Karuk or Karok is an endangered language of northwestern California. It is the traditional language of the Karuk people, most of whom now speak English....
        
        Chimariko
        Chimariko language
        Chimariko is an extinct language isolate formerly spoken in Trinity County in northwestern California by Chimariko peoples.-Genetic relations:...
        
        Shasta–Achomawi
        
        Shasta
        Shastan languages
        The Shastan family consisted of four languages, spoken in present-day northern California and southern Oregon.-Family division:# Konomihu # New River Shasta # Okwanuchu # Shasta ...
        
        Achomawi
        Palaihnihan languages
        -Family division:Palaihnihan is said to comprise:# Atsugewi # Achumawi -Genetic relations:The basis of this Palaihnihan grouping is weakened by poor quality of data...
      2. Yana
        Yana language
        Yana is an extinct language isolate formerly spoken in north-central California between the Feather and Pit rivers in what is now Shasta and Tehama counties....
      3. Pomoan
        Pomoan languages
        Pomoan is a family of endangered languages spoken in northern California by the Pomo people on the Pacific Coast. According to the 2000 census, there are 255 speakers of the languages...
    2. Washo
      Washo language
      The Washo language is an endangered Native American language isolate spoken by the Washo on the California–Nevada border in the drainages of the Truckee and Carson Rivers, especially around Lake Tahoe...
    3. Salinan–Chumash
      1. Salinan
        Salinan language
        Salinan was the indigenous language of the Salinan people of the central coast of California. It has been extinct since the death of the last speaker in 1958....
      2. Chumash
        Chumashan languages
        Chumashan is a family of languages that were spoken on the southern California coast by Native American Chumash people.From the Coastal plains and valleys of San Luis Obispo to Malibu), neighboring inland and Transverse Ranges valleys and canyons east to bordering the San Joaquin Valley; and on...
      3. Esselen
        Esselen language
        Esselen is a language isolate that was spoken by the Esselen Native Americans on the Central Coast of California, south of Monterey....
    4. Seri–Yuman
      1. Seri
        Seri language
        Seri is a language isolate spoken by the Seri people by between 716 and 900 people in two villages on the coast of Sonora, Mexico.-Classification:...
      2. Yuman
    5. Waicuri–Quinigua
      1. Waicuri
      2. Maratino
        Maratino language
        Maratino is a barely attested extinct language that was spoken in north-east Mexico, near Martín, Tamaulipas. Swanton, who called it 'Tamaulipeco', classified it as Uto-Aztecan based on a few obvious cognates, such as Maratino chiguat 'woman' ~ Nahuatl cihuātl 'woman' and peyot 'peyote' ~ Nahuatl...
      3. Quinigua
    6. Coahuiltecan
    7. Tequistlatec
    8. Subtiaba
    9. Jicaque
      Jicaque language
      Jicaque, also known as Tol, Tolupan, and Torupan, is a language spoken by some 300 Tolupan people in La Montaña del Flor, Honduras. In the 16th century it extended to cover much of western Yoro...
    10. Yurumangui
      Yurumanguí language
      Yurumanguí is an extinct language of Colombia. It is known to us only through a short list of words and phrases recorded by Father Christoval Romero and given by him to Captain Sebastián Lanchas de Estrada, who included them in the report of his travels of 1768...
3. Central Amerind
  1. Tanoan
  2. Uto-Aztekan
    Uto-Aztecan languages
    Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family consisting of over 30 languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the Western United States , through western, central and southern Mexico Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family...
  3. Oto-Manguean
    Oto-Manguean languages
    Oto-Manguean languages are a large family comprising several families of Native American languages. All of the Oto-Manguean languages that are now spoken are indigenous to Mexico, but the Manguean branch of the family, which is now extinct, was spoken as far south as Nicaragua and Costa Rica.The...
Southern Amerind
1. Andean–Chibchan–Paezan
  1. Chibchan–Paezan
    1. Macro-Chibchan
      Macro-Chibchan
      Macro-Chibchan is a proposal linking languages of Colombia and Nicaragua. These languages were once included in the Chibchan family itself, but were excluded pending further evidence as that family became well established...
      1. Cuitlatec
        Cuitlatec language
        Cuitlatec, or Cuitlateco, is an extinct language of Mexico, formerly spoken by an indigenous people also known as Cuitlatec.-Classification:...
      2. Lenca
        Lenca language
        The Lenca language is one of the indigenous Mesoamerican languages. At the time of the Spanish conquest of Central America in the early 16th century, it was spoken by the Lenca people in a region that incorporates northwestern and southwestern Honduras, and neighboring eastern El Salvador, east of...
      3. Chibchan
        Chibchan languages
        The Chibchan languages make up a language family indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian area, which extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia and includes populations of these countries as well as Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama...
      4. Paya
        Paya language
        Paya or Pech is a Chibchan language spoken in Honduras. According to Ethnologue there were only 990 speakers in 1993. It is also known as Seco or Bayano. Specifically, it is spoken near the...
      5. Tarascan
        P'urhépecha language
        P'urhépecha is a language isolate or small language family spoken by more than 100,000 P'urhépecha people in the highlands of the Mexican state of Michoacán...
      6. Yanomam
        Yanomaman languages
        Yanomaman is a small language family of northwestern Brazil and southern Venezuela.-Language division:...
      7. Yunca–Puruhan
        Chimuan languages
        Chimuan or Yuncan is a hypothetical small extinct language family of northern Peru and Ecuador .-Family division:Chimuan consisted of three attested languages:* Mochica * Cañar–Puruhá** Cañari ** Puruhá...
    2. Macro-Paezan
      1. Allentiac
      2. Atacama
      3. Betoi
        Betoi language
        Betoi or Betoi-Jirara is an extinct language of Venezuela, south of the Apure River near the modern border with Columbia. The names Betoi and Jirara are those of two of its peoples/dialects; the language proper has no known name. At contact, Betoi was a local lingua franca spoken between the...
      4. Chimu–Mochita
        Chimuan languages
        Chimuan or Yuncan is a hypothetical small extinct language family of northern Peru and Ecuador .-Family division:Chimuan consisted of three attested languages:* Mochica * Cañar–Puruhá** Cañari ** Puruhá...
      5. Itonama
        Itonama language
        Itonama is a moribund language isolate spoken in the Amazonian lowlands of north-eastern Bolivia. Greenberg’s classification of Itonama as Paezan, a sub-branch of Macro-Chibchan, remains unsupported and Itonama continues to be considered an isolate or unclassified language.-Vowels:Diphthongs:...
      6. Jirajara
        Jirajaran languages
        The Jirajaran languages are group of extinct languages once spoken in western Venezuela in the regions of Falcón and Lara. All of the Jirajaran languages appear to have become extinct in the early 20th Century.-Characteristics:...
      7. Mura
        Muran languages
        Muran is a small language family of Amazonas, Brazil.-Family division:Muran consists of 4 languages:# Mura †# Pirahã # Bohurá †# Yahahí †...
      8. Paezan
        Paezan languages
        Paezan may be any of several language-family proposals of Colombia and Ecuador named after the Paez language.-Proposed genealogical relations:...
      9. Timucua
        Timucua language
        Timucua is a language isolate formerly spoken in northern and central Florida and southern Georgia by the Timucua people. Timucua was the primary language used in the area at the time of Spanish arrival in Florida. Linguistic and archaeological studies suggest that it may have been spoken from...
      10. Warrao
        Warao language
        Warao is a language isolate of the indigenous Warao people. It is the native language spoken by approximately 18,000 people inhabiting the Orinoco River delta in northeastern Venezuela as well as small populations of speakers in western Guyana and Suriname.A connection to the extinct Timucua...
  2. Andean
    1. Aymara
      Aymara language
      Aymara is an Aymaran language spoken by the Aymara people of the Andes. It is one of only a handful of Native American languages with over three million speakers. Aymara, along with Quechua and Spanish, is an official language of Peru and Bolivia...
    2. Itucale–Sabela
      1. Itucale
      2. Mayna
      3. Sabela
        Huaorani language
        The Huaorani language, commonly known as Sabela is a language isolate spoken by the Huaorani people, an indigenous group living in the Amazon Rainforest between the Napo and Curaray Rivers...
    3. Cahuapana–Zaparo
      1. Cahuapana
        Cahuapanan languages
        The Cahuapanan languages include two languages, Chayahuita and Jebero. They are spoken by more than 11,300 people in Peru. Chayahuita is spoken by most of that number, but Jebero is almost extinct....
      2. Zaparo
    4. Northern Andean
      1. Catacao
        Catacaoan languages
        The Catacaoan languages or Tallán languages are an extinct family of three languages spoken in the Piura Region of Peru. The three languages in the family are:*Catacao or Katakao, once spoken around the city of Catacaos...
      2. Cholona
        Hibito–Cholon languages
        The extinct Hibito–Cholón or Cholónan languages form a proposed language family that links two languages of Peru, Hibito and Cholón, extinct as of 2000...
      3. Culli
        Culle language
        Culle , also known as Ilinga , is a poorly attested extinct language of northern Peru. It is the original language of the regions of La Libertad, Cajabamba, and Pallasca...
      4. Leco
        Leco language
        Leco is a language isolate that, though long reported to be extinct, is spoken by 20–40 individuals in areas east of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia. The Leco ethnic population is about 80.-External links:...
      5. Sechura
        Sechura–Catacao languages
        Sechura–Catacao is a proposed connection between the small Catacaoan language family of Peru and the language isolate Sechura . Kaufman finds the connection convincing.-References:...
    5. Quechua
    6. Southern Andean
      Fuegian languages
      Fuegian languages refers to mainly to three languages spoken in Tierra del Fuego by native Americans; the Kawésqar language, the Ona language and the Yaghan language....
      1. Qawasqar
      2. Mapudungu
        Mapudungun
        The Mapuche language, Mapudungun is a language isolate spoken in south-central Chile and west central Argentina by the Mapuche people. It is also spelled Mapuzugun and sometimes called Mapudungu or Araucanian...
      3. Gennaken
        Puelche language
        Puelche is an extinct or nearly extinct language spoken by the Puelche people in the Pampas region of Argentina. The language is also known as Gününa Küne, Gennaken , Pehuenche, Northern Tehuelche, Gününa Yajich, Ranquelche, and Pampa, and may have five speakers, according to Ethnologue, if not it...
      4. Chon
      5. Yamana
        Yaghan language
        Yagán , also known as Yámana and Háusi Kúta, is one of the indigenous languages of Tierra del Fuego, spoken by the Yagán people...
2. Equatorial–Tucanoan
  1. Equatorial
    1. Macro-Arawakan
    2. Cayuvava
    3. Coche
    4. Jivaro–Kandoshi
      1. Cofán
        Cofán language
        The Cofán language is the language of the Cofán people, an indigenous group native to Napo Province northeast Ecuador and southern Colombia, between the Guamués River and the Aguarico River .Approximately 60% of Cofán speakers in Ecuador are literate in their...
      2. Esmeralda
        Esmeralda language
        Esmeralda or Esmeraldeño, also called Takame, Atacame) is an indigenous language once spoken in the Orinoco watershed of Venezuela. It is not well attested; it may be an isolate, or distantly related to the still-spoken Yaruro language....
      3. Jivaro
        Jivaroan languages
        Jivaroan is a small language family, or perhaps a language isolate, of northern Peru and eastern Ecuador.-Family division:Jivaroan consists of 4 languages:-Genetic relations:...
      4. Kandoshi
      5. Yaruro
        Yaruro language
        Yaruro is an indigenous language language spoken along the Orinoco, Sinaruco, Meta, and Apure rivers of Venezuela. It is not well classified; it may be an isolate, or distantly related to the extinct Esmeralda language....
    5. Kariri
      Kariri languages
      The Karirí languages, generally considered dialects of a single language, are extinct languages spoken until the middle of the 20th century; the 4,000 ethnic Karirí are now monolingual Portuguese speakers, though a few know common phrases and names of medicinal plants.The four known Kariri...
      
      –Tupi
      Tupian languages
      The Tupi or Tupian language family comprises some 70 languages spoken in South America, of which the best known are Tupi proper and Guarani.-History, members and classification:...
    6. Piaroa
      Piaroa language
      Piaroa is an indigenous language of Colombia and Venezuela, native to the Piaroa people.A Wirö language is sometimes listed separately, or left unclassified...
    7. Taruma
      Taruma language
      Taruma is a divergent language of northeastern Brazil that appears to be distantly related to Katembri. It was believed to be extinct, but Eithne Carlin discovered the last speakers, and is documenting the language....
    8. Timote
      Timotean languages
      The Timotean languages were spoken in the Venezuelan Andes around what is now Mérida. It is assumed that they are extinct. However, Timote may survive in the so-far unattested Mutú language, as this occupies a mountain village within the old Timote state.There is no apparent connection to the...
    9. Trumai
      Trumai language
      Trumai is an endangered language isolate of Brazil. Most Trumai are fluent in languages of wider communication, and children are not learning it well.-Grammar:Phonology...
    10. Tusha
      Tuxá language
      Tuxá was the eastern Brazilian language of the Tuxá people, who now speak Portuguese. The language ceased being spoken in the late 19th century, but in the 1960s a research team found two women that had been expelled from the Tuxa tribe in Bahia who knew some thirty words....
    11. Yuracaré
      Yuracaré language
      Yuracaré is an endangered language isolate of central Bolivia in Cochabamba and Beni departments spoken by the Yuracaré people....
    12. Zamuco
      Zamucoan languages
      Zamucoan is a small language family of Paraguay and Bolivia .The family has hardly been studied by linguists , although several studies have recently appeared .-Extant languages:Zamucoan consists of two living languages:*...
  2. Macro-Tucanoan
    1. Auixiri
      Abishira language
      Tequiraca , also known as Abishira *, is a language spoken in Peru. In 1925 there were between 50 and 80 speakers in Puerto Elvira on Lake Vacacocha...
    2. Canichana
      Tequiraca–Canichana languages
      Tequiraca–Canichana is a possibly language family proposed in Kaufman uniting two erstwhile language isolates, Canichana of Bolivia and Tequiraca of Peru, both of which are either extinct or nearly so....
    3. Capixana
    4. Catuquina
      Katukinan languages
      Katukinan is a language group consisting of three languages in Brazil.*Kanamarí*Katawixi*Katukína-References:*Alain Fabre, 2005, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: KATUKINA...
    5. Gamella
      Gamela language
      Gamela Curinsi or Acobu, is an unclassified and presumably extinct language of Brazil. Kaufman said that 'only Gr[eenberg] dares to classify this language', due to the lack of data on it....
    6. Huari
    7. Iranshe
    8. Kaliana–Maku
      Macro-Puinavean
      Macro-Puinavean is a hypothetical proposal linking some very poorly attested languages to the Nadahup family. The Puinave language is sometimes linked specifically with the Nadahup languages , as Puinave–Maku, and the Borowa language is sometimes connected to the Arutani–Sape languages in a...
    9. Koaia
      Kwaza language
      Kwaza is an endangered, unclassified language spoken by the Kwaza people of Brazil. there were only 25 known speakers living in close proximity with neighbouring speakers of the Aikanã and Nambikwaran languages, though over half of these were children.- Vowels :* All vowels, except , may be...
    10. Movima
      Movima language
      Movima is a language that is spoken by about 1400 of the Movima, a group of Native Americans that resides in Bolivia. It is considered a language isolate, as it has not been proven related to any other language.-Phonology:Movima has five vowels:...
    11. Muniche
      Munichi language
      Munichi is a recently extinct language which was spoken in the village of Munichis, about 10 miles or 16 km West of Yurimaguas, Loreto Region, Peru. The last known mother-tongue speaker, Victoria Huancho Icahuate, died in the late 1990s, though some people remain in the village who know a few...
    12. Nambikwara
      Nambikwara language
      The Nambikwara language is an indigenous language of Brazil, spoken by about 1200 Nambikwara people in the Mato Grosso state...
    13. Natu
      Natú language
      - References :* Nimuendajú, Curt: Lista comparativa com 19 itens Natu. Pasta nº. 6 del Archivo da Sala Lingüística del Departamento de Antropología del Museo Nacional, Río de Janeiro....
    14. Pankaruru
    15. Puinave
      Puinave language
      Puinave, Waipunavi or Wanse , is a poorly attested and generally unclassified language of South America.-Consonants:-Vowels:...
    16. Shukuru
    17. Ticuna–Yuri
    18. Tucanoan
      Tucanoan languages
      Tucanoan is a language family of Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru.-Family division:There are two dozen Tucanoan languages:*Western Tucanoan**Correguaje **Tama **Macaguaje ...
    19. Uman
3. Ge–Pano–Carib
  1. Macro-Carib
    1. Andoke
      Andoque language
      The Andoque language is an aboriginal language spoken by a few hundred Andoque in Northern South America, and is in decline.In 2000, there were 610 speakers in the area of the Anduche River, downstream from Aracuara, Amazonas, Colombia; 50 were monolinguals. The language is no longer spoken in...
    2. Bora–Uitoto
    3. Carib
    4. Kukura
    5. Yagua
  2. Macro-Panoan
    Macro-Panoan
    Macro-Panoan is a hypothetical proposal linking four language families of Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina that Kaufman says "seems promising". The Pano–Takanan connection is generally accepted. Kaufman also finds the Moseten–Chon connection fairly convincing. However, the deeper...
    1. Charruan
      Charruan languages
      The Charruan languages are an extinct group of languages once spoken in Uruguay and the Argentine province of Entre Ríos. Recently a semi-speaker of Chaná language has appeared...
    2. Lengua
      Mascoian languages
      The Mascoian languages are a small language family of Paraguay. They are part of the Mataco–Guaicuru proposal.The languages are:*Emok*Guana *Lengua...
    3. Lule–Vilela
      Lule–Vilela languages
      -External links:*Alain Fabre. 2005. Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos....
    4. Mataco–Guaicuru
    5. Moseten
    6. Pano–Tacanan
  3. Macro-Gê
    Macro-Gê languages
    Macro-Jê is a medium-sized language stock in South America centered around the Jê language family, with all other branches currently being single languages due to recent extinctions. The family was first proposed in 1926, and has undergone moderate modifications since then...
    1. Bororo
    2. Botocudo
      Krenak language
      The Krenak language, or Botocudo, is the moribund sole surviving language of a small family believed to be part of the Macro-Gê languages. It was once spoken by the Botocudo people in Mato Grosso, but is known primarily by older women today....
    3. Caraja
    4. Chiquito
    5. Erikbatsa
      Rikbaktsa language
      The Rikbaktsa language, also spelled Aripaktsa, Erikbatsa, Erikpatsa and known ambiguously as Canoeiro, is a language spoken by the Rikbaktsa people of the Mato Grosso, Brazil, that forms its own branch of the Macro-Gê languages....
    6. Fulnio
      Fulniô language
      Fulniô, or Yatê, is a language isolate of Brazil, and the only indigenous language remaining in the northeastern part of that country. The two dialects, Fulniô and Yatê, are very close...
    7. Ge–Kaingang
    8. Guató
      Guató language
      The Guató language, or , is a possible language isolate spoken by the about 10% Guató people of Brazil. Kaufman provisionally classifies it as a branch of the Macro-Gê languages, but no evidence for this was found by Eduardo Ribeiro.-Phonology:...
    9. Kamakan
      Kamakã languages
      The Kamakã languages are a small family of extinct Macro-Jê languages of Bahía near Brazil's Atlantic coast. The attested Kamakã languages are Kamakã, Mongoyó, Menién, Kotoxó, and Masakará.-References:...
    10. Mashakali
      Maxakalían languages
      The Maxakalían languages were first classified into the Gê languages. It was only in 1931 that Loukotka separated them from the Gê family. Alfred Métraux and Curt Nimuendaju Unkel considered the Maxakalían family isolated from others...
    11. Opaie
      Ofayé language
      The Ofayé or Opaye language, also Ofaié-Xavante, Opaié-Shavante, forms its own branch of the Macro-Gê languages. It is spoken by about a quarter of the small Ofayé people, though language revitalization efforts are underway....
    12. Oti
      Oti language
      The Oti language, also known as Chavante or Euchavante, is an extinct language isolate once spoken by the Oti people near São Paulo, Brazil....
    13. Puri
      Purian languages
      Purian is a pair of extinct languages of eastern Brazil:Coropó was spoken in Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. Purí was spoken in Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais.Purian is part of the Macro-Jê proposal.-Bibliography:...
    14. Yabuti
      Yabutian languages
      The Yabutian or Jabutian languages are two similar moribund languages of Brazil. They are members of the Macro-Je language family.-References:*Ribeiro, Eduardo & Hein van der Voort. 2008...

Reception

The Amerind hypothesis has been generally rejected as unfounded in scientific method by historical linguists, especially by those specializing in the languages of the Americas, particularly because the basis for the proposal is mass comparison, but also because of many other methodological flaws made by Greenberg in the elaboration of the hypothesis. Critics regard this technique as fundamentally flawed, unable to distinguish chance resemblances from those due to a historical relationship among the languages and providing no means of distinguishing resemblances due to common descent from those due to language contact

Language contact

Language contact occurs when two or more languages or varieties interact. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics.Multilingualism has likely been common throughout much of human history, and today most people in the world are multilingual...

. Many historical and/or Americanist linguists do not believe that it is possible to find relationships or make linguistic reconstructions as far back in time as the Amerind hypothesis would require.

In addition, critics have pointed out errors in the citation of data, including erroneous forms, erroneous glosses, unjustified morphological segmentation, attribution to the wrong language, and citation of entirely spurious forms.

A further criticism is that, contrary to normal scholarly practice, no source references are given for the data, which in most cases come from languages for which there is no standard, authoritative source. In addition, Greenberg does not normalize the spelling of the data, so it is impossible without knowing the source of each form to know what the notation actually represents.

While sympathetic to the idea of an Amerind language family, Morris Swadesh was critical of many of Greenberg's subdivisions and believed it was due to an insufficient number of comparisons by Greenberg.http://www.jstor.org/stable/2739615

Certain groups of linguists working with mass lexical comparison

Mass lexical comparison

Mass comparison is a method developed by Joseph Greenberg to determine the level of genetic relatedness between languages. It is now usually called multilateral comparison...

and long-range genetic relationships have continued to defend Greenberg's hypothesis. The most vociferous of these is Merritt Ruhlen

Merritt Ruhlen

Merritt Ruhlen is an American linguist known for his work on the classification of languages and what this reveals about the origin and evolution of modern humans. Amongst other linguists, Ruhlen's work is recognized as standing outside the mainstream of comparative-historical linguistics...

who has tried to amass more evidence for the hypothesis.
He thus also objects to the notion that there are over 200 families among which there is no evidence of genetic affinity. He suggests that there is evidence for a three-way i / u / a (i.e. masculine / feminine / neutral) ablaut in such forms as t'ina / t'una / t'ana ("son / daughter / child").

More recently it has been suggested that the Almosan languages represent a separate group to the other Amerind languages and a relationship with the Nivkh language

Nivkh language

Nivkh or Gilyak is a language spoken in Outer Manchuria, in the basin of the Amgun , along the lower reaches of the Amur itself, and on the northern half of Sakhalin. 'Gilyak' is the Manchu appellation...

and the substratum of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages

Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages

The Chukotko-Kamchatkan or Chukchi–Kamchatkan languages are a language family of extreme northeastern Siberia. Its speakers are indigenous hunter-gatherers and reindeer-herders....

in a Beringian language group has been suggested. http://www.nostratic.ru/books/(316)gell-starostin-jlr1.pdf Another suggestion would link the Almosan languages with Dene–Caucasian. However, migrations occurred both ways across the Bering Strait and it is less clear which direction these languages migrated if related.

Some recent research would suggest that many of the languages of the Americas are related, but not all of them. Languages that seem to be unrelated to the Amerind languages (and perhaps therefore predate them) include the Gulf languages

Gulf languages

Gulf is a proposed native North American language family composed of the Muskogean languages, along with four extinct language isolates: Natchez, Tunica, Atakapa, and Chitimacha....

, the Keresan languages

Keresan languages

Keresan , also Keres , is a group of seven related languages spoken by Keres Pueblo peoples in New Mexico, U.S.A.. Each is mutually intelligible with its closest neighbors...

, the Siouan languages

Macro-Siouan languages

The Macro-Siouan languages are a proposed language family that would include the Siouan, Iroquoian, and Caddoan families. Most linguists remain unconvinced that these languages share a genetic relationship, and the existence of a Macro-Siouan language family remains a subject of debate.In the 19th...

and the Otomanguean languageshttp://www.nostratic.ru/books/(316)gell-starostin-jlr1.pdf. However, Kaufman has proposed a relationship between Otomanguean and Hokan http://email.eva.mpg.de/~wichmann/Wichmann2003.pdf and all these languages were considered related to Hokan by Swadesh http://books.google.com/books?id=IYQkVkdsKXgC&pg=PA114&lpg=PA114&dq=macro-quechua+swadesh&source=bl&ots=2fOoSr52ja&sig=fQvPv1D9lW7LU2zDQLj5bdQ2LYg&hl=en&ei=eGuGS6iiLYyM0gSG0uHTCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CCkQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=&f=false and Sapir.

It has also been suggested that the Fuegian languages

Fuegian languages

Fuegian languages refers to mainly to three languages spoken in Tierra del Fuego by native Americans; the Kawésqar language, the Ona language and the Yaghan language....

of Southern South America represent remnants of earlier languages http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter54/text-Fuego/Languages/text-Fuegianlanguages.htm. Nevertheless the Chon languages

Chon languages

-External links:*Alain Fabre, 2005, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: CHON...

have been suggested to be Macro-Panoan languages

Macro-Panoan

Macro-Panoan is a hypothetical proposal linking four language families of Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina that Kaufman says "seems promising". The Pano–Takanan connection is generally accepted. Kaufman also finds the Moseten–Chon connection fairly convincing. However, the deeper...

and if this turns out to be justified this would leave just the Kawesqar language

Kawésqar language

Kawésqar is an Alacalufan language spoken in southern Chile by the Kawésqar people. Originally there were several distinct dialects...

, the Yaghan language

Yaghan language

Yagán , also known as Yámana and Háusi Kúta, is one of the indigenous languages of Tierra del Fuego, spoken by the Yagán people...

and the extinct Chono language with no proven connections either to languages outside the region or even to each other.

External links

Google.books: Greenberg, Joseph. 'Language in the Americas'. 1987. ISBN 0-8047-1315-4
The home page of Merritt Ruhlen, one of the advocates of the Amerind hypothesis.

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Background

Amerind pronouns

Classification

Reception

See also

External links