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. There a number of varying opinions concerning its validity.

History of Proposals

Origin of the 5 core families

The original hypothesis of Penutian consisting of 5 language families was suggested by Roland B. Dixon and Alfred L. Kroeber in 1903 and published in 1913. Evidence for this proposal was published in 1919. This proposal, what has been called alternately Core Penutian, California Penutian, or the Penutian Kernel, is listed below.

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• Maiduan languages
• Miwokan languages
• Costanoan languages
• Wintuan languages
• Yokutsan languages

The grouping, like many of Dixon & Kroeber's other phylum proposals, was based mostly on shared typological characteristics and not the standard methods used to determine genetic relationships. Starting from this early date, the Penutian hypothesis was controversial.

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In 1910, Kroeber suggested a relationship between the Miwokan and Costanoan languages. Previously, in as early as 1877 Albert S. Gatschet grouped Miwokan and Costanoan into a Mutsun group. This grouping, now termed Utian, was later conclusively demonstrated by Catherine Callaghan.

Related Topics:
Miwokan - Costanoan

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• Maiduan languages
• Utian languages (a.k.a. Miwok-Costanoan, Mutsun)
• Wintuan languages
• Yokutsan languages

Sapir's expansion

In 1916 Edward Sapir expanded Dixon and Kroeber's California Penutian family with a sister stock, Oregon Penutian which included the Coosan languages and also the isolates, Siuslaw and Takelma:

Related Topics:
Edward Sapir - Oregon Penutian - Isolates

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:* California Penutian

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:** Maiduan languages

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:** Utian languages  (a.k.a. Miwok-Costanoan)

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:** Wintuan languages

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:** Yokutsan languages

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:* Oregon Penutian

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:** Coosan languages

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:** Siuslaw

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:** Takelma

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Later Sapir and Leo Frachtenberg added Kalapuyan and Chinookan languages and then later the Alsean and Tsimshianic languages, culminating in Sapir's 1921 four-branch classification:

Related Topics:
Kalapuyan - Chinookan - Alsean - Tsimshianic

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: I. California Penutian family

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::# Maiduan   (Maidu)

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::# Utian   (Miwok-Costanoan)

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::# Wintuan   (Wintu)

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::# Yokutsan   (Yokuts)

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: II. Oregon Penutian family

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::# Coosan   (Coos)

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::# Siuslaw

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::# Takelma

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::# Kalapuyan   (Kalapuya)

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::# Alsean   (Yakonan)

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: III. Chinookan languages   (Chinook)

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: IV. Tsimshianic languages   (Tsimshian)

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By the time Sapir's 1929 Encyclopædia Britannica article was published, he had added two more branches:

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:* Plateau Penutian family

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:** Klamath-Modoc   (Lutuami)

Related Topics:
Klamath - Modoc

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:** Waiilatpuan

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:*** Cayuse

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:*** Molala

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:** Sahaptian   (Sahaptin)

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:* Mexican Penutian family

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:** Mixe-Zoque languages

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:** Huave

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resulting in a six-branch family:

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• California Penutian
• Oregon Penutian
• Chinookan
• Tsimshianic
• Plateau Penutian
• Mexican Penutian

(Sapir's full 1929 classification scheme including the Penutian proposal can be seen here: .)

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Further expansions

Other linguists have suggested other languages be included within the Penutian grouping.

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• Macro-Penutian (Whorf)
• Greenberg