Yok-Utian is a proposed
language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in h ...
of
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. It consists of the
Yokuts language and the
Utian language family.
While connections between Yokuts and Utian languages were noticed through attempts to
reconstruct their
proto-language
In the tree model of historical linguistics, a proto-language is a postulated ancestral language from which a number of attested languages are believed to have descended by evolution, forming a language family. Proto-languages are usually unattes ...
s in 1986,
[Whistler, Kenneth & Golla, Victor. (1986)]
Proto-Yokuts Reconsidered.
''International Journal of American Linguistics, 52'', 317-358. it was not until 1991 that Yok-Utian was proposed and named by
Geoffrey Gamble
Geoffrey Gamble (born 1942) is an American linguist who served from 2000 to 2009 as the 11th president of Montana State University.
Early life
Gamble was born in 1942 and raised on a farm near Fresno, California. .
[Golla, Victor. (2011). ''California Indian Languages''. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London. 130, 147-168, 252-253. .][Callaghan, Catherine. (1997)]
Evidence for Yok-Utian.
''International Journal of American Linguistics, 63,'' 18-64. Yok-Utian has been further supported by
Catherine Callaghan, who has argued for the family's existence on the basis of lexical, morphological, and phonological similarities between the reconstructed proto-languages.
[Callaghan, Catherine. (2001)]
More Evidence for Yok-Utian: A Reanalysis of the Dixon and Kroeber sets.
''International Journal of American Linguistics, 67 ''(3), 313-346. However, she and others have noted that while it is compelling, the evidence presented is not conclusive.
According to the proposal, the Yok-Utian proto-language was spoken by a group originating in the Great Basin at least as early as 4500 BC. There was a division around 2500 BC, as the group which began speaking Proto-Utian migrated from the
Great Basin into California. Proto-Miwok began to emerge in the northern
Bay Area between 1000 and 500 BC, and began to spread west and south. Proto-Costanoan emerged in the eastern Bay Area, splitting from the larger Utian group sometime after 1500 BC, if not earlier. The language that remained in the Great Basin turned into proto-Yokuts before gradually splitting into the various Yokuts dialects and only later began to migrate into California.
However, Scott DeLancey and Victor Golla have proposed that the language distribution could be the result of a single migration of Yok-Utian speakers who later spread out throughout California.
[DeLancey, Scott & Golla, Victor. (1997)]
The Penutian Hypothesis: Retrospect and Prospect.
''International Journal of American Linguistics'', 63, 171-202.
One component of the evidence offered for Yok-Utian is that of sound correspondences in the reconstructed proto-languages for Yokuts and the Utian family, such as the sample below.
However, while the reconstructed correspondences can be compelling, they are not conclusive.
As the speakers of the Yokuts and Utian languages were in contact with one another for hundreds or thousands of years, it is entirely possible that the sound correspondences are the result of borrowing, rather than a common linguistic ancestor.
While Yok-Utian can be included in the larger
Penutian proposal, the Yok-Utian proposal does not directly support Penutian.
References
External links
Native Tribes, Groups, Language Families and Dialects of California in 1770(map after Kroeber)
{{North American languages
Penutian languages
Indigenous languages of California
Proposed language families