Karankawa is the extinct, unclassified language of the Texas coast, where the

Karankawa people The Karankawa were an Indigenous people concentrated in southern Texas along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, largely in the lower Colorado River and Brazos River valleys."Karankawa." In ''Cassell's Peoples, Nations and Cultures,'' edited by John ...

migrated between the mainland and the

barrier islands Barrier islands are a coastal landform, a type of dune system and sand island, where an area of sand has been formed by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a few is ...

. It was not closely related to other known languages in the area, many of which are also poorly attested, and may have been a

language isolate A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...

. A couple hundred words are preserved, collected in 1698, 1720, and 1828; in the 1880s, three lists were collected from non-Karankawa who knew some words. Karankawa has sometimes been included with neighboring languages in a

Coahuiltecan The Coahuiltecan were various small, autonomous bands of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native Americans who inhabited the Rio Grande valley in what is now northeastern Mexico and southern Texas. The various Coahuiltecan groups were hunter ga ...

family, but that is now thought to be spurious.

Phonology

There were also possible lateral affricate sounds ɬ, dɮwhich were represented as .

Vocabulary

Though only a few hundred words of the Karankawa language are preserved, the following are selected words recorded by Albert Gatschet, a late Victorian anthropologist and linguist, referenced from the last fluent speakers of the language. * ''Nāt’sa'' "one", counted on the right pinky * ''Haikia'' "two" or "second", counted on the right ring finger * ''Kaxayi'' "three", counted on the right middle finger * ''Hayo hak(ě)n'' "four", or "fourth", counted on the right index finger * ''Do-aḍ'' "Four", or "fourth", literally "deer", counted on the right index finger * ''Nāt’sa Behema'', "five" or "fifth", literally "First Father", counted on the right thumb * ''Hayo Haikia'', "Six" or "Sixth", literally "Three two", counted on the left pinky * ''Haikia Nāt’sa'', "Seven" or "Seventh", literally "Second one", counted on left ring finger * ''Haikia Behema'', "Eight" or "Eighth", literally "Second father", counted on left middle finger * ''Haikia Do-aḍ'', "Nine" or "Ninth", literally "Second deer", counted on the left index finger * ''(Do-aḍ) Habe'' "Ten" or "Tenth", literally "Ten(th deer)", counted on the left thumb * ''Kaup(ě)n'' "Speak" * ''Yamawe'' "Man" * ''Glo-essen''/''Glos(ě)n'' "Boy" * ''Kaninma'' "Woman" or "Mother" * ''Ka'da'' "Girl" * ''Glle-i'' "Water" * ''Ahayika'' "Friend" * ''Dōwal'' "Sun" * ''Kiss'' "Dog" * ''Peka'' "White" * ''Pal''/''Ma'' "Black" * ''Aknamus'' "Eat" * ''Tcha'' "See" * ''Ye'' "Go" or "Walk"

Swanton (1940)

The following vocabulary list of Karankawa is from John Swanton (1940).Swanton, John. 1940. ''Linguistic material from the tribes of southern Texas and northern Mexico.'' :

References

{{North American languages Extinct languages of North America Indigenous languages of the North American Plains Indigenous languages of Texas Coahuiltecan languages Language isolates of North America