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Palaihnihan Languages
Information about the Palaihnihan languages
Where are the Palaihnihan languages spoken?
These languages are spoken by indigenous peoples of North America in the northern part of the State of California, in the United States.
Who speaks these languages?
The speakers of Palaihnihan languages are members of the North American Achumawi “First Nations” who already inhabited the region long before Europeans arrived and before the creation of the United States.
Total number of speakers (estimated):
Less than 10 according to UNESCO (not all speakers are fluent and all are very old as of 2000)
Classification
The Palaihnihan language family currently has only one living language.
Achumawi (alternate names: Achomawi; Pit River): Dialec Cluster
Atsugewi: extinct
Comments on the classification of Palaihnihan languages:
The term “Hokan” describes a hypothetical set of language families that would include the Palaihnihan languages, but also Yuman-Cochimis languages and some isolated languages of the western United States (primarily from California and north-western Mexico). The lack of data on many of these languages makes the exact delineation of this proposed family difficult to establish. Mithun (1999) notes that the “Hokan” group is “not yet considered to be a valid language family” (p 304). We follow Mithun’s classification here, and therefore present the Palaihnihan language family independently.
Are Palaihnihan languages in danger?
Yes, but the lack of data on these languages makes it difficult to estimate the actual strength of this family of languages. Atsugewi is, according to UNESCO, an extinct language (the site ethnologue.com listed three very elderly speakers in 1994). The Achumawi language has a dozen speakers, but most of them do not speak fluently and there would today be no or very few native speakers remaining. It is likely that Palaihnihan languages will disappear in the coming years if they are not already extinct.
Sources:
Mithun, Marianne The languages of Native North America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (1999).
Campbell, Lyle. American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (1997)
Site devoted to American Indian languages:
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