John Wesley Powell - Indian Linguistic Families Of America, North Of Mexico

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V. Family names shall be distinguished as such by the termination
"an" or "ian."

VI. No name shall be accepted for a linguistic family unless used to
designate a tribe or group of tribes as a linguistic stock.

VII. No family name shall be accepted unless there is given the
habitat of tribe or tribes to which it is applied.

VIII. The original orthography of a name shall be rigidly preserved
except as provided for in rule III, and unless a typographical error
is evident.

The terms "family" and "stock" are here applied interchangeably to a
group of languages that are supposed to be cognate.

A single language is called a stock or family when it is not found to be
cognate with any other language. Languages are said to be cognate when
such relations between them are found that they are supposed to have
descended from a common ancestral speech. The evidence of cognation is
derived exclusively from the vocabulary. Grammatic similarities are not
supposed to furnish evidence of cognation, but to be phenomena, in part
relating to stage of culture and in part adventitious. It must be
remembered that extreme peculiarities of grammar, like the vocal
mutations of the Hebrew or the monosyllabic separation of the Chinese,
have not been discovered among Indian tongues. It therefore becomes
necessary in the classification of Indian languages into families to
neglect grammatic structure, and to consider lexical elements only. But
this statement must be clearly understood. It is postulated that in the
growth of languages new words are formed by combination, and that these
new words change by attrition to secure economy of utterance, and also
by assimilation (analogy) for economy of thought. In the comparison of
languages for the purposes of systematic philology it often becomes
necessary to dismember compounded words for the purpose of comparing the
more primitive forms thus obtained. The paradigmatic words considered in
grammatic treatises may often be the very words which should be
dissected to discover in their elements primary affinities. But the
comparison is still lexic, not grammatic.

A lexic comparison is between vocal elements; a grammatic comparison is
between grammatic methods, such, for example, as gender systems. The
classes into which things are relegated by distinction of gender may be
animate and inanimate, and the animate may subsequently be divided into
male and female, and these two classes may ultimately absorb, in part at
least, inanimate things. The growth of a system of genders may take
another course. The animate and inanimate may be subdivided into the
standing, the sitting, and the lying, or into the moving, the erect and
the reclined; or, still further, the superposed classification may be
based upon the supposed constitution of things, as the fleshy, the
woody, the rocky, the earthy, the watery. Thus the number of genders may
increase, while further on in the history of a language the genders may
decrease so as almost to disappear. All of these characteristics are in
part adventitious, but to a large extent the gender is a phenomenon of
growth, indicating the stage to which the language has attained. A
proper case system may not have been established in a language by the
fixing of case particles, or, having been established, it may change by
the increase or diminution of the number of cases. A tense system also
has a beginning, a growth, and a decadence. A mode system is variable in
the various stages of the history of a language. In like manner a
pronominal system undergoes changes. Particles may be prefixed, infixed,
or affixed in compounded words, and which one of these methods will
finally prevail can be determined only in the later stage of growth. All
of these things are held to belong to the grammar of a language and to
be grammatic methods, distinct from lexical elements.

With terms thus defined, languages are supposed to be cognate when
fundamental similarities are discovered in their lexical elements. When
the members of a family of languages are to be classed in subdivisions
and the history of such languages investigated, grammatic
characteristics become of primary importance. The words of a language
change by the methods described, but the fundamental elements or roots
are more enduring. Grammatic methods also change, perhaps even more
rapidly than words, and the changes may go on to such an extent that
primitive methods are entirely lost, there being no radical grammatic
elements to be preserved. Grammatic structure is but a phase or accident
of growth, and not a primordial element of language. The roots of a
language are its most permanent characteristics, and while the words
which are formed from them may change so as to obscure their elements or
in some cases even to lose them, it seems that they are never lost from
all, but can be recovered in large part. The grammatic structure or plan
of a language is forever changing, and in this respect the language may
become entirely transformed.

* * * * *

LITERATURE RELATING TO THE CLASSIFICATION

OF INDIAN LANGUAGES.

While the literature relating to the languages of North America is very
extensive, that which relates to their classification is much less
extensive. For the benefit of future students in this line it is thought
best to present a concise account of such literature, or at least so
much as has been consulted in the preparation of this paper.

1836. Gallatin (Albert).

A synopsis of the Indian tribes within the United States east of the
Rocky Mountains, and in the British and Russian possessions in North
America. In Transactions and Collections of the American Antiquarian
Society (Archaeologia Americana) Cambridge, 1836, vol. 2.

The larger part of the volume consists of Gallatin's paper. A short
chapter is devoted to general observations, including certain historical
data, and the remainder to the discussion of linguistic material and the
affinities of the various tribes mentioned. Vocabularies of many of the
families are appended. Twenty-eight linguistic divisions are recognized
in the general table of the tribes. Some of these divisions are purely
geographic, such as the tribes of Salmon River, Queen Charlotte's
Island, etc. Vocabularies from these localities were at hand, but of
their linguistic relations the author was not sufficiently assured. Most
of the linguistic families recognized by Gallatin were defined with much
precision. Not all of his conclusions are to be accepted in the presence
of the data now at hand, but usually they were sound, as is attested by
the fact that they have constituted the basis for much classificatory
work since his time.

The primary, or at least the ostensible, purpose of the colored map
which accompanies Gallatin's paper was, as indicated by its title, to
show the distribution of the tribes, and accordingly their names appear
upon it, and not the names of the linguistic families. Nevertheless, it
is practically a map of the linguistic families as determined by the
author, and it is believed to be the first attempted for the area
represented. Only eleven of the twenty-eight families named in this
table appear, and these represent the families with which he was best
acquainted. As was to be expected from the early period at which the map
was constructed, much of the western part of the United States was left
uncolored. Altogether the map illustrates well the state of knowledge of
the time.

1840. Bancroft (George).

History of the colonization of the United States, Boston. 1840,
vol. 3.

In Chapter XXII of this volume the author gives a brief synopsis of the
Indian tribes east of the Mississippi, under a linguistic
classification, and adds a brief account of the character and methods of
Indian languages. A linguistic map of the region is incorporated, which
in general corresponds with the one published by Gallatin in 1836. A
notable addition to the Gallatin map is the inclusion of the Uchees in
their proper locality. Though considered a distinct family by Gallatin,
this tribe does not appear upon his map. Moreover, the Choctaws and
Muskogees, which appear as separate families upon Gallatin's map (though
believed by that author to belong to the same family), are united upon
Bancroft's map under the term Mobilian.

The linguistic families treated of are, I. Algonquin, II. Sioux or
Dahcota, III. Huron-Iroquois, IV. Catawba, V. Cherokee, VI. Uchee, VII.
Natchez, VIII. Mobilian.

1841. Scouler (John).

Observations of the indigenous tribes of the northwest coast of
America. In Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London.
London, 1841, vol. 11.

The chapter cited is short, but long enough to enable the author to
construct a very curious classification of the tribes of which he
treats. In his account Scouler is guided chiefly, to use his own words,
"by considerations founded on their physical character, manners and
customs, and on the affinities of their languages." As the linguistic
considerations are mentioned last, so they appear to be the least
weighty of his "considerations."

Scouler's definition of a family is very broad indeed, and in his
"Northern Family," which is a branch of his "Insular Group," he includes
such distinct linguistic stocks as "all the Indian tribes in the Russian
territory," the Queen Charlotte Islanders, Koloshes, Ugalentzes, Atnas,
Kolchans, Kenaies, Tun Ghaase, Haidahs, and Chimmesyans. His
Nootka-Columbian family is scarcely less incongruous, and it is evident
that the classification indicated is only to a comparatively slight
extent linguistic.

1846. Hale (Horatio).

United States exploring expedition, during the years 1838, 1839, 1840,
1841, 1842, under the command of Charles Wilkes, U.S. Navy, vol. 6,
ethnography and philology. Philadelphia, 1846.

In addition to a large amount of ethnographic data derived from the
Polynesian Islands, Micronesian Islands, Australia, etc., more than
one-half of this important volume is devoted to philology, a large share
relating to the tribes of northwestern America.

The vocabularies collected by Hale, and the conclusions derived by him
from study of them, added much to the previous knowledge of the
languages of these tribes. His conclusions and classification were in
the main accepted by Gallatin in his linguistic writings of 1848.

1846. Latham (Robert Gordon).

Miscellaneous contributions to the ethnography of North America. In
Proceedings of the Philological Society of London. London, 1816,
vol. 2.

In this article, which was read before the Philological Society, January
24, 1845, a large number of North American languages are examined and
their affinities discussed in support of the two following postulates
made at the beginning of the paper: First, "No American language has an
isolated position when compared with the other tongues en masse rather
than with the language of any particular class;" second, "The affinities
between the language of the New World, as determined by their
_vocabularies_, is not less real than that inferred from the analogies
of their _grammatical structure_." The author's conclusions are that
both statements are substantiated by the evidence presented. The paper
contains no new family names.

1847. Prichard (James Cowles).

Researches into the physical history of mankind (third edition), vol.
5, containing researches into the history of the Oceanic and of the
American nations. London, 1847.

It was the purpose of this author, as avowed by himself, to determine
whether the races of men are the cooffspring of a single stock or have
descended respectively from several original families. Like other
authors on this subject, his theory of what should constitute a race was
not clearly defined. The scope of the inquiry required the consideration
of a great number of subjects and led to the accumulation of a vast body
of facts. In volume 5 the author treats of the American Indians, and in
connection with the different tribes has something to say of their
languages. No attempt at an original classification is made, and in the
main the author follows Gallatin's classification and adopts his
conclusions.

1848. Gallatin (Albert).

Hale's Indians of Northwest America, and vocabularies of North
America, with an introduction. In Transactions of the American
Ethnological Society, New York, 1848, vol. 2.

The introduction consists of a number of chapters, as follows: First,
Geographical notices and Indian means of subsistence; second, Ancient
semi-civilization of New Mexico, Rio Gila and its vicinity; third,
Philology; fourth, Addenda and miscellaneous. In these are brought
together much valuable information, and many important deductions are
made which illustrate Mr. Gallatin's great acumen. The classification
given is an amplification of that adopted in 1836, and contains changes
and additions. The latter mainly result from a consideration of the
material supplied by Mr. Hale, or are simply taken from his work.

The groups additional to those contained in the Archaeologia Americana
are:

1. Arrapahoes.
2. Jakon.
3. Kalapuya.
4. Kitunaha.
5. Lutuami.
6. Palainih.
7. Sahaptin.
8. Selish (Tsihaili-Selish).
9. Saste.
10. Waiilatpu.

1848, Latham (Robert Gordon).

On the languages of the Oregon Territory. In Journal of the
Ethnological Society of London, Edinburgh, 1848, vol. 1.

This paper was read before the Ethnological Society on the 11th of
December. The languages noticed are those that lie between "Russian
America and New California," of which the author aims to give an
exhaustive list. He discusses the value of the groups to which these
languages have been assigned, viz, Athabascan and Nootka-Columbian, and
finds that they have been given too high value, and that they are only
equivalent to the primary subdivisions of _stocks_, like the Gothic,
Celtic, and Classical, rather than to the stocks themselves. He further
finds that the Athabascan, the Kolooch, the Nootka-Columbian, and the
Cadiak groups are subordinate members of one large and important
class--the Eskimo.

No new linguistic groups are presented.

1848. Latham (Robert Gordon).

On the ethnography of Russian America. In Journal of the Ethnological
Society of London, Edinburgh, 1848, vol. 1.

This essay was read before the Ethnological Society February 19, 1845.
Brief notices are given of the more important tribes, and the languages
are classed in two groups, the Eskimaux and the Kolooch. Each of these
groups is found to have affinities--

(1) With the Athabascan tongues, and perhaps equal affinities.

(2) Each has affinities with the Oregon languages, and each perhaps
equally.

(3) Each has definite affinities with the languages of New California,
and each perhaps equal ones.

(4) Each has miscellaneous affinities with all the other tongues of
North and South America.

1848. Berghaus (Heinrich).

Physikalischer Atlas oder Sammlung von Karten, auf denen die
hauptsaechlichsten erscheinungen der anorganischen und organischen
Natur nach ihrer geographischen Verbreitung und Vertheilung bildlich
dargestellt sind. Zweiter Band, Gotha, 1848.

This, the first edition of this well known atlas, contains, among other
maps, an ethnographic map of North America, made in 1845. It is based,
as is stated, upon material derived from Gallatin, Humboldt, Clavigero,
Hervas, Vater, and others. So far as the eastern part of the United
States is concerned it is largely a duplication of Gallatin's map of
1836, while in the western region a certain amount of new material is
incorporated.

1852. In the edition of 1852 the ethnographic map bears date of 1851.
Its eastern portion is substantially a copy of the earlier edition, but
its western half is materially changed, chiefly in accordance with the
knowledge supplied by Hall in 1848.

Map number 72 of the last edition of Berghaus by no means marks an
advance upon the edition of 1852. Apparently the number of families is
much reduced, but it is very difficult to interpret the meaning of the
author, who has attempted on the same map to indicate linguistic
divisions and tribal habitats with the result that confusion is made
worse confounded.

1853. Gallatin (Albert).

Classification of the Indian Languages; a letter inclosing a table of
generic Indian Families of languages. In Information respecting the
History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United
States, by Henry E. Schoolcraft. Philadelphia, 1853, vol. 3.

This short paper by Gallatin consists of a letter addressed to W.
Medill, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, requesting his cooperation in an
endeavor to obtain vocabularies to assist in a more complete study of
the grammar and structure of the languages of the Indians of North
America. It is accompanied by a "Synopsis of Indian Tribes," giving the
families and tribes so far as known. In the main the classification is a
repetition of that of 1848, but it differs from that in a number of
particulars. Two of the families of 1848 do not appear in this paper,
viz, Arapaho and Kinai. Queen Charlotte Island, employed as a family
name in 1848, is placed under the Wakash family, while the Skittagete
language, upon which the name Queen Charlotte Island was based in 1848,
is here given as a family designation for the language spoken at "Sitka,
bet. 52 and 59 lat." The following families appear which are not
contained in the list of 1848:

1. Cumanches.
2. Gros Ventres.
3. Kaskaias.
4. Kiaways.
5. Natchitoches.
6. Pani, Towiacks.
7. Ugaljachmatzi.

1853. Gibbs (George).

Observations on some of the Indian dialects of northern California. In
Information respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the
Indian tribes of the United States, by Henry E. Schoolcraft.
Philadelphia, 1853, vol. 3.

The "Observations" are introductory to a series of vocabularies
collected in northern California, and treat of the method employed in
collecting them and of the difficulties encountered. They also contain
notes on the tribes speaking the several languages as well as on the
area covered. There is comparatively little of a classificatory nature,
though in one instance the name Quoratem is proposed as a proper one for
the family "should it be held one."

1854. Latham (Robert Gordon).

On the languages of New California. In Proceedings of the Philological
Society of London for 1852 and 1853. London, 1854, vol. 6.

Read before the Philological Society, May 13, 1853. A number of
languages are examined in this paper for the purpose of determining the
stocks to which they belong and the mutual affinities of the latter.
Among the languages mentioned are the Saintskla, Umkwa, Lutuami, Paduca,
Athabascan, Dieguno, and a number of the Mission languages.

1855. Lane (William Carr).

Letter on affinities of dialects in New Mexico. In Information
respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian
tribes of the United States, by Henry R. Schoolcraft. Philadelphia,
1855, vol. 5.

The letter forms half a page of printed matter. The gist of the
communication is in effect that the author has heard it said that the
Indians of certain pueblos speak three different languages, which he has
heard called, respectively, (1) Chu-cha-cas and Kes-whaw-hay; (2)
E-nagh-magh; (3) Tay-waugh. This can hardly be called a classification,
though the arrangement of the pueblos indicated by Lane is quoted at
length by Keane in the Appendix to Stanford's Compendium.

1856. Latham (Robert Gordon).

On the languages of Northern, Western, and Central America. In
Transactions of the Philological Society of London, for 1856. London
[1857?].

This paper was read before the Philological Society May 9, 1856, and is
stated to be "a supplement to two well known contributions to American
philology by the late A. Gallatin."

So far as classification of North American languages goes, this is
perhaps the most important paper of Latham's, as in it a number of new
names are proposed for linguistic groups, such as Copeh for the
Sacramento River tribes, Ehnik for the Karok tribes, Mariposa Group and
Mendocino Group for the Yokut and Pomo tribes respectively, Moquelumne
for the Mutsun, Pujuni for the Meidoo, Weitspek for the Eurocs.

1856. Turner (William Wadden).

Report upon the Indian tribes, by Lieut. A. W. Whipple, Thomas
Ewbank, esq., and Prof. William W. Turner, Washington, D.C.,
1855. In Reports of Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the most
practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi
to the Pacific Ocean. Washington, 1856, vol. 3. part 3.

Chapter V of the above report is headed "Vocabularies of North American
Languages," and is by Turner, as is stated in a foot-note. Though the
title page of Part III is dated 1855, the chapter by Turner was not
issued till 1856, the date of the full volume, as is stated by Turner
on page 84. The following are the vocabularies given, with their
arrangement in families:

I. Delaware. }
II. Shawnee. } Algonkin.
III. Choctaw.
IV. Kichai. }
V. Hueco. } Pawnee?
VI. Caddo.
VII. Comanche. }
VIII. Chemehuevi. } Shoshonee.
IX. Cahuillo. }
X. Kioway.
XI. Navajo. }
XII. Pinal Leno. } Apache.
XIII. Kiwomi. }
XIV. Cochitemi. } Keres.
XV. Acoma. }
XVI. Zuni.
XVII. Pima.
XVIII. Cuchan. }
XIX. Coco-Maricopa. }
XX. Mojave. } Yuma.
XXI. Diegeno. }

Several of the family names, viz, Keres, Kiowa, Yuma, and Zuni, have
been adopted under the rules formulated above.

1858. Buschmann (Johann Carl Eduard).

Die Voelker und Sprachen Neu-Mexiko's und der Westseite des britischen
Nordamerika's, dargestellt von Hrn. Buschmann. In Abhandlungen (aus
dem Jahre 1857) der koeniglichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu
Berlin. Berlin, 1858.

This work contains a historic review of early discoveries in New Mexico
and of the tribes living therein, with such vocabularies as were
available at the time. On pages 315-414 the tribes of British America,
from about latitude 54 deg. to 60 deg., are similarly treated, the various
discoveries being reviewed; also those on the North Pacific coast. Much
of the material should have been inserted in the volume of 1859 (which
was prepared in 1854), to which cross reference is frequently made, and
to which it stands in the nature of a supplement.

1859. Buschmann (Johann Carl Eduard).

Die Spuren der aztekischen Sprache im noerdlichen Mexico und hoeheren
amerikanischen Norden. Zugleich eine Musterung der Voelker und
Sprachen des noerdlichen Mexico's und der Westseite Nordamerika's von
Guadalaxara an bis zum Eismeer. In Abhandlungen aus dem Jahre 1854
der koeniglichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Berlin, 1859.

The above, forming a second supplemental volume of the Transactions for
1854, is an extensive compilation of much previous literature treating
of the Indian tribes from the Arctic Ocean southward to Guadalajara, and
bears specially upon the Aztec language and its traces in the languages
of the numerous tribes scattered along the Pacific Ocean and inland
to the high plains. A large number of vocabularies and a vast amount
of linguistic material are here brought together and arranged in
a comprehensive manner to aid in the study attempted. In his
classification of the tribes east of the Rocky Mountains, Buschmann
largely followed Gallatin. His treatment of those not included in
Gallatin's paper is in the main original. Many of the results obtained
may have been considered bold at the time of publication, but recent
philological investigations give evidence of the value of many of the
author's conclusions.

1859. Kane (Paul).

Wanderings of an artist among the Indians of North America from Canada
to Vancouver's Island and Oregon through the Hudson's Bay Company's
territory and back again. London, 1859.

The interesting account of the author's travels among the Indians,
chiefly in the Northwest, and of their habits, is followed by a four
page supplement, giving the names, locations, and census of the tribes
of the Northwest coast. They are classified by language into Chymseyan,
including the Nass, Chymseyans, Skeena and Sabassas Indians, of whom
twenty-one tribes are given; Ha-eelb-zuk or Ballabola, including the
Milbank Sound Indians, with nine tribes; Klen-ekate, including twenty
tribes; Hai-dai, including the Kygargey and Queen Charlotte's Island
Indians, nineteen tribes being enumerated; and Qua-colth, with
twenty-nine tribes. No statement of the origin of these tables is given,
and they reappear, with no explanation, in Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes,
volume V, pp. 487-489.

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