The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 3, Myths and Languages

Chapter V: Shoshone Languages

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AZTEC-SONORA CONNECTIONS WITH THE SHOSHONE FAMILY -- THE UTAH,
COMANCHE, MOQUI, KIZH, NETELA, KECHI, CAHUILLO, AND CHEMEHUEVI
-- EASTERN AND WESTERN SHOSHONE, OR WIHINASHT -- THE BANNACK
AND DIGGER, OR SHOSHOKEE -- THE UTAH AND ITS DIALECTS -- THE
GOSHUTE, WASHOE, PAIULEE, PIUTE, SAMPITCHE, AND MONO -- POPULAR
BELIEF AS TO THE AZTEC ELEMENT IN THE NORTH -- GRIMM'S LAW --
SHOSHONE, COMANCHE, AND MOQUI COMPARATIVE TABLE -- NETELA
STANZA -- KIZH GRAMMAR -- THE LORD'S PRAYER IN TWO DIALECTS OF
THE KIZH -- CHEMEHUEVI AND CAHUILLO GRAMMAR -- COMPARATIVE
VOCABULARY.

In this chapter I include all the languages of the Shoshone family, the Wihinasht or western Shoshone of Idaho and Oregon, the Utah with its many dialects, the Comanche or Yetan of Texas and New Mexico, the Moqui of Arizona, the Kizh, Netela, and Kechi of the San Fernando Mission, and their dialects, and the Cahuillo and Chemehuevi of south-eastern California. The six last mentioned do not properly belong to the Shoshone family, but on account of certain faint traces of Aztec, found alike in them and in all Shoshone idioms, I cannot do better than to speak of them in this connection. As regards this Aztec element, I do not mean to say that these languages are related to the Aztec language, in the same sense that other languages are spoken of as being related to each other, for this might lead those who are searching for the former habitation or fatherland of the Aztecs, to suppose that it has been found. This element consists simply in a number of words, identical or reasonably approximate to the like Aztec words, and in the similarity, perhaps, of a few grammatical rules. How this Aztec word-material crept into the languages of the Shoshones, whether by intercommunication, or Aztec colonization, we do not know. Nor do I wish to be understood as attempting to sustain the popular theory of an Aztec migration from the north; on the contrary, the evidence of language is all on the other side. Whether or not the Great Basin, or any part of the Northwest, was once occupied by the ancient Mexicans, it is certain that the Aztec language, as a base, is found nowhere north of central Mexico, so that these incidental or accidental word-analogies if they prove anything, indicate only a scattering from some primeval centre, other than the place where they are found, and tend to show that the language whose words are thus thinly sprinkled over so broad an area, could not have been the aboriginal stock language of the country.

[Sidenote: SHOSHONE AND UTAH DIALECTS.]

The Shoshone and the Utah are the principal languages of the great interior basin; and these may be regarded as sisters of a common mother language, the Shoshone preponderating. Each has many dialects. The Shoshone language may be divided into eastern, or Shoshone proper, and western Shoshone, or Wihinasht. Of the former the Bannack, and the Digger, or Shoshokee, are the chief variations. The Utah dialects, more numerous, are the Goshute, Washoe, Paiulee, Piute, Sampitche, Mono, and a few others, which latter vary so little from some one of the others, that it is unnecessary to trace them as separate dialects. The Comanche dialects I shall not attempt to classify.[V'-1] No grammar has ever been written of any of these languages. In all of them words are generally accented on the first syllable, except when a possessive pronoun is prefixed. Words of more than four syllables, generally have a secondary accent on the fifth, as in _té-ith-tis-chi-hó-no_, valley.[V'-2] A few words in these languages are found almost identical with like words of the Tinneh family, which have probably found their way into them by intercommunication. Of these the following are the principal ones, so far as designated by existing vocabularies:

[Sidenote: SHOSHONE AND TINNEH SIMILARITIES.]

Fire: Comanche, _ku-ona_; Shoshone, _kuna_; Chepewyan, _counn_, _kon_, _kone_; Utah, _coon_. Bow: Comanche, _eth_; Shoshone, _atschö_; Wihinasht, _ati_; Chepewyan, _atheike_. Cold: Comanche, _etscho_; Shoshone, _ötschoin_; Wihinasht, _izíts_; Chepewyan, _edzah_. Eye: Comanche, _nachich_; Chepewyan, _nackhay_.[V'-3]

In the Wihinasht, words occur sometimes in which an unusual number of vowels are combined--_paöaíu_, great; long words are also not infrequent, like _pimatiyimwaiákin_, salt.[V'-4] A short comparative vocabulary to show the connection between these languages, is given further on.

[Sidenote: AZTEC TRACES NORTH OF MEXICO.]

Let us now consider the often discussed but ill understood question of the Aztec language in the north. Torquemada and Vetancvrt narrate the expedition of Juan de Oñate, who invaded New Mexico during the last years of the sixteenth century. Father Roque de Figueredo, who accompanied the expedition, says that while searching for a lost mule, at the Rio del Tizon, the Mexican muleteers met certain natives who addressed them in their own language, and who, on being asked whence they came, answered that they came from the north, where that language was spoken. Clavigero, who repeats the above, also asserts, that during the expedition made by the Spaniards, in 1606, to New Mexico, when north of the Rio del Tizon, they saw some large houses, and near them certain natives who spoke the Mexican language. Then we have the statement of Father Gerónimo de Zárate, that while searching for the Laguna de Copala, he was informed, among other things, that the country in its vicinity was densely peopled by men who spoke a language similar to that of his Aztec servants. Zárate was at this time at the Rio del Tizon, and the natives, who are close observers in such matters, assured the Spaniards that they detected in the speech of the servant certain words common to both his own and the language of the people of the Laguna de Copala. And again, in the region toward the east, Acosta says that "of late they have discovered a new land, which they call New Mexico, where they say is much people that speake the Mexican tongue."

Vater, in his Mithridates, intimates that the Mexican language spread far northward, through the roamings of wild tribes, particularly the Chichimecs; but when we remember that the term Chichimec was applied by the early Spaniards to all the immense unknown nomadic hordes north and west, this mention carries with it but little weight. Mr Anderson, who accompanied Captain Cook to the north-west coast, in 1778, fancied he detected a resemblance between the Aztec and the language of the Nootkas. "From the few Mexican words," he says, "I have been able to procure, there is the most obvious agreement, in the very frequent terminations of the vowels in _l_, _tl_, or _z_, throughout the language." And remarks the editor, "may we not, in confirmation of Mr. Anderson's remark, observe, that Opulszthl, the Nootka name of the Sun; and Vitziputzli, the name of the Mexican Divinity, have no very distant affinity in sound." Now the absurdity of all idle speculations is apparent when we encounter such far-fetched comparisons as this. In the first place, there is no affinity in the sounds of the two words, and in the next place there is no such Aztec god--Huitzilopochtli probably being the god meant. Neither has this last word any resemblance to the sun; it is composed of the two words, _huitzilin_, an abbreviation of the Mexican _huitzitzilin_, which signifies 'humming-bird,' and _opochtli_, that is to say 'left.' Vater also draws analogies between the Aztec and the Nootka, and Ugalenze, which on close comparison do not hold good.

Regarding the affinity of the Aztec language with those of the Pueblos, Moquis, Apaches, Yumas, and others of New Mexico and Arizona, Ruxton ventures the assertion, "all these speak dialects of the same language.... They likewise all understand each other's tongue. What relation this language bears to the Mexican is unknown; but my impression is, that it will be found to assimilate greatly, if not to be identical,"--in all of which assertions Mr Ruxton is greatly in error.

All this, as evidence, does not amount to much; it only indicates the origin of a popular belief which placed a Mexican language in various parts of the north, while at the same time it shows upon how slender a thread hangs this belief, and how the vaguest traditionary rumors come, by repetition, to be accredited as fixed facts.

Buschmann asks himself the question whether the Aztec words, in any considerable number, are not found in any other languages of the great Mexican empire--in the Zapotec, Miztec, Tarasco, Otomí, or Huastec--and the answer is no; he has discovered a few accidental word-similarities, such as may be found between the Aztec and other American languages, or between any two languages of the world, but nothing which, by any possibility, could denote relationship.

From another class of evidence we approach a little nearer the truth. Andres Perez de Ribas, missionary to Sinaloa writing about 1640, says, that while studying the language of his people, he noticed many Mexican words particularly radicals, and also words which appeared to have been originally Mexican, but which had been so altered that only one or two syllables in them could be recognized as Aztec.

Father Ortega, in 1732, wrote a vocabulary of the Cora language, in which he says, the people had incorporated in their language many words of the Mexican and some few of the Spanish languages, and this at a period so early that at the time of his writing they were regarded as belonging to the original language.

Hervas, whose work appeared in 1787, says that the Tarahumara language is full of Mexican words. Vater, writing early in the nineteenth century, affirms that the Cora is remarkable for its relation to the Mexican, and that the Tarahumara, which is a more polished language than its neighbors, contains some words similar to the Aztec. In his Mithridates, Vater notices a relationship between the Cora and the Aztec, furthermore asserting that the conjugations of the two are so alike as plainly to prove the connection.

Wilhelm von Humboldt left us a short manuscript grammar of the Cora and Tarahumara, in which he remarks that for languages which are related, the Cora and the Mexican have great differences in their sound-systems, and although these two languages certainly appear to be related, yet he is unwilling to assert that either is derived from the other. "There are more ways than one," says the great philologist Wilhelm von Humboldt, "by which languages are connected. The impression left upon me by the Cora, is that it is a mixture of two different languages: one the Mexican, and the other some older and richer language, but rougher. In the grammar of the Cora there are found very many forms which strikingly call to mind the Mexican, yet at the same time there are many forms wholly different, made by rules directly opposite, among which are the pronouns." He further remarks two other important differences between the Cora and the Mexican which are the absence of the reduplication of syllables and of the reverential forms.

Such was the attitude of the subject when Mr Buschmann took it up. From the prevailing impression of an Aztec origin in the north, but more particularly from certain remarks of Alexander von Humboldt concerning the probable passing of the ancient Mexicans through the regions of the north, he set himself to work to find this line of migration, and the exact relations of their language in various parts. Commencing at the Valley of Mexico he made a careful analysis of every western language north of that place of which he could obtain any material. The result of Mr Buschmann's researches was the discovery of Aztec traces in certain parts, but nowhere did he find the Aztec language as a base.

[Sidenote: AZTEC TRACES IN NORTHERN MEXICO.]

More particularly were these Aztec words and word-analogies perceptible in four certain languages of north-western Mexico; in the Cora, spoken in the Nayarit district of Jalisco, commencing about fifteen leagues from the coast at the mouth of the Rio Tololotlan, and extending between the parallels 21°30' and 20° back irregularly into the interior about twenty leagues; in the Tepehuana of northern Sinaloa, northern Durango, and southern Chihuahua, or as laid down on the map of Orozco y Berra, commencing near the twenty-third parallel about twenty leagues from the eastern shore of the Gulf of California, and extending over a horse-shoe shaped territory to about the twenty-seventh parallel; in the Tarahumara spoken immediately north of the Tepehuana in the states of Chihuahua and Sonora, in the centre of the Sierra Madre; and lastly in the Cahita spoken by the people inhabiting the eastern shore of the Gulf of California, between latitude 26° and 28° north, and extending back from the coast irregularly about forty leagues, being almost directly west of the Tarahumara, though not exactly contiguous. The name Cahita is applied by the missionaries only to the language, and not to the people speaking it. In the license prefixed to the _Manual para administrar à los Indios del idioma Cahita los santos sacramentos compuesto por un Sacerdote de la Compañia de Jesus_, printed in Mexico in 1740, it is called the common language of the missions of the province of Sinaloa, spoken by the Yaquis and the Mayos, the latter extending far into southern Sonora. In a vocabulary of the Cahita given by Ternaux-Compans, in the _Nouvelles Annales_, there are likewise found many Aztec words. Neither of these languages are related to the others, yet in all of them is a sprinkling of Aztec word-material. The Aztec substantive ending _tl_ and _tli_, in the Cora are found changed in _ti_, _te_, and _t_; in the Tepehuana into _de_, _re_, and _sci_; in the Tarahumara into _ki_, _ke_, _ca_, and _la_; and in the Cahita, into _ri_. In all four of the languages substantive endings are dropped, first, in composition when the substantive is united with the possessive pronoun; secondly, before an affix; thirdly, in the Cora alone, before the ending of the plural; and before affixes in the formation of words. They are not dropped in verbs derived from substantives; and when two substantives are combined to form a word the Aztec terminal is dropped in the first, and also in the combination of a substantive and verb.

In the Cora, the ending _tyahta_ has the same meaning as the Aztec local ending _tla_, or _tlan_, which signifies the locality of a thing; as, _acotn_, a fir-tree; (Aztec, _ocotl_) _ocotyahta_, a fir-forest; (Aztec, _ocotlan_). Another striking similarity between these four languages and the Aztec consists in the use of a postfix in the formation of substantives of locality and names of places. Then come the numerals, in which are found similarities in all their formations. The Aztec verb _ca_, to be, and even its irregular branch, _catqui_, is found disseminated throughout all these languages. In the Tarahumara dictionary of Steffel, and in the Cora dictionary of Ortega, Buschmann found the Aztec element even stronger than he had supposed, and he wondered how Gallatin, who had Tellechea's grammar, could have allowed these similarities to escape his observations.

[Sidenote: AZTEC MATERIAL IN THE AZTEC-SONORA FAMILY.]

Of these four languages Buschmann makes what he calls his Sonora family; which term is somewhat a misnomer as applied to languages not related, and spoken more without than within the province of Sonora. Their only bond of union is this Aztec element, which may have found its way into them at different times and under different circumstances. The most peculiar feature of it all, is the departure which is made by these Aztec-Sonora languages, as from an original centre, and their several appearance, each stamped alike with Aztec marks while at the same time sustaining its own individuality, in different parts of the great northern regions. It is as though a handful of Aztec words had been thrown, at intervals, into the languages of each of these four peoples, and, after partial amalgamations of these foreign words with those of the aboriginal tongues, by some means the words so modified had found their way in greater or less quantities into the languages of other and remote tribes. It is at such times, when we obtain a glance from a distance at their shadowy history, that there arise in the mind visions of their illimitable unwritten past, and of the mighty turmoils and revolutions which must forever remain as they are, shrouded in the deepest mystery.

In these four Aztec-Sonora languages there are nearly two hundred Aztec words, and the words derived from them by the respective native idioms into which they were projected, swell the list to four times that number; and these, with other pure Aztec words in every stage of mutilation and transformation are found re-scattered throughout the before-mentioned Pueblo, Shoshone, and other languages of the north. But again, let me say, nowhere does the Aztec, or any of its affiliations appear as a base north of central Mexico.[V'-5]

Taking into consideration that some Aztec and Shoshone words are almost identical, and that the endings of others are almost exactly alike, it is not surprising if the acute ear of the natives detected phonetic resemblances. The connection between these languages may not be in one respect as positive as that between the languages which compose the great Aryan family on the Asiatic and European continents, but, on the other hand, it presents a somewhat analogous system, by means of which it becomes possible to establish a connection. I allude to Mr Grimm's discovery of what has been termed '_Lautverschiebung_,' or '_Lautveränderung_,' anglicé 'Sound-shunting.'[V'-6]

This phenomenon consists of the changing, or shunting, of certain vowels or consonants in the words of one language, into certain other vowels and consonants in the same words of another language; and this not accidentally, but in accordance with fixed rules. Sound-shunting, originally discovered by Mr Grimm in the Aryan tongues, has also been found by Mr Buschmann in the languages of his Sonora family, where it is more particularly prominent in the word-endings. In a subsequent place I shall have occasion to refer again to this point, and particularly when speaking of the North Mexican languages, the Tarahumara, Tepehuana, Cora, and Cahita, where it can be clearly shown by comparison with the Aztec, that such shunting, or changing, has taken place. In the languages at present under consideration, the Shoshone, Utah, and Comanche, we have this shunting system illustrated in the substantives and adjective endings _p_, _pa_, _pe_, _pi_, _be_, _wa_, _ph_, _pee_, _rp_, and _rpe_; and more particularly in the Utah and Shoshone _ts_, _tse_, _tsi_, all of which may be referred to the Aztec endings _tl_, _tli_, and others. In the last-mentioned case the endings have been preserved in a purer form, while in the former the shunting or changing law is observed. As illustrating the connection between the languages under consideration and those before mentioned of Sonora and through them with the Aztec, I append on the next page a short vocabulary in which the similarities can be easily observed.[V'-7]

[Sidenote: THE MOQUI LANGUAGE.]

The Moqui, as before observed, does not properly belong to the Shoshone family, but shows a connection with the Aztec. It is strange that two permanently located peoples, the Moquis and the Pueblos, both living in well-built towns not far apart, and both showing signs of a budding civilization, should speak languages totally different from each other; that one of these languages should show a connection with the Aztec and the other not; that neither is related to the tongue of the Shoshones, who nearly surround them; and, furthermore, that in six of the seven Moqui towns only, the Moqui language is spoken, while in the seventh, Harno, the Tegua, a language of one of the New Mexican Pueblos is spoken. The people of Harno can converse with the Moquis of the six other towns, but among themselves they never make use of the Moqui, always speaking the Tegua.[V'-8]

------+----------+-----------+---------+----------+---------+
| SHOSHONE.| WIHINASHT.| UTAH. | COMANCHE.| MOQUE. |
+----------+-----------+---------+----------+---------+
Foot |namps |kuki |namp |nahap |herkuck |
Eye |pui, umboi|pui |puttyshoe|puile |pose |
Water |pa |pa |pah |pa | |
Arm |puiró |putá |pooir |pur(e) |mahat |
Dog |schari | |sahreets |zari |poku |
Tongue|aku |ego |ahoh |ehk |linga |
Wife |wepee | | | | |
Winter|tumu |tomó | |tohane | |
{|nupáhw | | | | |
Egg {| or |anohó | |uno io | |
{|nanki | | | | |
{|nongkawa | | | | |
Ear {| or |inaka |nink |nahkarke |nookawuck|
{|masoaki | | | | |
Hand |mashitu |imai |masseer |mashpa |mocktay |
Teeth |tangwa |tama |tong |tahnee |tahmah |
{|chermti | | | | |
One {| or |singwáiu | |semmus | |
{|shímutsi | | | | |
Ten |paimanusch|síngwaloyu | |matoëcut | |
Lip |timpa |tupa |timp |tupe | |
Sun |taba |tava |tap |tabih |tahwah |
House |uinkán |noöí | |kanuke | |
Stone |timpi |tipí | |terp | |
Moon |mungá |muschhá |mahtots |mushe |mooyah |
Head |pampi |pompi |tuts |páaph |quatah |
Nose |mui |moöi |mahvetah |moopee |yakuck |
God | | | | |tockill |
------+----------+-----------+---------+----------+---------+

No grammar has been written of the Moqui language, and a few vocabularies are all we possess of it. Gov. Lane, speaking of the Pueblo languages collectively, writes: "All these languages are extremely guttural, and, to my ear, seemed so much alike, that I imagine they have sprung from the same parent stock."[V'-9]

[Sidenote: MOQUI AFFILIATIONS.]

Some claim a relationship between the Moquis and the Apaches and others, but no such connection has ever been established.[V'-10] The only positive statement in this regard is made by Buschmann, who, by actual comparison of vocabularies, has determined its status.[V'-11] Among other connecting links he particularly mentions the substantive endings _pe_, _be_, and others, by means of which, he says, the Moqui attaches itself to the Shoshone-Comanche branch of the Sonora idioms. The comparative vocabulary before given will further illustrate their affiliation.[V'-12]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: KIZH AND NETELA SPECIMENS.]

Returning to southern California, let us examine the three languages, Kizh, Netela, and Kechi, spoken near the missions of San Gabriel, San Juan Capistrano, and San Luis Rey, respectively, which are not only distantly related to each other, but show traces of the Sonora-Aztec idioms. Father Boscana, who has left us an accurate description of the natives at San Juan Capistrano, unfortunately devoted little attention to their language, and only gives us a few scattered words and stanzas. One of the latter reads as follows:

Quic noit noivam
Quic secat peleblich
Ybicnum majaar vesagnec
Ibi panal, ibi urusar,
Ibi ecbal, ibi seja, ibi calcel.

Which may be rendered thus:

I go to my home
That is shaded with willows.
These five they have placed,
This agave, this stone pot,
This sand, this honey, etc.[V'-13]

But very little is known of the grammatical structure of these languages. In the Kizh, the plural is formed in various ways, as may be seen in the following examples:

SINGULAR. PLURAL.

Man woroit wororoit
House kitsh kikitsh
Mountain haikh hahaikh

SINGULAR. PLURAL.

Wolf ishot ishishot
Good tihorwait tiriwait
Small tshinui tshitshínui
Black yupikha yupinot
Woman tokor totokor
Bow paítkhuar papaítkhuar
Bad mohai momohoi
White arawatai rawanot
Red kwauokha kwaukhonot

DECLENSION WITH PRONOUN.

My father ninak Our father ayoinak
Thy father monak Your father asoinak
His father anak
My house nikin Our house eyoknga
Thy house mukin Your house asoknga
His house akinga Their house pomoknga

Of the Netela there are also the following few specimens of plural formation and pronouns;--_suol_, star; _sulum_, stars; _nopulum_, my eyes; _nanakom_, my ears; _nikíwalom_, my cheeks; _natakalom_, my hand; _netémelum_, my knees.

DECLENSION WITH PRONOUN.

My house niki Our house tshomki
Thy house om aki Your house omomomki
His house poki Their house omp omki
My boat nokh Our boat tshomikh
Thy boat om omikh Your boat omom omikh
His boat ompomikh Their boat ompomikh[V'-14]

The Kizh appears also to have been spoken, in a slightly divergent dialect, at the Mission of San Fernando, as may be easily seen by comparing the following two versions of the Lord's Prayer; the first in the language of San Fernando, and the latter in that spoken at San Gabriel.

Y yorac yona taray tucúpuma sagoucó motoanian majarmi moin main
monó muismi miojor yiactucupar. Pan yyogin gimiamerin majarmi
mifema coyó ogorná yio mamainay mii, yiarmá ogonug y yoná, y yo
ocaynen coijarmea main ytomo mojay coiyamá huermi. Parima.

* * * * *

Yyonac y yogin tucupugnaisá sujucoy motuanían masarmí magin
tucupra maimanó muísme mílléosar y ya tucupar jiman bxí y yoní
masaxmí mítema coy aboxmi y yo mamaínatar momojaích milli y
yaxma abonac y yo no y yo ocaihuc coy jaxmea main itan
momosaích coy jama juexme huememesaích.

In like manner do the Netela and Kechi show a close affinity. The Netela Lord's Prayer reads:

Chana ech tupana ave onench, otune a cuachin, chame om reino,
libi yb chosonec esna tupána cham nechetepe, micate tom cha
chaom, pepsum yg cai caychame, y i julugcalme cai ech. Depupnn
opco chame chum oyote. Amen Jésus.

The Kechi is as follows:

Cham na cham mig tu panga auc onan moquiz cham to gai ha cua
che nag omreina li vi hiche ca noc ybá heg gá y vi au qui gá
topanga. Cham na cholane mim cha pan pituo mag ma jan pohi cala
cai gui cha me holloto gai tom chame o gui chag cay ne che cal
me tus so lli olo calme alla linoc chame cham cho sivo.[V'-15]

Although Mr Turner classed these languages with the Shoshone family, in reality they only form such a tie through their Sonora and Aztec connection.[V'-16] This is illustrated by Mr Buschmann in an extensive comparative vocabulary of the three languages, of which I shall give a brief extract on a subsequent page.[V'-17]

[Sidenote: CHEMEHUEVI AND CAHUILLO PRONOUNS.]

The Chemehuevi and Cahuillo, the last two of this division, have also been classed as belonging to the Shoshone family, and some have even called them bands of Pah-Utes, but what has been said concerning the affiliation of the three last mentioned will apply to these with equal force. That they are distinct languages has already been stated by Padre Garcés, who describes them under the name of Chemegue cajuala, Chemegue sebita, Chemeguaba, and Chemegue, ascribing the same language to all of them in distinction from their neighbors. He includes with the Chemehuevi the Yavipai muca oraive or Moqui, who, although not speaking the same language, are still somewhat connected with them, through their Sonora and Aztec relations, which conjectures are singularly significant.[V'-18] Grammatical remarks on these languages there are but few to offer. The accentuation is in neither very regular; in the Chemehuevi, it is generally on the second syllable, while in the Cahuillo it is mostly on the first.[V'-19] I give here the personal pronouns of the two languages.

CHEMEHUEVI. CAHUILLO.

I nuu neh
Thou háiïco eh
He einpá peh
We chémim
You éhmim
They íwim

To illustrate the Sonora and Aztec connection, I offer the following short comparative vocabulary.

SHOSHONE LANGUAGES.

--------+------------+------------+-----------+----------+------------
| CHEMEHUEVI.| CAHUILLO. | KECHI. | NETELA. | KIZH.
+------------+------------+-----------+----------+------------
Water |pa |pal |pala |pala |bar
Sun |tabaputz |tamit |temet |temét |tamet
Day |tuwaruwit |tamyit | |temé |oronga
Eye |puoui |napush |pusun-opush|nopulum |atshotshon
Three |paii |mepa |pai |pahe |pahe
I |nuu |neh |no |no |noma
House |cani |kish |kicha |niki |kitsh
Arrow |nu |hul |nohu |hul |nihun
Father |muo |nena |pehnah |nana |anak
Girl |naiitsit |inismal | |nawitmal |
Forehead|cobanim |nepush | | |
Five |manu |momequadnun | |mahar |
Ear |nancaba |nanocka |nonak |nanakum |anana, najas
To die | |muqush | | |
Stone |timp |cow-wish | |tot |tota
Black |shawagaré |tuliksh | |yaöatkhnot|yupikha
Beard |mutza |nultaman | |numus |aong, pehen
Hill |caib |{ow-so-ni, | | |
| |{or tu-qnush| |haikh |tule
To kill |pacai |meca | |kakshitkhl|
Woman | |mukeadi | | |
--------+------------+------------+-----------+----------+------------

[Sidenote: AZTEC TRACES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.]

As regards the Sonora and Aztec relationship, we have here again the substantive endings _p_, _b_, _t_, in various forms, which, as before stated, may be compared with Aztec endings, changed according to certain linguistic laws. In the Cahuillo, as in the Kechi, prefixed possessive pronouns, before substantives representing parts of the human body, particularly that in the first person singular, _n_, are proof of the Sonora affiliation. In the same words, the Chemehuevi has the two pronouns _ni_ and _wi_, which always carry with them the ending, _m_.[V'-21]

FOOTNOTES:

[V'-1] 'The _Shoshóni_ and _Pánasht_ (Bonnaks) of the Columbia, the _Yutes_ and _Sampitches_ ... the _Commanches_ of Texas, and some other tribes along the northern frontier of Mexico, are said to speak dialects of a common language.' _Hale's Ethnog._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. vi., pp. 218-9. 'The great Shoshonee, or Snake, family: which comprehends the Shoshones proper ... the Utahs ... Pah-Utahs ... the Kizh ... the Netela ... the Kechi ... the Comanches.' _Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 76. '_Shoshónies_ ou _Serpents_ et de _Soshocos_ ou _Déterreurs de racines_ ... parlent la même langue.' _De Smet_, _Voy._, p. 126. 'The Shoshone language is spoken mostly by all the bands of Indians in southeastern Nevada.' _Parker_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1866, p. 114. 'Their language (Shoshones) is very different from that of either the Bannocks, or Pi-Utes.' _Campbell_, in _Id._, p. 120. Goshautes speak the same language as Shoshones. _Forney_, in _Id._, 1859, p. 363. 'The language is spoken by bands in the gold mine region of the Sacramento.' _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. i., p. 198. 'Pai-uches speak the same language as the Yutas.' _Farnham's Life in Cal._, pp. 371, 375. '_Pi-Edes_, allied in language to the Utahs.' _Cooley_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1865, p. 18. Goships, or Gosha Utes 'talk very nearly the Shoshonee language.' _Irish_, in _Id._, p. 144. Shoshones and Comanches 'both speak the same language.' Sampiches. 'Their language is said to be allied to that of the Snakes.' Youtas. 'Their language is by some thought to be peculiar.' _Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. iv., p. 501. 'Pueblan todas las partes de esta sierra por el sueste, sur sudoeste y oeste, gran número de gentes de la misma nacion, idioma etc.,' which they call Timpanogotzis. _Dominguez and Escalante_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série ii., tom. i., p. 467. 'The language spoken by the Comanches is of great antiquity, and differs but little from that of the Incas of Peru.' _Maillard's Hist. Tex._, p. 249; _Buschmann_, _Spuren der Aztek. Spr._, pp. 349, 351. Yam-pah. 'This is what the Snakes call the Comanches, of which they are either the parents or descendants, for the two languages are nearly the same, and they readily understand each other, and say that they were once one people.' 'The Snake language is talked and understood by all the tribes from the Rocky mountains to California, and from the Colorado to the Columbia, and by a few in many tribes outside of these limits.' _Stuart's Montana_, pp. 58, 82. 'The different bands of the Comanches and Shoshonies or Snakes, constitute another extensive stock, speaking one language.' _Gregg's Com. Prairies_, vol. ii., p. 251. 'The vernacular language of the Yutas is said to be distantly allied to that of the Navajoes, but it has appeared to me much more guttural, having a deep sepulchral sound resembling ventriloquism.' _Id._, vol. i., p. 300. 'The Utahs, who speak the same language as the Kyaways.' _Conder's Mex. Guat._, vol. ii., p. 74; _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. v., p. 197. The Goshutes are of different language from the Shoshones. _Douglas_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1870, p. 96. Diggers, 'differ from the other Snakes somewhat in language.' _Wyeth_, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. i., p. 206; _Berghaus_, in _Buschmann_, _Spuren der Aztek. Spr._, p. 371. The Kusi-Utahs, 'in speaking they clipped their words ... we recognized the sounds of the language of the Shoshonès.' _Remy and Brenchley's Journey_, vol. ii., p. 412; _Thümmel_, _Mexiko_, p. 359; _Catlin's N. Amer. Ind._, vol. ii., p. 113. 'Their native language (Comanches), in sound differs from the language of any other nation, and no one can easily learn to speak it. They have also a language of signs, by which they converse among themselves.' _French's Hist. La._, (N. Y. 1869), p. 156. 'The primitive terms of the Comanches are short, and several are combined for the expression of complex ideas. The language is very barren of verbs, the functions of which are frequently performed by the aid of gestures and grimaces.' _Kennedy's Texas_, vol. i., p. 348.

[V'-2] _Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 77.

[V'-3] _Buschmann_, _Spuren der Aztek. Spr._, pp. 402-3.

[V'-4] _Id._, p. 645, et seq.

[V'-5] 'Que en casi todas ellas (que son muchas y varias) se hallan vocablos, principalmente los que llaman radicales, que o son de la lengua Mexicana, o se deriuan della, y retienen muchas de sus silabas, de que pudiera hazer aqui vn muy largo catalago. De todo lo qual se infieren dos cosas. La primera que casi todas estas Naciones comunicaron en puestas y lenguas con la Mexicana: y aunque los Artes y Gramaticas dellas son diferentes; pero en muchos de sus preceptos concuerdan.' _Ribas_, _Hist. de los Triumphos_, p. 20. 'Pintaron esta laguna en tierra y muy poblada de gentes, y oyendo hablar á un indio, criado de un soldado, en el idioma mexicano, preguntaron si era de Copala, porque así hablaban los de alla ... que distaba de allí diez jornadas pobladas.' _Zarate_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série iii., tom. iv., p. 83. 'El Padre Fr. Roque d Figueredo haze del viage que hizo con D. Iuan de Oñate 500 leguas al Norte hallaremos que dice, que aviendoseles perdido vnas bestias, buscandolas el rio de Tizon arriba encontraron los mosos vn Indio que les hablò en lengua mexicana que preguntado de donde era, dixo ser del Reyno adentro ... que està en las Provincias del Norte donde se habla en esta lengua Mexicana cuyo es vocablo.' _Vetancurt_, _Teatro Mex._, pt ii., p. 11. 'In un viaggio, che fecero gli Spagnuoli l'anno 1606. dal Nuovo Messico fino al fiume, che eglino appellarono _del Tizon_, seicento miglia da quella Provincia verso Maestro, vi trovarono alcuni grandi edificj, e s'abbatterono in alcuni Indiani, che parlavano la lingua messicana.' _Clavigero_, _Storia Ant. del Messico_, tom. iv., p. 29. Tarahumara 'la cui lingua abbonda di parole Messicane.' _Hervás_, _Saggio Practico delle Lingue_, p. 71. 'Die Sprache (Cora) ist auch wegen ihres Verhältnisses zur Mexicanischen merkwürdig.' 'Die Sprache (Tarahumara) welche eine gewisse Ausbildung zeigt, hat manche dem Mexicanischen ähnliche Wörter,' _Vater_, _Litteratur der Grammatiken, Lexica und Wörter-Sammlungen aller Sprachen der Erde_, pp. 52, 231; _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., p. 336; _Ruxton's Adven. Mex._, p. 194.

[V'-6] Max Müller simply names it 'Grimm's Law.' _Science of Language_, series ii., p. 213, et seq.

[V'-7] 'Indem ich die Urtheile wegen der comanchischen und schoschonischen Verwandtschaft bestätige, erkläre ich die Yutah-Sprache für ein Glied des sonorischen Sprachstammes.' 'Noch ehe ich zur Wortvergleichung übergehe, kann ich die sonorische Natur der Sprache nach den beiden Elementen der aztekischen und sonorischen Gemeinschaft, und sogar ihre besondere Stellung zwischen der comanche-schoschonischen Ligue, durch blosse zwei, in ihr sich hervorthuende Substantiv-Endungen (ts und p) darlegen.' 'Die zwiefache Schoschonen Sprache und das Volk der Schoschonen sind das äusserste Glied meiner Entdeckungen: des grossen Bundes, durch ein mächtiges eignes Element zusammengehaltener Sprachen, von einem kleinen Erbtheil aztekischen Wortstoffes durchdrungen; welches ich, von Guadalaxara aus nordwärts suchend nach den Spuren des Azteken-Idioms und seines Volkes, angetroffen habe; sie bilden den Schlusstein meines sonorischen Baues.' _Buschmann_, _Spuren der Aztek. Spr._, pp. 349, 351, 648, 391, 652, et seq.; _Sivers_, _Mittelamerika_, pp. 291-2.

[V'-8] 'They all speak the same language except Harno, the most northern town of the three, which has a language and some custom peculiar to itself.' _Marcy's Army Life_, p. 111. 'In six of the seven Moqui pueblos, the same language is said to be spoken.... Those of San Juan ... and one Moqui pueblo all speak the same language ... Tay-waugh.' _Lane_, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. v., p. 689; _Ten Broeck_, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. iv., p. 87. 'The Moquis ... do not all speak the same language. At Oraybe some of the Indians actually professed to be unable to understand what was said by the Mooshahneh chief, and the latter told me that the language of the two towns was different. At Tegua they say that a third distinct tongue is spoken.... The people ... have abandoned the habit of visiting each other till the languages, which, with all Indian tribes, are subject to great mutations, have gradually become dissimilar.' _Ives' Colorado Riv._, p. 127. 'Wie ich erfuhr, sollen die Moquis nicht alle eine und dieselbe Sprache haben, und die Bewohner einiger Städte nicht nur fremde Dialekte, sondern sogar fremde Sprachen reden.' _Möllhausen_, _Reisen_, tom. ii., p. 239. Davis, referring to a MS. by Cruzate, a former Governor of New Mexico, maintains that the Moqui speak the Queres language, but at the same time he says 'it is maintained by some that ... four of the Moqui villages speak a dialect very nearly the same as that of the Navajos, while a fifth speaks that of San Juan, which is Tegua.... The distance from Picoris to the Moqui villages is about four hundred miles ... yet these widely separated pueblos speak ... the same language.' _El Gringo_, pp. 116-7, 155. Comparisons of the vocabularies in Simpson, Davis, and Meline prove the Moqui to be a distinct language. _Ward_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1864, p. 191.

[V'-9] _Lane_, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. v., p. 689.

[V'-10] 'The language of the Môquis, or the Môquinos, is said to differ but little from that of the Navajos.' _Hughes' Doniphan's Ex._, p. 197. Speaking of all the Pueblo languages, including the Moqui: 'All these speak dialects of the same language, more or less approximating to the Apache, and of all of which the idiomatic structure is the same. They likewise all understand each other's tongue. What relation this language bears to the Mexican is unknown, but my impression is that it will be found to assimilate greatly, if not to be identical.' _Ruxton's Adven. Mex._, p. 194; _Gregg's Com. Prairies_, vol. i., p. 269.

[V'-11] 'No analogy has yet been traced between the language of the old Mexicans and any tribe at the north in the district from which they are supposed to have come.' _Bartlett's Pers. Nar._, vol. ii., p. 283. 'Reste der Mexikanischen Sprache fanden dagegen in den Sprachen dieser Völker die im Mexikanischen sehr geübten Missionäre nicht, sondern die Sprache von Moqui, und die der _Yabipais_, welche lange Bärte tragen, wesentlich unterschieden von dem Mexikanischen.' _Vater_, _Mithridates_, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 182. 'Cependant la langue que parlent les Indiens du Moqui, les Yabipais, qui portent de longue barbes, et ceux qui habitent les plaines voisines du Rio Colorado, diffère essentiellement de la langue mexicaine.' _Humboldt_, _Essai Pol._, tom. i., p. 305. 'Doch reden die Moquis.... Sprachen ganz verschieden vom Aztekischen.' _Mühlenpfordt_, _Mejico_, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 539. 'Die Moqui-Sprache ist doch der mexikanischen befreundet! sie ist--dies ist meine Erfindung--ein Zweig des Idioms, welches dem Suchenden als ein Phantom statt des leibhaften _nahuatl_ als sein Schattenbild, in dem alten Norden überall entgegentritt: ein Gebilde der sonorischen Zunge, bei welchem Namen ein kleines aztekisches Erbtheil sich von selbst versteht.... Ich erkläre die Moqui-Sprache für ein Glied meines Sonorischen Sprachstammes. Schon die auffallend vielen, manchmal in vorzüglich reiner Form erscheinenden, aztekischen Wörter bezeichnen die Sprache als eine sonorische; es kommt das zweite Kennzeichen hinzu: der Besitz gewisser ächt sonorischer Wörter. In einem grossen Theile erscheint die Sprache aber überaus fremdartig: um so mehr als sie auch von den 5 Pueblo-Sprachen, wie schon Simpson bemerkt hat, gänzlich verschieden ist.... Die Spuren der Subst. Endung _pe_, _be_ u.ä. weisen der Moqui-Sprache ihren Platz unter der comanche-schoschonischen Familie des Sonora Idioms an. Dieses allgemeine Urtheil über die Sprache ist sicher.' _Buschmann_, _Spuren der Aztek. Spr._, pp. 289-90.

[V'-12] _Simpson's Jour. Mil. Recon._, pp. 128-30; _Davis' El Gringo_, pp. 157-9.

[V'-13] _Boscana_, in _Robinson's Life in Cal._, p. 282.

[V'-14] _Hale's Ethnog._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. vi., pp. 566-7; _Buschmann_, _Kizh und Netela_, pp. 512-13.

[V'-15] _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., pp. 393-4.

[V'-16] 'Belong to the great Shoshonee, or Snake family.' _Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 76. 'The similarity which exists between many words in these two languages, and in the Shoshoni, is evident enough from a comparison of the vocabularies. The resemblance is too great to be attributed to mere casual intercourse, but it is doubtful whether the evidence which it affords will justify us in classing them together as branches of the same family.' _Hale's Ethnog._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. vi., p. 567. 'The natives of St. Diego cannot understand a word of the language used in this mission, and in like manner, those in the neighborhood of St. Barbara, and farther north.' _Boscana_, in _Robinson's Life in Cal._, p. 240; _Gleeson's Hist. Cath. Church_, p. 97.

[V'-17] 'Ich habe in dem Kizh ... und in der Netela ... zwei Glieder meines sonorischen Sprachstammes, ausgestattet mit Aztekischem Sprachstoff, entdeckt.' _Buschmann_, _Spuren der Aztek. Spr._, p. 546. 'Bei der, genugsam von mir aufgezeigten Gemeinschaft der zwei californischen Idiome, so lautet _mein Urtheil_, hofft man auch hier _vergebens_ auf ein genaues, glückliches _Zutreffen_ eigenthümlicher Formen dieser Sprachen mit dem Comanche und Schoschonischen oder mit den südlicheren sonorischen Hauptsprachen, ein Zusammentreffen mit etwas recht Besonderem Einer Sprache mit einer anderen: so nahe liegen die Sprachen sich nie, sie sind alle fremd genug gegen einander.' _Buschmann_, _Kizh und Netela_, p. 518.

[V'-18] _Garcés_, _Diario_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, série ii., tom. i., p. 351. Orozco y Berra includes them as well as the Utahs and Moquis with the Apache family of languages, in support of which he cites Balbi, tableau xxxii. 'Die Chimehwhuebes, Comanches und Cahuillos, also Stämme, die zwischen den Küsten der Südsee und Texas verbreitet sind, als Nebenstämme der Nation der Schoschone oder Schlangen-Indianer betrachtet werden können.' _Möllhausen_, _Reisen in die Felsengeb._, tom. i., pp. 435-6. 'The _Chemehuevis_ are a band of _Pah-Utahs_ ... whose language ... agrees most nearly with Simpson's Utah, and Hale's East Shoshonee.' The Cahuillo 'exhibits the closest affinity to the Kechi and Netela, especially the former. Its affinity to the Kizh is equally evident.' _Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 76. 'Die Chemehuevi- und Cahuillo-Sprache sind einander so fremd, dass sie beinahe für alle Begriffe ganz andere Wörter besitzen; ihre Verschiedenheit ist so gross, dass man aus ihnen allein nicht ahnden sollte, sie seien beide gleichmässig sonorische Glieder.' _Buschmann_, _Spuren der Aztek. Spr._, p. 554.

[V'-19] _Turner_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. iii., p. 77.

[V'-20] Compiled from Buschmann, Turner, Hale, Molina, Ortega, and others.

[V'-21] _Buschmann_, _Spuren der Aztek. Spr._, pp. 553-4.

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The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 3, Myths and LanguagesChapter V: Shoshone Languages

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