Penutian Languages

Penutian languages, proposed major grouping (phylum or superstock) of American Indian languages spoken along the west coast of North America from British Columbia to central California and central New Mexico. The phylum consists of 15 language families with about 20 languages; the families are Wintun (two languages), Miwok-Costanoan (perhaps five Miwokan languages, plus three extinct Costanoan languages), Sahaptin (two languages), Yakonan (two extinct languages), Yokutsan (three languages), and Maiduan (four languages)—plus Klamath-Modoc, Cayuse (extinct), Molale (extinct), Coos, Takelma (extinct), Kalapuya, Chinook (not to be confused with Chinook Jargon, a trade language or lingua franca), Tsimshian, and Zuni, each a family consisting of a single language. All but four of the surviving familes are spoken by fewer than 150 persons.

Major languages in the phylum are Zuni, spoken in New Mexico; Tsimshian, spoken in British Columbia; and the Sahaptin dialects (Klikitat, Umatilla, Wallawalla, Warm Springs, and Yakima), spoken in north-central Oregon.

The Penutian languages are sometimes grouped into a yet larger stock, called either Penutian or Macro-Penutian, that includes several Mesoamerican Indian languages. The Totonacan, Huave, and Mixe-Zoquean language families are often included, and some scholars suggest the inclusion of the large Mayan language family. The American linguist Benjamin L. Whorf proposed to include not only Mixe-Zoquean, Huave, Totonacan, and Mayan (including Huastec) but also Uto-Aztecan, another major North and Mesoamerican language family. This grouping has not been generally accepted.

The Penutian languages tend toward the use of formal or inflecting suffixes and changes in the stems of words. In this respect they resemble European languages.