Numic is the northernmost branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin, Colorado River basin, Snake River basin, and southern Great Plains. The word Numic comes from the cognate word in all Numic languages for “person”, which reconstructs to Proto-Numic as /*nɨmɨ/. For example, in the three Central Numic languages and the two Western Numic languages it is /nɨmɨ/. In Kawaiisu it is /nɨwɨ/ and in Colorado River/nɨwɨ/, /nɨŋwɨ/ and /nuu/.
Tree of Numic languages. Dialects are in italics.
Classification
Map of historical distribution of Numic languages. Western Numic languages are shown in green, Central Numic in blue, and Southern Numic in yellow
Mono (two main dialects: Eastern[15] and Western[16])
Northern Paiute[17] (a dialect chain with main regional varieties being Southern Nevada,[18] Northern Nevada,[19] Oregon,[20] and Bannock[21])
Apart from Comanche, each of these groups contains one language spoken in a small area in the southern Sierra Nevada and valleys to the east (Mono, Timbisha, and Kawaiisu), and one language spoken in a much larger area extending to the north and east (Northern Paiute, Shoshoni, and Colorado River). Some linguists have taken this pattern as an indication that Numic speaking peoples expanded quite recently from a small core, perhaps near the Owens Valley, into their current range. This view is supported by lexicostatistical studies.[22] Fowler's reconstruction of Proto-Numic ethnobiology also points to the region of the southern Sierra Nevada as the homeland of Proto-Numic approximately two millennia ago.[23] A mitochondrial DNA study from 2001 supports this linguistic hypothesis.[24] The anthropologist Peter N. Jones thinks this evidence to be of a circumstantial nature,[25] but this is a distinctly minority opinion among specialists in Numic.[26] David Shaul has proposed that the Southern Numic languages spread eastward long before the Central and Western Numic languages expanded into the Great Basin.[27]
Distribution of Uto-Aztecan languages in present-day Western United States at the time of first European contact/invasion showing various Numic languages.
Bands of eastern Shoshoni split off from the main Shoshoni body in the very late 17th or very early 18th century and moved southeastward onto the Great Plains.[28] Changes in their Shoshoni dialect eventually produced Comanche. The Comanche language and the Shoshoni language are quite similar although certain low-level consonant changes in Comanche have inhibited mutual intelligibility.[29]
Recent lexical and grammatical diffusion studies in Western Numic have shown that while there are clear linguistic changes that separate Northern Paiute as a distinct linguistic variety, there are no unique linguistic changes that mark Mono as a distinct linguistic variety.[30]
Major sound changes
The sound system of Numic is set forth in the following tables.[31]
Vowels
Proto-Numic had an inventory of five vowels.
front
back unrounded
back rounded
High
*i
*ɨ
*u
Non-High
*a
*o
Consonants
Proto-Numic had the following consonant inventory:
In addition to the above simple consonants, Proto-Numic also had nasal-stop/affricate clusters and all consonants except *s, *h, *j, and *w could be geminated. Between vowels short consonants were lenited.
Major Central Numic consonant changes
The major difference between Proto-Central Numic and Proto-Numic was the phonemic split of Proto-Numic geminate consonants into geminate consonants and preaspirated consonants. The conditioning factors involve stress shifts and are complex. The preaspirated consonants surfaced as voiceless fricatives, often preceded by a voiceless vowel.
Shoshoni and Comanche have both lost the velar nasals, merging them with *n or turning them into velar nasal-stop clusters. In Comanche, nasal-stop clusters have become simple stops, but p and t from these clusters do not lenite intervocalically. This change postdates the earliest record of Comanche from 1786, but precedes the 20th century. Geminated stops in Comanche have also become phonetically preaspirated.
Major Southern Numic consonant changes
Proto-Southern Numic preserved the Proto-Numic consonant system fairly intact, but the individual languages have undergone several changes.
Modern Kawaiisu has reanalyzed the nasal-stop clusters as voiced stops, although older recordings preserve some of the clusters. Geminated stops and affricates are voiceless and non-geminated stops and affricates are voiced fricatives. The velar nasals have fallen together with the alveolar nasals.
The dialects of Colorado River east of Chemehuevi have lost *h. The dialects east of Kaibab have collapsed the nasal-stop clusters with the geminated stops and affricate.
Major Western Numic consonant changes
Proto-Western Numic changed the nasal-stop clusters of Proto-Numic into voiced geminate stops. In Mono and all dialects of Northern Paiute except Southern Nevada, these voiced geminate stops have become voiceless.
Sample Numic cognate sets
The following table shows some sample Numic cognate sets that illustrate the above changes. Forms in the daughter languages are written in a broad phonetic transcription rather than a phonemic transcription that sometimes masks the differences between the forms. Italicized vowels and sonorants are voiceless.
^John E. McLaughlin. 1992. “A Counter-Intuitive Solution in Central Numic Phonology,” International Journal of American Linguistics 58:158–181. John E. McLaughlin. 2000. “Language Boundaries and Phonological Borrowing in the Central Numic Languages,” Uto-Aztecan: Temporal and Geographical Perspectives. Ed. Gene Casad and Thomas Willett. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. Pp. 293–304. Wick Miller, Dirk Elzinga, and John E. McLaughlin. 2005. "Preaspiration and Gemination in Central Numic," International Journal of American Linguistics 71:413–444. John E. McLaughlin. 2023. Central Numic (Uto-Aztecan) Comparative Phonology and Vocabulary. LINCOM Studies in Native American Linguistics 86. Munich, Germany: LINCOM GmbH.
^Lila Wistrand Robinson & James Armagost. 1990. Comanche Dictionary and Grammar. Summer Institute of Linguistics and The University of Texas at Arlington Publications in Linguistics Publication 92. Dallas, Texas: The Summer Institute of Linguistics and The University of Texas at Arlington. Jean O. Charney. 1993. A Grammar of Comanche. Studies in the Anthropology of North American Indians. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. Anonymous. 2010. Taa Nʉmʉ Tekwapʉ?ha Tʉboopʉ (Our Comanche Dictionary). Elgin, Oklahoma: Comanche Language and Cultural Preservation Committee.
^Jon P. Dayley. 1989. Tümpisa (Panamint) Shoshone Grammar. University of California Publications in Linguistics Volume 115. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. Jon P. Dayley. 1989. Tümpisa (Panamint) Shoshone Dictionary. University of California Publications in Linguistics Volume 116. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
^John E. McLaughlin. 2006. Timbisha (Panamint). Languages of the World/Materials 453. Muenchen: LINCOM Europa.
^John E. McLaughlin. 2012. Shoshoni Grammar. Languages of the World/Materials 488. Muenchen: LINCOM Europa.
^Richley H. Crapo. 1976. Big Smokey Valley Shoshoni. Desert Research Institute Publications in the Social Sciences 10. Reno: University of Nevada Press. Beverly Crum & Jon Dayley. 1993. Western Shoshoni Grammar. Boise State University Occasional Papers and Monographs in Cultural Anthropology and Linguistics Volume No. 1. Boise, Idaho: Department of Anthropology, Boise State University.
^Wick R. Miller. 1972. Newe Natekwinappeh: Shoshoni Stories and Dictionary. University of Utah Anthropological Papers 94. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. Wick R. Miller. 1996. "Sketch of Shoshone, a Uto-Aztecan Language," Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 17, Languages. Ed. Ives Goddard. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Pages 693–720. Dirk Allen Elzinga. 1999. "The Consonants of Gosiute", University of Arizona Ph.D. dissertation.
^Drusilla Gould & Christopher Loether. 2002. An Introduction to the Shoshoni Language: Dammen Daigwape. Salt Lake City, Utah: The University of Utah Press.
^D.B. Shimkin. 1949. "Shoshone, I: Linguistic Sketch and Text," International Journal of American Linguistics 15:175–188. D. B. Shimkin. 1949. "Shoshone II: Morpheme List," International Journal of American Linguistics 15.203–212. Malinda Tidzump. 1970. Shoshone Thesaurus. Grand Forks, North Dakota.
^Maurice L. Zigmond, Curtis G. Booth, & Pamela Munro. 1991. Kawaiisu, A Grammar and Dictionary with Texts. Ed. Pamela Munro. University of California Publications in Linguistics Volume 119. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
^Margaret L. Press. 1979. Chemehuevi, A Grammar and Lexicon. University of California Publications in Linguistics Volume 92. Berkeley, California. University of California Press. Laird, Carobeth. 1976. The Chemehuevis. Malki Museum Press, Banning, California.
^Edward Sapir. 1930. Southern Paiute, a Shoshonean Language. Reprinted in 1992 in: The Collected Works of Edward Sapir, X, Southern Paiute and Ute Linguistics and Ethnography. Ed. William Bright. Berlin: Mouton deGruyter. Edward Sapir. 1931. Southern Paiute Dictionary. Reprinted in 1992 in: The Collected Works of Edward Sapir, X, Southern Paiute and Ute Linguistics and Ethnography. Ed. William Bright. Berlin: Mouton deGruyter. Pamela A. Bunte. 1979. "Problems in Southern Paiute Syntax and Semantics," Indiana University Ph.D. dissertation.
^Talmy Givón. 2011. Ute Reference Grammar. Culture and Language Use Volume 3. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Jean O. Charney. 1996. A Dictionary of the Southern Ute Language. Ignacio, Colorado: Ute Press.
^Molly Babel, Andrew Garrett, Michael J. House, & Maziar Toosarvandani. 2013. "Descent and Diffusion in Language Diversification: A Study of Western Numic Dialectology," International Journal of American Linguistics 79:445–489.
^Sidney M. Lamb. 1957. "Mono Grammar," University of California, Berkeley Ph.D. dissertation. Rosalie Bethel, Paul V. Kroskrity, Christopher Loether, & Gregory A. Reinhardt. 1993. A Dictionary of Western Mono. 2nd edition.
^Evan J. Norris. 1986. "A Grammar Sketch and Comparative Study of Eastern Mono," University of California, San Diego Ph.D. dissertation.
^Sven Liljeblad, Catherine S. Fowler, & Glenda Powell. 2012. The Northern Paiute–Bannock Dictionary, with an English–Northern Paiute–Bannock Finder List and a Northern Paiute–Bannock–English Finder List. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
^Allen Snapp, John Anderson, & Joy Anderson. 1982. "Northern Paiute," Studies in Uto-Aztecan Grammar, Volume 3, Uto-Aztecan Grammatical Sketches. Ed. Ronald W. Langacker. Summer Institute of Linguistics Publications in Linguistics Publication Number 57, Volume III. Dallas, Texas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and The University of Texas at Arlington. Pages 1–92.
^Timothy John Thornes. 2003. "A Northern Paiute Grammar with Texts," University of Oregon Ph.D. dissertation.
^Sven Liljeblad. 1966–1967. "Northern Paiute Lessons," manuscript. Sven Liljeblad. 1950. "Bannack I: Phonemes," International Journal of American Linguistics 16:126–131
^James A. Goss. 1968. "Culture-Historical Inference from Utaztekan Linguistic Evidence," Utaztekan Prehistory. Ed. Earl H. Swanson, Jr. Occasional Papers of the Idaho State University Museum, Number 22. Pages 1–42.
^Catherine Louise Sweeney Fowler. 1972. "Comparative Numic Ethnobiology". University of Pittsburgh PhD dissertation.
^Frederika A. Kaestle and David Glenn Smith. 2001. "Ancient Mitochondrial DNA Evidence for Prehistoric Population Movement," American Journal of Physical Anthropology 115:1–12.
^Peter N. Jones. 2005. Respect for the Ancestors: American Indian Cultural Affiliation in the American West. Boulder, CO: Bauu Institute.
^David B. Madsen & David Rhode, ed. 1994. Across the West: Human Population Movement and the Expansion of the Numa. University of Utah Press.
^David Leedom Shaul. 2014. A Prehistory of Western North America, The Impact of Uto-Aztecan Languages. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
^Thomas W. Kavanagh. 1996. The Comanches, A History 1706-1875. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
^John E. McLaughlin. 2000. “Language Boundaries and Phonological Borrowing in the Central Numic Languages,” Uto-Aztecan: Temporal and Geographical Perspectives. Ed. Gene Casad and Thomas Willett. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. Pp. 293–304.
^Molly Babel, Andrew Garrett, Michael J. House, & Maziar Toosarvandani. 2013. "Descent and Diffusion in Language Diversification: A Study of Western Numic Dialectology," International Journal of American Linguistics 79:445–489.
^David Iannucci. 1972. "Numic historical phonology," Cornell University PhD dissertation. Michael Nichols. 1973. "Northern Paiute historical grammar," University of California, Berkeley PhD dissertation Wick R. Miller. 1986. "Numic Languages," Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11, Great Basin. Ed. by Warren L. d’Azevedo. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. Pages 98–106.
