Palaihnihan languages

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Palaihnihan (also Palaihnih) is a language family of northeastern California.

Contents 1 Family division 2 Genetic relations 3 External links 4 Bibliography

[edit] Family division

Palaihnihan is said to comprise

1. Atsugewi (†)
2. Achumawi (a.k.a. Achomawi, Pit River Indian)

[edit] Genetic relations

The basis of this assertion is weakened by poor quality of data. Olmsted's dictionary depends almost entirely upon de Angulo, and carelessly includes Pomo vocabulary from a manuscript in which he (de Angulo) set out to demonstrate that Achumawi and Pomo are not related. Bright has also pointed out problems with Olmsted's methods of reconstruction. The phenomenon of non-reciprocal intelligibility is a matter of bilingualism more prevalent in one community (Atsuge) than in the other.

The Palaihnihan family is often connected with the hypothetical Hokan stock. Proposed special relationships within Hokan include Palaihnihan with Shastan (known as Shasta-Achomawi) and within a Kahi sub-group (a.k.a. Northern Hokan) with Shastan, Chimariko, and Karuk.

[edit] External links

• "Reconstructing Achumawi and Atsugewi: Proto-Palaihnihan revisited"
• Aspects of Pit River phonology

[edit] Bibliography

• Bright, William. (1965). [Review of A history of Palaihnihan phonology by D. L. Olmstead]. Language, 41 (1), 175-178.
• Good, Jeff; McFarland, Teresa; & Paster, Mary. (2003). Reconstructing Achumawi and Atsugewi: Proto-Palaihnihan revisited. Atlanta, GA. (Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas, January 2–5).
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Nevin, Bruce E. (1998). Aspects of Pit River phonology. Ph.D. dissertation, University of

Pennsylvania.

• Olmstead, David L. (1954). Achumawi-Atsugewi non-reciprocal intelligibility. International Journal of American Linguistics, 20, 181-184.
• Olmstead, David L. (1956). Palaihnihan and Shasta I: Labial stops. Language, 32 (1), 73-77.
• Olmstead, David L. (1957). Palaihnihan and Shasta II: Apical stops. Language, 33 (2), 136-138.
• Olmstead, David L. (1959). Palaihnihan and Shasta III: Dorsal stops. Language, 35 (4), 637-644.
• Olmstead, David L. (1964). A history of Palaihnihan phonology. University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 35). Berkeley: University of California Press.