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Hokan

Hokan

9.9
A group of related Native American languages once spoken in places like California and Arizona
  • noun
  • /hoʊˈkæn/
  • Specialized
: Hokan
  • At least 550 Seri remain fluent in cmique iitom, the only remaining tongue in their branch of the Hokan language family.

Examples

  • The Hokan language family includes several Native American languages that were once spoken in California.

  • Many researchers believe that the Hokan family of languages shares common roots with other indigenous languages in North America.

  • Linguists are studying the Hokan languages to understand the cultural history of the tribes in the region.

Synonyms

Hoka
vsHokan
  • Specialized
9.9

A group of Native American languages once spoken in California

is broader, covering languages also formerly spoken in southwestern United States and northwest Mexico

Surface Forms

Hokan singular
Hokans plural

Etymology

Hokan is a name linguists gave to a proposed family of Native American languages of western North America; think of the ending -an as meaning 'related to', like in American, so Hokan labels a group of languages that may be related to each other.