Mosan languages

Mosan is a hypothetical language family consisting of the Salishan, Wakashan, and Chimakuan languages of the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It was proposed by Edward Sapir in 1929 in the Encyclopædia Britannica. Little evidence has been adduced in favor of such a grouping, no progress has been made in reconstructing it, and it is now thought to reflect a language area rather than a genetic relationship.^[1] The term persists outside academic linguistic literature because of Sapir's stature.^{[citation needed]}

Mosan
(obsolete)
Geographic distribution	British Columbia, Washington
Linguistic classification	Algonquian–Wakashan ?
Subdivisions	Chimakuan Salishan Wakashan
Language codes
Glottolog	None

An automated computational analysis (ASJP 4) by Müller et al. (2013)^[2] found lexical similarities between Salishan and Chimakuan. Wakashan was not included. However, since the analysis was automatically generated, the grouping could be either due to mutual lexical borrowing or genetic inheritance.

External relationships

Michael Fortescue suggested in 1998 that Nivkh might be related to the Mosan languages of North America.^[3] Later, in 2011, he argued that Nivkh, which he referred to as an "isolated Amuric language", was related to the Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages, forming a Chukotko-Kamchatkan–Amuric language family.^[4] However, Glottolog considers the evidence to be "insufficient".^{[citation needed]}

In 2015, Sergei Nikolaev argued in two papers for a systematic relationship between Nivkh and the Algic languages of North America, and a more distant relationship between these two together and the Wakashan languages of coastal British Columbia.^[5][6]

Vocabulary

Below is a comparison of reconstructions of selected basic vocabulary items in Proto-Salishan, Proto-Wakashan, and Proto-Chimakuan.

Abbreviations

• K = Proto-Kwakiutlan
• N = Proto-Nootkan

gloss	Proto-Salishan[7]	Proto-Wakashan[8]	Proto-Chimakuan[9]
head	*q’ʷum	*t’uχʷ-/*t’uq-; *-qiː	*-t̍ikʷ
hair	*t’amin 'fur, feathers'		*míɬkʷ; *-sini; *q̍a-, *q̍a (?)
eye		*ğas-	*ɬaq̍ʷo (?)
ear	*t’ani/aʔ	*p’ayp’ay(ʔiː)/*p’asp’ay(ʔiː)
nose		*-‘i(ː)ɬba(ː)/*-’i(ː)ɬta(ː)	*-os
tooth		*gi(ː)g-/*gi(ː)k-
tongue	*tixʷc	*k’ulm	*-ɬito
mouth	*s-pl-ucin	*-aqs(iɬ)/*-’aqs(iɬ)	*pil-
hand	*kalax	K *ʔay̍asu/*hay̍asu	*-t̍ay
foot	*q’ʷax̆/x̆ʷ	*-(k)si(ː)(s)/*-kc’i(ː)ɬ; *gʷi(ː)gʷi(ː)	*law̍-
breast	*s-qam	K *zam̍a, N *ʔanma	*máqas (?)
meat		K *ʔlz-/ʔls-
blood	*cay	N *ƛaːƛaːw̍aqmis	*can-
bone	*s-c’ụ/ạm; *q’awał	*χa(ː)x/*χa(ː)xaq-	*q̍a-
person	*qal-mixʷ	*-as	*póʔoqʷo
name	*kʷac, *kʷast	K *λiq-	*t̍ísoqʷoɬ
dog	*s-qax̆aʔ	N *q’iniːƛ(č)	*kináno
fish	*ciłn	*m̍iː-
louse	*qʷətíx̆aʔ	*ği(ː)x(k)-
tree	*cəq, *ʕ/ɣap (also 'stand')	*suč’(as)	*hám̍aʔa; *ya- 'tree, wood'
leaf	*packl		*-ɬi
flower	*p’aq’-m	*luːlačχ-/*laː(ʔ)ulačx-
water	*qʷuʔ, *ʔuqʷ, *qu/al	N *č’a(ʔakʷ)	*-c̍i, *-c̍o; *-sina
fire	*yəqʷ, *həyqʷ 'fire(wood)'	*ʔana(kʷ)	*-so; *-spa
stone	*s-xanx	K *luʔχʷk’ʷs	*k̍áλ̍a, *k̍át̍ia
earth	*tmixʷ 'world, nature, earth'	K *t’k-	*c̍iq̍át- 'ground, world, universe'
salt		*dum-
road		*t’ax-	*-ɬimt
eat	*ʔup; *ʔił(t)n	*ha(ː)w̍(a)-/*ham̍(a)-	*-lax̣
die	*ƛ’lal	K *-‘alis(m); N *qaχ-	*k̍ʷiq-

See also

• Algonquian–Wakashan languages (Almosan)