Karankawa language


Karankawa is the extinct, unclassified language of the Texas coast, where the Karankawa people migrated between the mainland and the :Category:Barrier islands of Texas|barrier islands. It was not closely related to other known languages in the area, many of which are also poorly attested, and may have been a language isolate. A couple hundred words are preserved, collected in 1698, 1720, and 1828; in the 1880s, three lists were collected from non-Karankawa who knew some words.
Karankawa has sometimes been included with neighboring languages in a Coahuiltecan family, but that is now thought to be spurious.

Phonology

FrontCentralBack
Closei iːu uː
Mide eːəo oː
Opena aː

Vocabulary

Though only a few hundred words of the Karankawa language are preserved, the following are selected words recorded by Albert Gatschet, a late Victorian anthropologist and linguist, referenced from the last fluent speakers of the language.
The following vocabulary list of Karankawa is from John Swanton.