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Kiowa-Tanoan languages

Tanoan
Kiowa–Tanoan
Geographic
distribution
central North America
Linguistic classification One of the world's primary language families
Subdivisions
Linguasphere 64-C
Glottolog kiow1265
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Distribution of Tanoan languages before European contact. The pueblo languages are at the left; the nomadic Kiowa at right.

Tanoan /təˈn.ən/, also Kiowa–Tanoan or Tanoan–Kiowa, is a family of languages spoken by indigenous peoples in present-day New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Most of the languages – Tiwa (Taos, Picuris, Southern Tiwa), Tewa, and Towa – are spoken in the Native American Pueblos of New Mexico (with one outlier in Arizona). These were the first languages collectively given the name of Tanoan. Kiowa, which is a related language, is now spoken mostly in southwestern Oklahoma. The Kiowa had historically occupied areas of Texas and Oklahoma.

The Tanoan language family has seven languages in four branches:


Kiowa, (Cáuijògà / cáuijò:gyà): 1,000 speakers

Jemez (or Towa): 1,301 speakers (1990 census)

Taos: 803 speakers (1980 census)

Picuris: 101 speakers (1990 census)

Southern Tiwa: 1,732 speakers

? Piro (extinct)

Tewa: 1,298 speakers (1980 census)

Kiowa–Towa might form an intermediate branch, as might Tiwa–Tewa.

Tanoan has long been recognized as a major family of Pueblo languages, consisting of Tiwa, Tewa, and Towa. The inclusion of Kiowa into the family was at first controversial among linguists. The once-nomadic Kiowa people of the Plains are culturally quite distinct from the Tiwa, Tewa, and Towa pueblos, and people in other language families have typically shared more culture. Linguists now accept that a Tanoan family without Kiowa would be paraphyletic, as any ancestor of the pueblo languages would be ancestral to Kiowa as well. Kiowa may be closer to Towa than Towa is to Tiwa–Tewa. Technically Tanoan and Kiowa–Tanoan are considered synonyms among linguists. Because of the cultural use of the name Tanoan as signifying several peoples who share a culture, the more explicit term Kiowa–Tanoan is still commonly used for the language family.


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