Keres (language)

Spread of Keres

Keres is a group of seven related language varieties that are common in the US state of New Mexico and spoken by the Pueblo Indians there. The speakers of the individual dialects are able to understand the speakers of a neighboring dialect. Most widespread today is the western Keres , which is still dominated by around 3400 speakers. But there are considerable differences between the dialects of the western and eastern groups. So far it has not been possible to prove relationships to other languages.

breakdown

• Eastern dialects : a total of 4580 speakers (census 1990)
  • Cochiti Pueblo : 384 speakers (census 1990)
  • San Felipe-Santo Domingo: San Felipe Pueblo : 1560 speakers (census 1990), Santo Domingo Pueblo : 1880 speakers (census 1990)
  • Zia-Santa Ana: Zia Pueblo : 463 speakers (1990 census), Santa Ana Pueblo : 229 speakers (1990 census)
• Western dialects : a total of 3391 speakers (census 1990)
  • Acoma Pueblo : 1696 speakers (census 1980)
  • Laguna Pueblo : 1695 speakers (census 1990)

Possible family relationships

Keres is an isolated language . Assumptions that connections to the Sioux languages , the Caddo languages , the Iroquois languages or Wichita could exist have not yet been confirmed.

literature

• Lyle Campbell : American Indian Languages. The Historical Linguistics of Native America (= Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics. 4). Oxford University Press, New York NY et al. 1997, ISBN 0-19-509427-1 .
• Marianne Mithun: The Languages ​​of Native North America. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1999, ISBN 0-521-23228-7 .