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43-866: The Karuk people ( Karok : káruk va'áraaras ) are an indigenous people of California , and the Karuk Tribe is one of the largest tribes in California. Karuks are also enrolled in two other federally recognized tribes , the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria and the Quartz Valley Indian Community . Happy Camp, California , is located in the heart of the Karuk Tribe's ancestral territory, which extends along

86-460: A Californian language. Karuk has a tone system consisting of three tones: high, low, and falling. Falling tones only occur in long vowels. When /i u/ occur next to one another in a word, whichever is the first vowel is pronounced as a glide , as in the following examples. Note: Syllabification in these examples is from right to left. The following example is a more rare case in Karuk where

129-456: A beginning speaker in Karuk, people who are interested in learning the language are paired with a fluent native speaker who they follow throughout the day. During this time spent with the native speaker, learners are only allowed to speak Karuk. The program is intensive, typically lasting 40 hours a week for 3 years. Around 20 groups had successfully gone through the entire program as of the year 2011. Language isolate A language isolate

172-489: A common ancestral language. This is what makes up a language family , which is a set of languages for which sufficient evidence exists to demonstrate that they descend from a single ancestral language and are therefore genetically related. For example, English is related to other Indo-European languages and Mandarin Chinese is related to other Sino-Tibetan languages . By this criterion, each language isolate constitutes

215-539: A dozen fluent elders. A standardized system for writing the languages was adopted in the 1980s. The region where the Karuk tribe lived remained largely undisturbed until beaver trappers came through the area in 1827. In 1848, gold was discovered in California, and thousands of Europeans came to the Klamath River and its surrounding region to search for gold. The Karuk territory was soon filled with mining towns, manufacturing communities, and farms. The salmon that

258-882: A dozen sign languages of the hill tribes in Thailand including the Ban Khor Sign Language . These and more are all presumed isolates or small local families, because many deaf communities are made up of people whose hearing parents do not use sign language, and have manifestly, as shown by the language itself, not borrowed their sign language from other deaf communities during the recorded history of these languages. Some languages once seen as isolates may be reclassified as small families because their genetic relationship to other languages has been established. This happened with Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , Korean and Koreanic languages , Atakapa and Akokisa languages , Tol and Jicaque of El Palmar languages, and

301-446: A family of its own. In some situations, a language with no ancestor can arise. This frequently happens with sign languages —most famously in the case of Nicaraguan Sign Language , where deaf children with no language were placed together and developed a new language. Caution is required when speaking of extinct languages as language isolates. Despite their great age, Sumerian and Elamite can be safely classified as isolates, as

344-450: A few remaining native speakers, with no new acquisition, highly restricted use, and near-universal multilingualism. "Extinct" languages have no native speakers, but are sufficiently documented to be classified as isolates. With few exceptions, all of Africa's languages have been gathered into four major phyla: Afroasiatic , Niger–Congo , Nilo-Saharan and Khoisan . However, the genetic unity of some language families, like Nilo-Saharan ,

387-526: A language previously considered an isolate may no longer be considered one, as happened with the Yanyuwa language of northern Australia , which has been placed in the Pama–Nyungan family. Since linguists do not always agree on whether a genetic relationship has been demonstrated, it is often disputed whether a language is an isolate. A genetic relationship is when two different languages are descended from

430-589: A language to classify it as either a language isolate or as a part of another language family. Unclassified languages are different from language isolates in that they have no demonstrable genetic relationships to other languages due to a lack of sufficient data. In order to be considered a language isolate, a language needs to have sufficient data for comparisons with other languages through methods of historical-comparative linguistics to show that it does not have any genetic relationships. Many extinct languages and living languages today are very poorly attested, and

473-446: A listener's attention is not diverted." Karuk is similar to many other American Indian Languages in showing "a complex person-marking system, where subject and object are marked in portmanteau prefixes " on its verbs. Depending on the subject and the object the speaker is referring to, there is a prefix for both positive and negative indicatives as well as a prefix for the potential mood. Through his research, William Bright found

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516-467: A o u/, some of which may also differ in terms of length . Vowel qualities /a i u/ occur as both long and short vowels, while mid vowels /e o/ only occur as long vowels. Karuk has 16 phonemic consonants (all of them with no voicing contrast), a small number compared to the relatively large consonant inventories of most California languages. Karuk also lacks secondary articulation to its consonants such as glottalization or labialization , also unusual for

559-400: A tribe member and fellow linguist, on a Karuk dictionary , which was published in 2005. They recorded everyday conversations, songs, stories, and poetry of fluent Karuk speakers to attempt to capture the language and what it meant to those speaking it. Bright spent over fifty years studying, researching, and documenting Karuk, and is the only non-Indian to be inducted as an honorary member of

602-460: A way William Bright relates to how English words snort , sniff , and sneeze all start with a sn- . The following are examples of prefixes in Karuk. Note: More translations can be found online in the Dictionary section depicting Dr. Bright's research. Dr. William Bright started studying the Karuk language in 1949 in pursuit of his doctorate in linguistics at U.C Berkeley . Bright

645-816: Is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America , Tiwi in Australia and Burushaski in Pakistan are all examples of such languages. The exact number of language isolates is yet unknown due to insufficient data on several languages. One explanation for

688-540: Is caused by a combination of a lack of younger fluent speakers, a decline in the number of speakers, not being typically taught at home at young ages, a feeling of disconnect between its use and the contemporary world, and the lack of literacy in the language among tribal members. The committee ultimately created a five-step plan: An immersion method called the master-apprentice program was started in 1992 by Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival to aid in Karuk revitalization efforts. In order to fully immerse

731-419: Is derived from Karuk language term "yúruk va’áraaras", meaning "downriver people. Historically, "káruk va’áraaras" referred to any people from upriver of a reference point or person speaking. Traditionally, Karuk people referred to themselves as "ithivthanéen’aachip va’áraaras", meaning "middle of the world people". Karuk people are called Chum-ne in the neighboring Tolowa language . The Karuk people speak

774-743: Is in Northwestern California in Siskiyou , Humboldt , and Del Norte counties. The language originated around the Klamath River between Seiad Valley and Bluff Creek. Most Karuk speakers now live in the towns of Somes Bar , which is near the Karuk Center of the World (in Karuk, "Katimiin"), Happy Camp ("Athithufvuunupma"), and Orleans ("Panamniik"). The Karuk people originally owned 1.04 million acres of land until it

817-467: Is not closely or obviously related to any other (in the area), but has been classified as a member of the northern group of Hokan languages, in a subgroup which includes Chimariko and the Shasta languages, spoken in the same general part of California as Karok itself." Karuk is spoken within the range of the original territory where the Karuk people lived prior to European contact. The ancestral territory

860-665: Is questionable, and so there may be many more language families and isolates than currently accepted. Data for several African languages, like Kwisi , are not sufficient for classification. In addition, Jalaa , Shabo , Laal , Kujargé , and a few other languages within Nilo-Saharan and Afroasiatic -speaking areas may turn out to be isolates upon further investigation. Defaka and Ega are highly divergent languages located within Niger–Congo -speaking areas, and may also possibly be language isolates. Current research considers that

903-408: Is that they arose independently in isolation and thus do not share a common linguistic genesis with any other language but themselves. This explanation mostly applies to sign languages that have developed independently of other spoken or signed languages. Some languages once seen as isolates may be reclassified as small families if some of their dialects are judged to be sufficiently different from

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946-536: Is the Nicaraguan Sign Language , a well documented case of what has happened in schools for the deaf in many countries. In Tanzania, for example, there are seven schools for the deaf, each with its own sign language with no known connection to any other language. Sign languages have also developed outside schools, in communities with high incidences of deafness, such as Kata Kolok in Bali, and half

989-460: The Coastal woodfern as anti-microbial agents in the process of preparing eels for food consumption. Karok language Karuk is classified as severely endangered by UNESCO with only around 12 fluent native speakers of the language left. Most members of the Karuk nation now use English in their everyday lives. Since 1949, there have been efforts to revitalize the language and increase

1032-462: The Karuk language , a language isolate. The tribe has an active language revitalization program. Estimates for the population sizes of most Native groups before European arrival in California have varied substantially. Alfred L. Kroeber proposed a population for the Karuk of 1,500 in 1770. Sherburne F. Cook initially estimated it as 2,000, later raising this figure to 2,700. In 1910, Kroeber reported

1075-583: The Klamath River from Bluff Creek (near the community of Orleans in Humboldt County ) through Siskiyou County and into Southern Oregon . The name "káruk ," also spelled "Karok," means "upriver", or "upstream", whereas the word "yúruk" means "downriver". Thus, the term "káruk va’áraaras" refers to Karuk people, literally meaning "upriver people", whereas the exonym of the Yurok people in English,

1118-537: The Xincan Guatemala language family in which linguists have grouped the Chiquimulilla , Guazacapán , Jumaytepeque , and Yupiltepeque languages. Below is a list of known language isolates, arranged by continent, along with notes on possible relations to other languages or language families. The status column indicates the degree of endangerment of the language, according to the definitions of

1161-404: The syllabification is from left-to-right. Karuk consonants have been historically written using several different conventions. A comparison between these conventions follows: In two-consonant sequences [sh] or [th] are distinguished from the digraphs ⟨sh th⟩ which represent the single phonemes /ʃ θ/ with the use of a hyphen ⟨s-h t-h⟩ . Long vowels are represented by doubling

1204-552: The UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger . "Vibrant" languages are those in full use by speakers of every generation, with consistent native acquisition by children. "Vulnerable" languages have a similarly wide base of native speakers, but a restricted use and the long-term risk of language shift . "Endangered" languages are either acquired irregularly or spoken only by older generations. "Moribund" languages have only

1247-612: The existence of language isolates is that they might be the last remaining member of a larger language family, said language possibly could have had relatives in the past that have since disappeared without being documented leaving it an orphaned language much like the Ket language spoken in central Siberia who belongs to the wider Yeniseian language family, had it been discovered in recent times independently from its now extinct relatives such as Yugh and Kott it would have been classified as an isolate. Another explanation for language isolates

1290-678: The fact that they cannot be linked to other languages may be a reflection of our poor knowledge of them. Hattic , Gutian , and Kassite are all considered unclassified languages, but their status is disputed by a minority of linguists. Many extinct languages of the Americas such as Cayuse and Majena may likewise have been isolates. Several unclassified languages could also be language isolates, but linguists cannot be sure of this without sufficient evidence. A number of sign languages have arisen independently, without any ancestral language, and thus are language isolates. The most famous of these

1333-497: The language by the Karuk Language Restoration Committee. The committee, composed of eight volunteers, drafted a 5-year minimum plan in an attempt to preserve the Karuk language and help it regain its standing in the community. The committee was advised by Dr. William Bright and tribal member Julian Lang, a dedicated researcher of the language. Their studies suggest that the decline of the language

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1376-518: The language lacks words for cardinal directions , but uses suffixes on verbs to describe relevant direction. Many motion verbs have a singular and plural form. Through morphology , long-form vowels are used when a is next to i or u . Karuk uses accents where vowels can sound different in each word, making the language difficult to learn. Although the structure may be similar, Karuk is considered to be very different from its neighboring languages, such as Yurok . Karuk uses prefixes and suffixes in

1419-527: The languages are well enough documented that, if modern relatives existed, they would be recognizably related. A language thought to be an isolate may turn out to be related to other languages once enough material is recovered, but this is unlikely for extinct languages whose written records have not been preserved. Many extinct languages are very poorly attested, which may lead to them being considered unclassified languages instead of language isolates. This occurs when linguists do not have enough information on

1462-625: The letters: ⟨ii⟩, ⟨aa ⟩ and ⟨uu⟩ are used for /iː/ /aː/ and /uː/. Tones are marked for vowels in Karuk using accent marks. The high and falling tones are represented using the acute and circumflex diacritics , respectively, above the vowels. The low tone is not represented, and tones on long vowels are notated only on the first letter in the digraph. Karuk is a polysynthetic language known for its method of arranging old and new information: "... skilled Karuk speakers use separate words to communicate new, salient detail, or to underscore known detail; and they use affixes for background details so that

1505-495: The number of speakers led by linguists such as Dr. William Bright and Susan Gehr, as well as members of the Karuk community. The Karuk language originated around the Klamath River between Seiad Valley and Bluff Creek. Before European contact, it is estimated that there may have been up to 1,500 speakers. Linguist William Bright documented the Karuk language. When Bright began his studies in 1949, there were "a couple of hundred fluent speakers," but by 2011, there were fewer than

1548-636: The standard to be seen as different languages. Examples include Japanese and Georgian : Japanese is now part of the Japonic language family with the Ryukyuan languages , and Georgian is the main language in the Kartvelian language family. There is a difference between language isolates and unclassified languages , but they can be difficult to differentiate when it comes to classifying extinct languages . If such efforts eventually do prove fruitful,

1591-517: The surviving population of the Karuk as 800. According to the 2010 census, there were 6,115 Karuk individuals, of which 3,431 were full-blooded. Since time immemorial, the Karuk resided in villages along the Klamath River , where they continue such cultural traditions as hunting, gathering, fishing, basketmaking and ceremonial dances. The Karuk were the only California tribe to grow tobacco plants. The Brush Dance, Jump Dance and Pikyavish ceremonies last for several days and are practiced to heal and "fix

1634-525: The tribe relied on for food became less plentiful because of contamination in the water from mining, and many members of the Karuk tribe died from either starvation or new diseases that the Europeans brought with them to the area. Many members of the Karuk tribe were also killed or sold into slavery by the Europeans. Karuk children were sent to boarding schools where they were Americanized and told not to use their native language. These combined factors caused

1677-1023: The tribe thanks to his contributions to the community. Bright was buried on Karuk land when he died in 2006. In the late 1980s, Humboldt State University started the "American Indian Bilingual Teacher Credential Program", where they brought in teachers from four local tribes, the Hupa , Yurok , Karuk , and Tolowa . These teachers were bilingual in their tribe's native language as well as English , and would be employed in local public schools to teach American Indian children. The university developed this initiative to help local American Indian populations either further develop their English for higher education or develop their native language to preserve culture. Bilingual teachers in both Karuk and English would teach at Orleans and Happy Camp Elementary Schools, where children would learn how to live in America while keeping their identity. In 1990, attempts were made to revive

1720-525: The use of the Karuk language to steadily decline over the years until measures were taken to attempt to revitalize the language. Karuk is a language isolate , sharing few if any similarities with other nearby languages. Historically, the American linguist Edward Sapir proposed it be classified as part of the Hokan family , although little evidence supports this proposal. As Bright wrote, "The Karok language

1763-424: The world," to pray for plentiful acorns, deer and salmon , and to restore social goodwill as well as individual good luck. The Karuk developed sophisticated usage of plants and animals for their subsistence. These practices not only consisted of food harvesting from nature, but also the use of plant and animal materials as tools, clothing and pharmaceuticals. The Karuk cultivated a form of tobacco, and used fronds of

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1806-720: Was claimed as public territory in 1905 under the Forest Reserve Act during the Roosevelt administration. In 1887, some members of the Karuk tribe were given small plots of land under the General Allotment Act. In the 1970's, elders from the Karuk tribe bought back two properties in Orleans and Happy Camp and have acquired 1,661 acres of land that the tribe can use for ceremonies, housing, and resource management. There are 5 vowel qualities in Karuk /i e

1849-412: Was met with open arms by tribal elders and was given the Karuk name Uhyanapatánvaanich , or "little word-asker". Around a decade later, Bright published The Karok Language , describing the Karuk language, its grammar, and syntax . Bright set himself apart from linguists from his time for incorporating elements of the cultural context of Karuk into his descriptions. Bright later worked with Susan Gehr,

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