Solano is an unclassified extinct language formerly spoken in northeast Mexico and perhaps also in the neighboring U.S. state of Texas. It is a possible language isolate.
Background
Solano is known only from a 21-word vocabulary list that appears at the end of a 1703–1708 baptism book from the San Francisco Solano Mission,
which hosted at least four different peoples, including the
Xarames,
Payuguan,
Papanac, and
Siaguan.
Supposedly the language is of the Indians of this mission – perhaps the
Terocodame band cluster. The Solano peoples are associated with the 18th-century missions near Eagle Pass, Texas.
Word list
The 21 known Solano words, as reproduced in Swanton (1940), are:
[Swanton, John R. 1940. "Words from a dialect spoken near the mission of San Francisco Solano, below Eagle Pass on the Rio Grande". Linguistic material from the tribes of Southern Texas and Northeastern Mexico. (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 127). Washington: Government Printing Office. pp. 54-55.]
>|
! Solano !! English |
| yes |
| water |
| three |
| is she your sister? |
| to wish; Spanish: quiere (?) |
| tortilla |
| bad |
| I am hungry |
| mother |
| eat it |
| meat |
| fur |
| there is none |
| father |
| four |
| give me |
| tobacco |
| sister |
| brother |
| salt |
| there are |
Lexical comparison
Below is a comparison of selected words from Zamponi (2024). There are no obvious cognates with other neighboring languages.
>|
! language !! father !! four !! meat !! mother !! three !! water |
| apam |
| kó |
| wan |
| aʹx̣ |
| ʔa·x |
| *pa |
See also
Bibliography
-
Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. .
-
Goddard, Ives (Ed.). (1996). Languages. Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 17). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. .
-
Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). (1978–present). Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 1–20). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. (Vols. 1–3, 16, 18–20 not yet published).
