Palaihnihan languages

Palaihnihan is a small language family of northeastern California. It consists of two closely related languages, both now extinct:Palaihnihan

Genetic relations

The Palaihnihan family is often connected with the hypothetical Hokan stock. Proposed special relationships within Hokan include Palaihnihan with Shastan and within a Kahi sub-group with Shastan, Chimariko, and Karuk.

The original reconstruction of proto-Palaihnihan suffered from poor quality data. David Olmsted's dictionary depends almost entirely upon de Angulo, who did not record the phonological distinctions consistently or well, and carelessly includes Pomo vocabulary from a manuscript in which he set out to demonstrate that Achumawi and Pomo are not related. William Bright has also pointed out problems with Olmsted's methods of reconstruction. The reconstruction is being refined with newer data.

Good, McFarland, & Paster conclude there were at least three vowels, *a *i *u, and possibly marginal *e, along with vowel length and ablaut.

Consonants were as follows: