Naolan is an extinct language that was spoken a five-hour walk away from Tula, Tamaulipas in northeast Mexico. It is only known from 48 words and several phrases collected in the 1940s, and was nearly extinct at that time.Weitlaner, Roberto J.. 1948. Un Idioma Desconocido del Norte de México. In Actes du XXVIII Congrès International de Américanistes, 205-227. Paris. Naolan is believed to be the language of the tribe local to the area.
Classification Naolán has been compared to numerous languages, but none are obviously close and there is not enough data to spot more distant relationships. Six of the words are Spanish loans, five more appear to be loans from neighboring languages, and another four are suspected loans, leaving little to work with. Campbell (1979, 1997) therefore considers it unclassified.
Vocabulary Weitlaner's (1948) word list of Naolan is reproduced below. The words had been collected from multiple informants, who were Román Rochas, Procopio Medrano Silva, Febronio Saenz, María Hernández, and Mariano Saenz.
Spanish gloss (original) English gloss (translated) Naolán mi ojo my eye mi yuːhu; ma yoho mi oreja my ear mi koːl; ma koːl mis 2 orejas my 2 ears mi maːkwil; ma kwil muchacho boy maː mušilači; mačičilače maíz maize masúːná tortilla tortilla ma wiːši; ma wiši calabaza de la tierra ground squash má sá mò'ːná calabaza de castilla Cucurbita argyrosperma ma só ná; ma sóna maguey maguey ma namuléa; mamuléa quiote quiote (agave stalk) ma kaːso água miel honey ma špaːkeː; maškape água water mi; míː carne (de venado) meat (of deer) ma naːme; manáme león lion, puma maː čitun makapal coyote coyote ma boːkam; ma boːkan zorra fox má'ː-yo venado deer ma naːmeːl; el amel conejo rabbit ma kuyóam; makuyón; makuyo está una víbora chillando a rattling snake gwašnan masiːlam lagartija lizard ma naː šiːl; manači; manaketal; malačil araña spider granya caballo horse ma kayo borrega sheep (female) magalena borrego sheep (male) ma kaleːna; makanel balido de la borrega bleet of sheep sána ƀa wiči cochino pig moːlan, moːlam; móːlan gallo rooster ma kalayo; makalayo gallina hen ma kaːšta; makašte; makasta rata rat ma soːče; ma sóče panal honeycomb ma tuːpil; tuːpil panal huaricho type of honeycomb ma pajam panal de huariche type of honeycomb ma paján
Phrases Naolan phrases from Weitlaner (1948):
Spanish gloss (original) English gloss (translated) Naolán Dame un cigarro. Give me a cigarette. sata čumaːƀal; saka čumál Dame una tortilla. Give me a tortilla. tatačú mawiːši Dame água. Give me water. tataču miː; tataču míː Sabes chupar? Do you know how to suck? jotas noːkwil; jota nóːkil Sí, sé chupar. Yes, I know how to suck. aːjájas noːkwil Sí. Yes. aːj'a Qué bonita mujer! What a beautiful woman! kwajano kane makwanso Buenos días. Hello, greetings nyó'ːke; noike; jomene puteis; jonene puteis Gracias, estoy bien. Thanks, I am good. jotuní wáːna (mañana ?) (tomorrow?) aja ču (šu) wana Cómo está tu hermana? How is your sister? jome tu nigwána Qué pasa? How is it going? čopajo; čupájo Mañana me voy allá al picacho. Tomorrow I will go there to the peak. kosúsameːuwampa ƀiːtóːya ? ? kačumái
References