The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-10-10
Californian Tries to Trace the
Coming of Mexican Tribe
From Asia.
KEY FOUND IN DIALECTS
RECORDS OF NINETY-TWo IND
IAN TONGUES SPOKEN IN CALL
FoRNiA HAVE ALREADY BEEN
EXAMINED BY HIM.

Berkeley. Cal, Oct 9.-Althouxh a
majority OF the Indians OF California
have been found to be unique so far
as connection with tribes outside of
the State is concerned, Professor A. L.
Kroeber. head of the department Of the
California University. has started
work on the gigantic task Of tracing
the coming of the Aztecs. the famous
Mexican Indian tribe, from Asia by the
similarity of their dialect with that of
an Indian tribe found near Los An
geles. @st.Ht
For many reasons the scientists
have thought the famous Aztecs were
related to the Mongolians and may
have crossed from Asia thousands Of
years ago by the way Of Bering Sea
and thence wandered through the
United States to the warmer chimes
Of Central America, where they were
found by Cortez and his Spaniards in
the early part Of the sixteenth century.
The discovery Of the indian tribe
with similar dialect near Los Ange-
les by DR.. Kroeber, who is an expert
anthropologist and lnguist, has aided
materially in tracing the Aztecs north
ward, and the work will be carried on
with this end In view.
Professor Kroeber correlated with
his work In tracing the lineage of the
Aztecs the task Of recording an the
languages OF the Indians Of California,
This has bsen nearly completed. and
he has found that the total number Of
distinct aboriginal idioms in Califor-
mia 10 now about 1876. He has records
of ninety-two different Indian tongues
spoken within the confines Of the
State.
OF those Of which no record has
been made by the university. nearly all
are extinct and forgotten. These
comprise especially the dialects Of the
coast region Of the southern half Of
the State. Occasionally . few Indians
are still found who speak a language
that has not been previously noted.
Such a new dialect was only this
month recorded by Professor Kroeber
from tho Sacramento Valley. It is
likely that a few additional languages
will yet be discovered but in the main
records have been gathered Of all
forms Of speech that survive.
The Numerous languages fall into
about twenty groups. known as fanni-
lies or stocks. All the dialects within
one group show a certain similarity,
but there is no resemblance whatever
between one group and another.
Owing to the absence OF historical
records for more than a very short
period, the similarities and differences
between the various language furnish
the best means of classifying the In
dian tribes and of determining their
relationships and origin. In this way
it has been ascertained that certain
tribes of Humboldt and Mendocino
counties have sprung from the same
source as the Indians of Alaska and
the Apache. .
All Of the Indian languages EXAM
ined have been found to be much more
developed than Is commonly supposed.
They all possess q Vocabulary OF at
least 5000 words, and many show q
complex grammar rivaling or surpass-
ing that of Greek or Latin in intricacy.
None of the native tongues in this part
Of the world were ever written, and
characters based on the Roman alpha
bet, but distinct from it, have had to
be devised for recording accurately.