• classified as isolate within the Hokan stock (cf. Haas 1980)
• spoken in Northwestern California (Klamath River)
• nearly extinct
• close contact to Yurok (and Hupa)
Typological Information
• (compared to other languages of nothern California) relatively simple consonant and vowel inventories
• no dominant word order
• bipartite structure of the verb stem:
most disyllabic and polysyllabic verb stems can be analyzed as old prefix + root; roots are frozen in combination with one or more prefixes (cf. Hass 1980; Macaulay 1993)
Reduplication Form-Function
The present definition of the types follows formal criteria. verb:
• root
• root without simplex
• root with 'vocalic increment I'
• root with 'vocalic increment I' without simplex
• root with 'vocalic increment II'
for verbs without (frozen) prefix:
• stem
• stem without simplex noun:
• stem
• stem without simplex
Relationship Form-Function
various forms - various functions
Reduplication System
Form: Verb stem structure: the bipartite structure of the majority of the Karok verb stems can be proofed by internal reconstruction (cf. Haas 1980); furthermore, the reduplication pattern of Karok verbs shows that this structure - although frozen - is somehow transperant and salient to the speakers (cf. Macaulay 1993). Reduplication with 'vocalic increment':
A vowel - identical to the last vowel of the root is inserted between the root/stem and the reduplicant (cf. Macaulay 1993:75; Bright 1957: 90). There are two types, here refered as vocalic increment I and II. Type I can be explained diachronically whereas in type II the insertion of a vowel can be defined as epenthetic as consonant clusters within a syllable are unaccaptable in Karok (cf. Macaulay 1993: 75-80). Function:
main functions (of verbal reduplication) are repetition, intensification, plural object
Terminology