Evidence for Inland Penutian

Comparative evidence for the Penutian hypothesis is very thin, but more evidence has been presented in the literature for the validity of two smaller units: Plateau Penutian, consisting of Sahaptian, Cayuse, Klamath-Modoc, and probably Maiduan, and Yok-Utian, consisting of Yokuts and Miwok-Costanoan. However, some evidence for a genetic relationship between these two units are provided here. Several lexical comparisons are presented that involve correspondences in internal word structure, larger word families, or both. Two morphological comparisons, of a locative construction and a numeral suffix, help to explain irregularities in the daughter languages.