What did the Anasazi's language look like?

Answer 1

Q. Did the Anasazi have any type of spoken language?

A. Yes! Although the Anasazi (ancestral Puebloans is another name for them) did not have a written language, they most certainly did have a spoken language. Any group of people need to be able to communicate, and the Anasazi were no different. We do know that they spoke to each other, but we cannot be sure what their language sounded like. Our best clues come from the languages of the modern Puebloan people who live in Arizona and New Mexico. You might be suprised to learn that six different languages (Tewa, Tiwa, Towa, Keres, Hopi, and Zuni) are spoken in modern Pueblo villages and that these languages come from four different language families. An example of a language family is the "Romance" family which includes Spanish, Italian, and French. These languages are descended from Latin, the language of the ancient Romans. Because so many different languages are spoken in the modern Pueblos, and because there are no written records of ancient Puebloan languages, archaeologists do not know which ancestral languages were spoken in which ancient villages in the Southwest.

Answer 2

The Anasazi emerged as a distinct culture as early as 1200 BCE and we have no way of knowing what their language was like.

Today's modern Pueblo people (their descendants) speak languages in four unrelated families and a total of 8 languages depending on how you count in 21 Pueblos. The languages are:

• Hopi
• Zuñi
• Keresan
• Towa
• Tewa
• Taos
• Picuris
• Southern Tiwa

The Anasazi probably spoke a similar variety of languages. The differences in culture and pottery across the Anasazi area may have represented different language areas. But we really don't know.