Mosan languages

Mosan is a hypothetical language family consisting of the Salishan, Wakashan, and Chimakuan languages of the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It was proposed by Edward Sapir in 1929 in the Encyclopædia Britannica. Little evidence has been adduced in favor of such a grouping, no progress has been made in reconstructing it, and it is now thought to reflect a language area rather than a genetic relationship. The term persists outside academic linguistic literature because of Sapir's stature.

An automated computational analysis (ASJP 4) by Müller et al. (2013) found lexical similarities between Salishan and Chimakuan. Wakashan was not included. However, since the analysis was automatically generated, the grouping could be either due to mutual lexical borrowing or genetic inheritance.

External relationships
Michael Fortescue suggested in 1998 that Nivkh might be related to the Mosan languages of North America. Later, in 2011, he argued that Nivkh, which he referred to as an "isolated Amuric language", was related to the Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages, forming a Chukotko-Kamchatkan–Amuric language family. However, Glottolog considers the evidence to be "insufficient".

In 2015, Sergei Nikolaev argued in two papers for a systematic relationship between Nivkh and the Algic languages of North America, and a more distant relationship between these two together and the Wakashan languages of coastal British Columbia.

Vocabulary
Below is a comparison of reconstructions of selected basic vocabulary items in Proto-Salishan, Proto-Wakashan, and Proto-Chimakuan.


 * Abbreviations:
 * K = Proto-Kwakiutlan
 * N = Proto-Nootkan


 * {| class="wikitable sortable"

! gloss !! Proto-Salishan !! Proto-Wakashan !! Proto-Chimakuan ! head ! hair ! eye ! ear ! nose ! tooth ! tongue ! mouth ! hand ! foot ! breast ! meat ! blood ! bone ! person ! name ! dog ! fish ! louse ! tree ! leaf ! flower ! water ! fire ! stone ! earth ! salt ! road ! eat ! die
 * *q’ʷum || *t’uχʷ-/*t’uq-; *-qiː || *-t̍ikʷ
 * *t’amin 'fur, feathers' || || *míɬkʷ; *-sini; *q̍a-, *q̍a (?)
 * || *ğas- || *ɬaq̍ʷo (?)
 * *t’ani/aʔ || *p’ayp’ay(ʔiː)/*p’asp’ay(ʔiː) ||
 * || *-‘i(ː)ɬba(ː)/*-’i(ː)ɬta(ː) || *-os
 * || *gi(ː)g-/*gi(ː)k- ||
 * *tixʷc || *k’ulm || *-ɬito
 * *s-pl-ucin || *-aqs(iɬ)/*-’aqs(iɬ) || *pil-
 * *kalax || K *ʔay̍asu/*hay̍asu || *-t̍ay
 * *q’ʷax̆/x̆ʷ || *-(k)si(ː)(s)/*-kc’i(ː)ɬ; *gʷi(ː)gʷi(ː) || *law̍-
 * *s-qam || K *zam̍a, N *ʔanma || *máqas (?)
 * || K *ʔlz-/ʔls- ||
 * *cay || N *ƛaːƛaːw̍aqmis || *can-
 * *s-c’ụ/ạm; *q’awał || *χa(ː)x/*χa(ː)xaq- || *q̍a-
 * *qal-mixʷ || *-as || *póʔoqʷo
 * *kʷac, *kʷast || K *λiq- || *t̍ísoqʷoɬ
 * *s-qax̆aʔ || N *q’iniːƛ(č) || *kináno
 * *ciłn || *m̍iː- ||
 * *qʷətíx̆aʔ || *ği(ː)x(k)- ||
 * *cəq, *ʕ/ɣap (also 'stand') || *suč’(as) || *hám̍aʔa; *ya- 'tree, wood'
 * *packl || || *-ɬi
 * *p’aq’-m || *luːlačχ-/*laː(ʔ)ulačx- ||
 * *qʷuʔ, *ʔuqʷ, *qu/al || N *č’a(ʔakʷ) || *-c̍i, *-c̍o; *-sina
 * *yəqʷ, *həyqʷ 'fire(wood)' || *ʔana(kʷ) || *-so; *-spa
 * *s-xanx || K *luʔχʷk’ʷs || *k̍áλ̍a, *k̍át̍ia
 * *tmixʷ 'world, nature, earth' || K *t’k- || *c̍iq̍át- 'ground, world, universe'
 * || *dum- ||
 * || *t’ax- || *-ɬimt
 * *ʔup; *ʔił(t)n || *ha(ː)w̍(a)-/*ham̍(a)- || *-lax̣
 * *ƛ’lal || K *-‘alis(m); N *qaχ- || *k̍ʷiq-
 * }