Editing Zuni language (section)

==Classification==
Zuni is considered a [[language isolate]]. The Zuni have, however, borrowed a number of words from [[Keresan languages|Keres]], [[Hopi language|Hopi]], and [[Oʼodham language|O’odham]] pertaining to religion and religious observances.<ref>Hill, Jane H. "Zunian as a Language Isolate."  ''American Southwest'' Vol. 22, No. 2, Spring 2008, p. 3</ref>

A number of possible relationships of Zuni to other languages have been proposed by various researchers, although none of these have gained general acceptance. The main hypothetical proposals have been connections with [[Penutian languages|Penutian]] (and Penutioid and Macro-Penutian), [[Tanoan languages|Tanoan]], and [[Hokan languages|Hokan]] [[Language family#Structure of a family|phyla]], and also the [[Keresan languages]].

The most clearly articulated hypothesis is Newman's (1964) connection to Penutian, but even this was considered by Newman (according to [[Michael Silverstein]]) to be a tongue-in-cheek work due to the inherently problematic nature of the methodology used in Penutian studies (Goddard 1996). Newman's cognate sets suffered from common problems in [[comparative linguistics]], such as comparing commonly borrowed forms (e.g. "tobacco"), forms with large semantic differences (e.g. "bad" and "garbage", "horse" and "hoof"), nursery forms, and onomatopoetic forms (Campbell 1997). Zuni was also included under [[Morris Swadesh]]'s Penutioid proposal and [[Joseph Greenberg]]'s very inclusive Penutian sub-grouping – both without convincing arguments (Campbell 1997).

Zuni was included as being part of the Aztec-Tanoan language family within [[Edward Sapir]]'s heuristic [[Classification of indigenous languages of the Americas#Sapir (1929): Encyclopædia Britannica|1929 classification]] (without supporting evidence). Later discussions of the Aztec-Tanoan hypothesis usually excluded Zuni (Foster 1996).

Karl-Heinz Gursky published problematic unconvincing evidence for a Keresan-Zuni grouping. [[J. P. Harrington]] wrote one unpublished paper with the title "Zuñi Discovered to be Hokan" (Campbell 1997).