A study in historical linguistics of the presence of Semitic and Egyptian in the Uto-Aztecan language family, helping to explain various puzzles of linguisitics within Uto-Aztecan

In my tribal calling as genealogist for the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah I have ammassed Native Amrican family histories covering Arizona, Califronia, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah. 46,000 names so far. This has permitted me to elucidate their migrations and origins. This study included the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Kawaiisu, Luiseno, Mono Paiute, Southern Paiute, Serrano, Shoshone, Tataviam (Fernandeno), Timbisha (Death Valley), Tongva (Gabrielino), and the Tubatulabals. This book is the result of this study. This book explores the Indian slave trade along with Indian escape stories. Indian origin stories are related. One escape story is about the Garfias ranch in Altadena and Pasadena, California. Another escape story tells of escape from Navajo servitude. A Tataviam story teller from the first century B.C. tells a thrilling epic sea voyage that he takes from the seething cauldron of Mesoamerican violence to Santa Clarita, California by way of a white knuckle adventure that takes him to Northern California. Then he takes you on a thrilling adventure of discovery and geological magic (magic to him) in the deserts of California. His adventures will reach out and grab you. The role of Death Valley in peopling the Great Basin is explored. The great Ute migration to Utah is elucidated. Southern and Northern Paiute origins are probed. The Tongva (Gabrielino Indians) of the Los Angeles Basin are depicted as the source from whence the Cahuilla, Serrano, and Luiseno Indians came from. Whereas the Tongva (Fernadeno Indians) are shown to be the source ot the tribes of the desert areas north and northeast from Los Angeles on into Nevada, idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and out on to the plains as the dreaded Comanche. After the collapse of the Anasazi came the Southern Paiutes to fill the Anasazi vacancy ahead of the Navajo migration.

John Dedrick, who lived and worked among the Yaquis for more than thirty years, shares his extensive knowledge of the language, while Uto-Aztecan specialist Eugene Casad helps put the material in a comparative perspective."--Jacket

This book offers a new approach to the use of linguistic data to reconstruct prehistory. The author shows how a well-studied language family—in this case Uto-Aztecan—can be used as an instrument for reconstructing prehistory. The main focus of Shaul’s work is the mapping of Uto-Aztecan. By presenting various models of Uto-Aztecan prehistory, by assessing multiple models simultaneously, and by guiding readers through areas where the evidence is not so clear, Shaul helps nonspecialists develop the tools needed for evaluating various historical linguistics models themselves. He evaluates both archaeological and genetic evidence as well, placing it carefully alongside the linguistic evidence he knows best. Shaul’s thorough treatment provides many new avenues for future research on the historical anthropology of western North America.

A book addressing Uto-Aztecan Native American languages from 600 BC to the present as relevant to the Book of Mormon.