under the sponsorship of ILV, A.C.
Serian Family
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The Seri language (Cmiique Iitom) is considered a language isolate. (Some people have proposed that is part of the Hokan stock, but not much evidence has been presented to support the hypothesis.) It is spoken in two villages (El Desemboque del Río San Ignacio and Punta Chueca) on the coast of the state of Sonora, Mexico. Tiburón Island in the Gulf of California is part of the traditional Seri homeland, and it is called Tahejöc.
The total Seri population was less than 200 in the 1930's. Today it is at least three times larger.
The Seri people call themselves the Comcaac (singular: Cmiique). Until the middle of the twentieth century they were hunter-gatherers. Their livelihood today is based on commercial fishing and the sale of shell necklaces, ironwood carvings, and traditional baskets.
Featured publications
Books
- A bibliography for the study of Seri history, language and culture.
- Comcaac quih yaza quih hant ihiip hac: Cmiique iitom - cocsar iitom - maricaana iitom — Diccionario seri - español - inglés con índices español - seri, inglés - seri y con gramática (trilingual dictionary with grammar in Spanish)
- People of the Desert and Sea: Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians
- Shells on a Desert Shore: Mollusks in the Seri World
- Words from another world: A collection of analyzed Seri texts.
Recent articles
- "The Seris and the Comcaac: sifting fact from fiction"
- "Seri" (description of the sounds)
- "Seri origin myth"
- "Doce moluscos en doce meses / Twelve mollusks in twelve months"
- "La semántica léxica contrastiva y los diccionarios bilingües"
See the publications available on this site
For more information
- Short biographies of Edward W. Moser and Roberto Herrera Marcos
- Ethnologue listing