Plateau Penutian, as originally proposed, was one branch of the hypothetical
Penutian phylum as proposed by
Edward Sapir. The original proposal also included
Cayuse (which was grouped with Molala into a
Waiilatpuan branch); however, this language has little documentation and that which is documented is inadequately recorded. Thus, the status of Cayuse within Penutian (or any other genealogical relation for that matter) may very well forever remain
unclassified. The Sahaptian grouping of Sahaptin and Nez Percé has long been uncontroversial. There is evidence in support of a connection between Klamath (a.k.a. Klamath-Modoc) and Sahaptian. Howard Berman also provides evidence that would include Molala within Plateau Penutian. Appraisals of the Penutian hypothesis in the 1990s find Plateau Penutian to be "well supported" (DeLancey & Golla (1997: 181); Campbell 1997), with DeLancey & Golla (1997: 180) cautiously stating "while all subgroupings at this stage of Penutian research must be considered provisional, several linkages show considerable promise" (Campbell 1997 likewise mentions similar caveats). Other researchers have pointed out similarities between Plateau Penutian and the
Maiduan family, although this proposal is still not completely demonstrated. A connection with
Uto-Aztecan has also been suggested (Rude 2000). The
Glottolog classification, favored by many
linguistic typologists but considered too conservative by some, disregards Plateau Penutian entirely.
Computational analyses A study published in 2013 using an automated computational analysis (
ASJP 4) of 40 basic vocabulary items resulted in languages from Plateau Penutian showing similarities that could be interpreted as genealogical cohesion. However, when describing the method, the authors of the study also concede that similarities may be due to
borrowings and
areal diffusion. Moreover, the use of automated methods for establishing genealogical connections is controversial, with many
historical linguistics still favouring analyses using the
comparative method, which places high importance on
morphological similarities, especially when found in irregularities (e.g.
English good-better-best,
German ,
Icelandic ). ==Vocabulary==