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Serian Family

Seri
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The Seri language (WAVcmiique iitom) is considered a language isolate. (Some people have proposed that is part of the Hokan stock, but there is not much evidence 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 Tahéjöc.


Map: where Seri is spoken in Mexico Map: the Seri region

The total Seri population was less than 200 in the 1930's. Today it is at least three times larger. The Serian family has the smallest number of speakers of any family in Mexico.


The Seri people call themselves the WAVcomcáac (singular: WAVcmiique). 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.


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