Connection between the Inuit and the Shoshone

Q: I was Just wondering if you have ever found a connection between the Inuit and the Shoshone. If so where could I find the information? I am in a college anthropology
class, and my instructor who is an anthropologist has linked the Shoshone and the Aztec. Any information you could help me with would be greatly appreciated.

A:  Thank you for writing. I'm afraid I'm a little confused by your question, though. The title of your email talks about the Inuit, but the body talks about the Aztecs. Those are two completely different civilizations. The Aztecs are indigenous people of south-central Mexico. The Inuit, also known as the Eskimos, live in the Arctic.

Your professor is correct, the Shoshone are distant relatives of the Aztecs and speak a related language. Their shared language family is known as "Uto-Aztecan" and you can learn more about it here. A good book on Native American language families in general is The Languages of Native North America.

The Inuit languages are completely unrelated to the Uto-Aztecan languages.


Hope that helps, have a good day!
Native Languages of the Americas


Further reading:
Shoshone
Aztec/Nahuatl
Inuit